Technology Education Philosophy;
A Position Paper
Jason Reagin
ETS 708; Summer Term 1997
The University of Georgia
Philosophy of Technology Education Statement
The International Technology Education Association or ITEA defines Technology Education as “a comprehensive, action-based educational program concerned with technical means, their evolution, utilization, and significance; with industry, its organization, personnel, systems, techniques, resources and products; and their social/cultural impact” (Bensen, 1995) As I began thinking about what I think the essential aspects of technology education, three things keep coming up in the reading and studying: critical thinking, problem solving, and the extension of human capability. Now, of course there are lots of other aspects, but for the purpose of this paper I will focus on the three listed.
Critical thinking is summed up best by Snyder & Hayes’, 1981, “Mutual Interactive Model.” This model demonstrates interaction between the domains of knowledge and the human adaptive systems. (Bensen, 1995) These processes are essential for critical thinking to take place. Technology education aims to produce better critical thinkers, so that means that this model is very important in the field of study called Technology Education. Critical thinking is the focus for a majority of the curriculum in most academic classes today.
Problem solving is really just an extension of the critical thinking process. Problem solving is the act of identifying a problem and then trying to solve that problem by a very definite process. One way of problem solving is by using a systems model approach. Systems models differ but they all serve to accomplish the same goal. One example of a systems model would be, “A model of the Design Process Used in the New Jersey Technology Education Program,” by Chamuris & Ochse, 1990. (Wright, 1995)
Finally, would be to extend the human capability. Human are only capable of things to a certain threshold. After this point is reached, it is necessary for the human to develop a helping aid to enable them to extend their capability. Technology education is used to study and develop these extensions. Now that you have what I think are the key elements of Tech Ed, I will now tell you what I think Tech Ed SHOULD do.
The purpose of Technology Education should be to enable students the opportunity to use and understand the mental processes that must happen in order for technology to take place. In 1973, Halfin included these processes in his dissertation. Here are the processes that Halfin found: defining the problem or opportunity operationally; observing; analyzing; visualizing; computing; measuring; predicting; questioning and hypothesizing; interpreting data; constructing models; experimenting; testing; designing; modeling; creating; communicating; and managing. (Bensen, 1995)
These are the sum of what I think the purpose of Technology Education should be like. I hope this will help to form the foundation of what my classroom will be like. I also realize that my philosophy will always be evolving to meet the current issues and situations, but the basic premise or core should always remain the same.
Bibliography
Bensen, M., (1995). A Context For Technology Education. In CTTE, Foundations of Technology Education (pp. 1-23). New York, NY: GLENCOE/McGraw-Hill.
Wright, R., (1995). Technology Education Curriculum Development Efforts. In CTTE, Foundations of Technology Education (pp. 247-285). New York, NY: GLENCOE/McGraw-Hill.
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Last Updated on 2004-05-15