Technology Education In Perspective:
Clearer Vision Necessary
Technology Education In Perspective:
Clearer Vision Necessary
Technology Education, AThe New Basic@, as cited by the International Technology Education Association (1988) is sadly missing a basic detail. The missing link in our new curriculum is >perspective=. Perspective, in this case, indicates the need to examine - not just where we are and where we are going with technology - but where we have been. With current curricular approaches in technology education students will emerge with a lopsided view of reality if educators do not address the entire progression of technology: past, present and future.
An analogy to this problem may shed some light on the situation. What if schools taught social studies from an entirely American viewpoint? In this form of learning students are studying the essence of what we, as Americans, do without any frame of reference to the world as a whole. How one-sided this would be. With regard to instructional strategy this method of teaching lacks social intelligence. This means the ability to place the learning within a comprehensive or wholesitic context, a process that is sorely missing within many of our schools today. A broader, more comprehensive foundation of knowledge should be the basis for every school subject, technology education included.
Any quality educational program provides the learner with a multitude of unanswered problems and questions to think about and ponder. The technology education field of study is a fertile field which provides the learner with many opportunities to address the mysteries of our past. How were the great Egyptian pyramids built? How and why was Stonehenge constructed? How did the highly advanced Aztec, Mayan and Inca empires come about? What caused their demise? People find these questions both fascinating and enlightening. This quest also provides connections with our past which, in turn, provides a sense of cohesiveness - that knowledge is not a fixed thing but a stage in human development with a past and a future.
On a conceptual basis, these unanswered questions inspire learners to look beyond mere technical applications and into the process of technology and its impact on societies past, present, and future. This enhancing educational journey provides students with a wonderful challenge. AIt really picks their brains@, remarked middle school teacher Nancy Matheny (1995). ATeaching technology education without a historical component is kind of like teaching art without delving into art history. Art, like technology, is more than three times as old as writing and contains, in its changing styles and themes, a fifteen-thousand-year-old record of the physical and social evolution of man@ (Matheny, 1995) .
Drawing The Line on Content
The question of where to draw the line in the scope of studying the historical, present, and future issues within a given subject is often critical for teachers but according to Neil Postman, author of Technopoly (1992), this is of little importance. APerhaps the most important contribution schools can make to the education of our youth is to give them a sense of coherence in their studies, a sense of purpose, meaning, and interconnectedness in what they learn@ (Postman, p. 185-186). Postman continues, Modern secular education is failing not because it doesn=t teach who Ginger Rogers, Norman Mailer, and a thousand other people are but because it has no moral, social, or intellectual center. There is no set of ideas or attitudes that permeates all parts of the curriculum The curriculum is not, in fact, a Acourse of study@ at all but a meaningless hodgepodge of subjects. It does not even put forward a clear vision of what constitutes an educated person, unless it is a person who possesses Askills.@ In other works, a technocrat=s ideal - a person with no commitment and no point of view but with plenty of marketable skills. (p. 186)
Postman=s perspective of the historical component of education is essential to a complete understanding of present day conditions. The development of modern industrial societies was not possible without the evolution of technology. To truly educate students within our field the concept of technology=s history must be integral in the technology education curriculum. As Cicero put it, ATo remain ignorant of things that happened before you were born is to remain a child.@
According to Postman (1992) Aevery teacher must be a history teacher.@ (p. 189) Without an understanding of the history of technology we as a society cannot completely understand or appreciate humanity=s confrontation with nature and learn of our limits with regard to nature.
So where do we draw the proverbial line between past and present? Is there, in actuality, a line to be drawn? At what point do we limit our curriculum perspective of technology? Why should our technological past be compartmentalized within our curriculum? These questions lead us to an understanding that technology is relative to time and culture, we can learn important lessons from the many technological developments of our past. This is wonderful food for thought and makes the study of technology thoroughly enthralling to students. As Postman postulates, AI do not see how we can claim to be educating our youth if we do not ask them to consider how different people of different times and places have tried to achieve a sense of transcendence.@ (p. 198)
A definition of technology education, published by the International Technology Education Association, is: AAn educational program that helps people develop an understanding and competence in designing, producing, and using technology products and systems, and in assessing the appropriateness of technological actions@ (Wright, Israel, & Lauda, 1993). This definition, although acutely discerning and practical, in actuality, provides absolutely no emphasis on the evolution of technology and no foreseen intention of implementing this part of technology into the curriculum blueprint. Many educators would deem it obvious that to deny our technology education students a chance, through the curriculum, to delve into contrasting cultures of the past and present is pure tunnel vision. Cultural continuity gives sustenance to the study of technology.
