The growing national awareness of the importance of technical skills for "all students" opens up a tremendous opportunity for today's technology teachers. In this interview, Cary Sneider of the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Museum of Science, Boston, talks about how technology educators can establish clear standards…

The topic of alternative energy is not only relevant to a multitude of issues today, it is also an effective vehicle for developing instruction that applies across a variety of content disciplines and academic standards. Since many of the issues associated with alternative energy are open-ended, alternative energy also lends itself to…

Synectics is a creative problem-solving process developed by William J. J. Gordon and George Prince in the 1960s (Gordon, 1961). A result of Gordon and Prince observing brainstorming sessions that achieved varying levels of success, Synectics outlines the processes that people can use to help them overcome mental blocks while working on difficult…

TRIZ (pronounced TREES), the Russian acronym for the theory of inventive problem solving, enables a person to focus his attention on finding genuine, potential solutions in contrast to searching for ideas that "may" work through a happenstance way. It is a patent database-backed methodology that helps to reduce time spent on the problem,…

Teachers do not have to go very far to teach their students about technology education. There are examples right there in the home to keep them and their students quite busy. Many everyday products contain wonderfully fascinating stories and histories of development and invention to keep students totally intrigued. In this article, the author…

This article talks about technological education in Ontario schools through their Broad-Based Technologies model. The philosophy that underlies the teaching of Broad-Based Technology is that students learn best by doing, with an emphasis on problem solving. The curriculum is an activity-based, project-driven approach to learning that provides…

This article presents an interview with Michael Hacker and David Burghardt, codirectors of Hoftra University's Center for Technological Literacy. Hacker and Burghardt address issues related to technology and engineering. They argue that teachers need to be aware of the problems kids are facing, and how to present these problems in an engaging…

Describes the stealth technology used by military forces and suggests student activities for exploring the topic. (SK)

The International Technology Education Association/Gallup Poll was conducted to find out what the public knows about, considers, and thinks when dealing with technology. The poll indicated that people want to be informed decision makers about technology and want technology taught in the schools. (JOW)

The rate of innovation and change impacting technology education communication systems instruction has been vigorous for longer than most people can remember. Trends have included analog systems being replaced by digital systems, integration of networks and system devices, computerization, optical storage, and wireless transmission of data. The…

This article shares the opinions of several leaders in technology education regarding the need for a national curriculum for technology literacy. Laura Johnson Hummell, a North Carolina middle school technology education teacher and doctoral candidate at East Carolina University, believes that the United States should have a national curriculum…

In this article, the author relates how he and his class get involved in doing project designs within their school district every year. The author relates how they have done design projects for local townships and boroughs, non-profit organizations, Eagle Scout projects, and much more. The author relates how these activities have been such…

Theodore Roosevelt School (TRS) is surrounded by culture and history. Located on the grounds of the former Fort Apache Army Post, TRS serves sixth- through eighth-grade native students, primarily from the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Tradition and culture are so much a part of the TRS students' background of experiences that teachers at the school…

Addresses two questions related to the structure of technology education: (1) What is the content base of technology education? and (2) What common processes do technicians, technologists, and engineers share? (Author)

The first poll in what has become a two-part series was commissioned by the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) in the spring of 2001 with the intent of finding out how Americans viewed technological literacy. Funding for this second survey was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and…