Pre-Engineering's Place in Technology Education and Its Effect on Technological Literacy as Perceived by Technology Education

Overview & Synopsis

Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is thought by some to be the nation's premier program in providing high schools and middle schools with pre-engineering curriculum and linkage to college-level engineering and engineering technology programs. This study examined the infusion of the PLTW pre-engineering curriculum into the well-established technology education programs of the middle schools and high schools in the state of Indiana. The participants of this study consisted of the 1,043 technology education teachers listed with the Indiana Department of Education. Two sample groups were utilized in this study, one PLTW teachers and the other non-PLTW teachers. In this study, a survey technique was used to ascertain the perceptions of Indiana's technology education teachers. The results of this study indicated that Indiana technology education teachers have embraced pre-engineering education, and that both PLTW teachers and non-PLTW teachers view pre-engineering education as a valuable component of technology education. (Contains 8 tables.)