MacFormat 1995 April/macformat-023.iso/Shareware City/Info/technology-within-curriculum/integrating tech/integrating tech.rsrc/TEXT_148.txt

Text File | 1994-11-25 | 12.0 KB | 220 lines

                                                                                                                Life and Work in a Technological Society

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Sandra Kerka

If we expect our graduates to contribute to the quality of
life through their individual creative work in family, jobs and
society, we need to recognize that all of us are involved in and
interact with a highly technological environment, and that
education should develop capability for lifelong learning in all
of the disciplines which contribute to that environment.
(Lisensky et al. 1985, p. 6)
     Anyone who uses an automatic teller machine to get cash,
watches a movie at home on videotape, or scans the want ads to
see what skills employers are seeking is aware that technology
pervades the way people live and work.  Because technology is a
social process, an important facet of technology education is
creating awareness of its social context and implications.  What
is technology?  Why should all citizens "acquire the knowledge
and skills to be both intelligent consumers of technology and
doers of technology" (Puk 1993, p. 29).  This ERIC DIGEST focuses
on the sociocultural aspects of technology and the need to
develop the knowledge and skills to cope with the technological
environment.

                       WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?

     Technology is not simply applied science.  Despite the
popular tendency to equate it with sophisticated machines such as
magnetic resonance imaging or Patriot missiles, it is not an
invention of the 20th century.  Technology has existed throughout
history as the processes and products by which humans have coped
with and changed their environment.  It can be considered the
tools that extend human capabilities, the systems within which
the tools are used, and an approach to the management of the
environment (Lisensky et al. 1985).  Technology is object (tools,
machines), process (design and transformation of material),
knowledge (know-how, technique), and volition (aims, intentions,
and choices that link the other three) (Frey 1989).  Musical
instruments, pens, typewriters, and forks are as much
technological artifacts as lasers and satellites.
     Technology is "woven throughout the very fabric of our
culture as an agent for social, economic, and cultural change"
(Custer 1990, p. 53).  It is the HOW that links WHAT IS (science,
social science) to WHAT SHOULD BE (humanities, religion)
(Lisensky et al. 1985).  People have always lived and worked in a
"technological society," and the adoption of new technologies is
a recurring issue.  What is different about today?~the pace of
technological change, the scope of its effects (global and
beyond), the complexity and interdependence of advanced
technological subsystems, and technology's value and place within
the culture.  How does a technologically literate person view
technology?  As a controlled or controlling force?  With
uncritical enthusiasm and optimism as the solution to every
problem, or with fear and suspicion as the end of civilization as
we know it (Postman 1992)?

               THE TECHNOLOGICALLY LITERATE PERSON

     The concept of an "educated person" includes an element of
technological literacy:
--"Technology links to an Image of the Educated Person who
strives to improve the human condition by creating new things or
modifying existing things" (Puk 1993, p. 27).
--An educated person has knowledge, skill, and vision to deal
with a complex world and the ability to anticipate and help shape
the future (Lisensky et al. 1985).
--"The person who is not technologically literate, in our world,
is not a fully educated person" (Hunter 1992, p. 26).
     Must a person know how something works or is it enough to
know how to work it?  Are technologies becoming more complex or
do innovations such as voice-activated systems require less
understanding?  Is it acceptable that people can function without
knowing how to program their VCRs, or does lack of this skill
waste time and resources and limit potential?  Technological
literacy is a continuum on which a person's level of competence
varies, and the degree of literacy needed depends on different
life and work roles.  However, complex issues with which
communities, neighborhoods, regions, and nations must deal
surround technology's effects on a host of areas:  family work
and leisure patterns and structure, genetic engineering of foods,
organ donation, toxic waste, air quality, alternative energy
sources, contraception, increased life expectancy, and health
care reform.  Decisions about these issues should be shared by
informed citizens and be based on a full spectrum of perspectives
and values, not just those of the scientific and technical elite
(Selby 1993).
     The work force is composed in greater proportions of groups
traditionally on the margins of technological experience (at
least the technology valued in the marketplace, according to
Selby 1993):  females, people with disabilities, minorities,
immigrants from less developed nations.  At the same time, the
amount and breadth of technical training needed for many jobs has
increased (Pucel 1992).  Many jobs depend on the skills of
symbolic analysis~abstraction, system thinking, experimental
inquiry, and collaboration.  Acquiring these skills requires an
interdisciplinary foundation of science, humanities, and
technology.  Other technological issues related to work include
equity of access (e.g., do girls get equal time in acquiring
computer, science, and math skills?) and "electronic cottages"
(more job opportunities but greater potential for exploitation).
On the other hand, the information age is changing the
occupational structure to one based on mental, not physical,
abilities.  Will this lead to increased opportunities for women?
(Cianni and Weitz 1986).
     "Technology is bringing about unique alterations in the way
people live and work.  For many, it will serve to improve
dramatically the quality of life; for others, it will reinforce
traditional barriers to advancement and may even create
additional hindrances" (ibid., p. 503).  Are satellites, cable
television, and CD-ROM widening access or will commercializing
communications networks narrow it?  "To whom will technology give
greater power and freedom? And whose power and freedom will be
reduced by it?" (Postman 1992, p. 11).