Place Photographs About Here
Classroom Application / Design Brief
The application of this form of technology education curriculum may take many different forms. Creation and use of design briefs could be an appropriate method of introducing aspects of the history of technology to students. The following is an example of a history of technology design brief.
Context The Ainformation age@ that has such a tremendous impact on all of our lives today started a long time ago, (around ad 1457), in Mainz, Germany. Johannes Gutenberg is usually given the credit for designing and constructing the world=s first movable type printing press. The creation of movable type revolutionized the way books and other printed information were published. With the advent of the printing press, a new catalyst was introduced that changed everything in culture and still continues to have significant impact on the way societies function. |
Challenge Consider the historical impact of the movable type printing press. Research the reasons why the printing press had so much impact on society. Develop a rationale of how printed materials have been used to change governments and societies in modern times (e.g., 20th Century). Research and develop a futuristic forecast for the printing industry in the next 30 years. Research and construct a scale model of Gutenberg=s printing press. |
Objectives 1. Use research skills to investigate the history of the printing press. 2. Analyze the impact that the printing press has had on culture and society. 3. Question and hypothesize the reasons why the printing industry has had so much influence on societies and cultures. 4. Forecast and predict the future of the printing industry in the next 30 years. 5. Construct a scale model of Gutenberg=s printing press. |
Materials & Equipment Reference materials for research activities, (e.g., Burke, J. (1978). Connections. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.; Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly. New York: Vintage.; Sanders, M. (1991). Communication technology: Today and tomorrow. Mission Hills, CA: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Company.). Balsa wood construction kits. Appropriate hand and machine tools. |
Evaluation 1. In teams or individually, present to class using sketches, diagrams, models, photographs, and formal technical reports. 2. Explain why governments around the world attempt to keep track of the publishing industry activities and how repressive governments use or misuse the publishing industry. 3. Debate the pros and cons of the First Amendment rights of the U.S. Constitution with regard to the publishing industry and individuals. 4. Explain the impact that the printing press had on organized religion during the early years. |
Conclusion
The conclusion is drawn that it is not merely our job as educators to train and produce employable people, although it would be quite foolish not to see the importance of this task. The point is that we are also here to encourage our students to think deeply - to plant seeds of knowledge which could change our world in the most fantastic way. Why not make technology education more challenging by giving it new dimensions? This is more than throwing to students token crumbs of cultural context, as is presently the case. Technology education should expand to encompass the entire process of technology, from the beginning to present and into the future. This makes learning more fulfilling and fun and is essential for the attainment and retention of knowledge.
As John Thomas, technology teacher at Crescent City Junior/Senior High School, said, AIf my students could only hold on to a concept, rather than so swiftly moving on to the next and the next module... it would employ so much more of their mental capabilities@ (1995). It is this kind of >empty knowledge= which is bankrupting our childrens= knowledge and our society. If we do not have the wisdom, as educators, to approach technology education with a comprehensive method of instruction then we deserve to remain on the periphery of mainstream education.
The solution here lies in broadening our base of knowledge. By examining our directives of technology education at this critical time and stage of curriculum development we can do more than teach the infinite technical subject matter of technology. We can and we may illuminate it in all its= vastness - making it far-reaching, all-inclusive, and tangent with who we as a people really are. APeople who forget where they came from are in danger of forgetting who they are.@ (Smith, 1975).
Technology education aside from its more utilitarian, >hands on= application is a valuable tool for discovering more about ourselves. Incorporating the technological process, in its entirety, into the technology education curriculum is essential for a far-reaching and quality program. It would be an incredible injustice to put limitations on our field of study, we need technology education to be comprehensive and stimulating. It is the responsibility of every technology educator to teach it that way!
References
Burke, J. (1978). Connections. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
International Technology Education Association. (1988). Technology education: The new basic [Brochure]. Reston, VA: Author.
N. Matheny, (personal communication, April 18, 1995)
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly. New York: Vintage.
Sanders, M. (1991). Communication technology: Today and tomorrow. Mission Hills, CA: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Company.
H. Smith, (personal communication, October, 21, 1975)
J. Thomas, (personal communication, February 7, 1995)
Wright, R. T., Israel, R. N. & Lauda, D. P. (1993). Teaching technology: A teacher=s guide. International Technology Education Association, Reston, VA.