Technology Education: In Pursuit of Technological Literacy.

Overview & Synopsis

This discussion of the need for and efforts to develop technological education in K-12 schools argues that the United States must achieve an acceptable level of technological literacy among its children if it is to maintain its competitive edge. Thus, technology is being suggested as an additional domain of knowledge (along with the sciences, humanities, and formal knowledge) in new models of curriculum theory. Technological education programs are now being developed out of, and replacing, long standing programs in industrial arts, with the emphasis in the elementary school on developing children's awareness of the presence of technology in their lives; in the middle school, on the exploration of different kinds of technology; and in the high school, on the choice of technical or vocational education as preparation for the work world. In addition, colleges and universities which prepare teachers for the practical arts must now revise their programs to introduce teacher candidates to technology education. (2 references) (EW)