            LEARNING TO LIVE AND WORK WITH TECHNOLOGY

     "Technology is not just used, it is lived" (Hunter 1992, p.
26).  The quality of that life has a great deal to do with the
attitudes, values, and abilities with which people deal with
technology.  In both life and work, people need flexibility and
the attitudes and skills of lifelong learning to cope with
technological change.   Both education and training are needed:
a trained person has the skills with which to use, create, and
adapt technology and an educated person has the commitment and
point of view that give meaning to the practice of those skills.
A balanced curriculum is neither obsessed with nor fearful or
disdainful of technology.  The Greeks (from whose word techne'
technology is derived) recognized the danger of these two
extremes.  According to Byrum (1984), techne' originally meant
the knowledge required to get the job done.  Over time, ethical
and aesthetic dimensions were added, integrating technical skills
with the qualities needed to be a good citizen.
     The study of technology converges with several current
educational emphases:  critical thinking, experiential and
cooperative learning, accommodation of learning styles,
theory/practice, abstract/applied knowledge, interdisciplinary
approaches, integration of academic and vocational education,
multicultural awareness, and ethics, responsibility, and values.
Technology education is thus an important component of education
that aims to prepare students for life and for work.  Like career
education, technology education has appropriate phases for each
level:  awareness for elementary students, exploration for middle
school students, and preparation for employment for high school
and postsecondary students.
     A balanced curriculum recognizes the technological method as
a mode of inquiry equal to those used in the sciences and
humanities.  At the heart of the technological method are humans
confronted with problems, needs, or opportunities, who select and
use appropriate technological processes to achieve meaningful
outcomes (Pucel 1992).  These outcomes have desirable or
undesirable consequences and lead to further problems or
opportunities, beginning a new cycle of problem solving.
     Technology education is problem based, a method of inquiry
that "must be an important component in the education of today's
student because it is the dominant mode of inquiry for decision
making in our time" (Lisensky et al. 1985, p. 27).  However, it
should be balanced with ideas-based inquiry, because it is
important to know both why humans invent things as well as how
(Postman 1992).  When the study of technology gains equal respect
with the sciences and humanities, it will benefit both
college-bound and noncollege-bound students (Stone 1990).
     In preparing students for life and work in a technological
society the following should be considered:
     1.  Selby (1993) warns against the myths that valued
technologies have a masculine imprint and that males are innately
better technologists than females.  The technologies women have
created throughout history should be studied, and girls must be
persuaded that technology is not a "male" province.
     2.  Cultural issues include respect for the technologies of
other cultures, concern for increasing access to technology, and
focus on sustainability and appropriate technology that is
compatible with the values of other cultures.
     3.  Ethics and values, forming convictions, and making
life-style choices must be taught because of the social,
cultural, and environmental impact of technological intervention.
     4.  Because all teachers are potentially teachers of
technology (Puk 1993), they should consider their role as change
agents and recognize that the study of technology, like all
education, is not disinterested or neutral.  Ultimately, humans
are the subjects of technology education.


REFS_REFERENCES

     Byrum, C. S.  "The Greek Concept of `Techne.'"  1984.  (ED
251 394)
     Cianni, M., and Weitz, A. D.  "The Technological Society:
Implications for Women in the Workplace.  JOURNAL OF COUNSELING
AND DEVELOPMENT 64, no. 8 (April 1986):  501-503.  (EJ 337 171)
     Custer, R. L.  "Liberal Education and the Practical Arts."
JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL TEACHER EDUCATION 27, no. 4 (Summer 1990):
46-55.  (EJ 411 367)
     Frey, R.  "A Philosophical Framework for Understanding
Technology."  JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL TEACHER EDUCATION 27, no. 1
(Fall 1989):  23-35.  (EJ 401 980)
     Hunter, J. O.  "Technological Literacy."  EDUCATIONAL
TECHNOLOGY 32, no. 3 (March 1992):  26-29.  (EJ 441 825)
     Lisensky, R. P.; Pfnister, A.; and Sweet, S. D.  THE NEW
LIBERAL LEARNING:  TECHNOLOGY AND THE LIBERAL ARTS.  Washington,
DC:  Council of Independent Colleges, 1985.  (ED 267 703)
     Postman, N.  TECHNOPOLY:  THE SURRENDER OF CULTURE TO
TECHNOLOGY.  New York:  Knopf, 1992.
     Pucel, D.  "Technology Education:  Its Changing Role within
General Education."  Conference paper, 1992.  (ED 353 400)
     Puk, T.  "The Acculturation of Technology Education."
TECHNOLOGY TEACHER 52, no. 7 (April 1993):  27-30.  (EJ 460 706)
     Selby, C. C.  "Technology:  From Myths to Realities."  PHI
DELTA KAPPAN 74, no. 9 (May 1993):  684-689.  (EJ 463 870)
     Stone, R.  D.  "A Challenge:  Education in the Twenty-First
Century."  TECHNOLOGY TEACHER 49, no. 7 (April 1990):  11-15.
(EJ 404 776)
     Developed with funding from the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under
Contract No. RR93002001.  Opinions expressed do not necessarily
reflect the position or policies of OERI or the Department.
Digests may be freely reproduced.
---end---