Technically Speaking Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology (2002) / Chapter Skim
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1 Mandate for Technological Literacy
1 Mandate for Technological Literacy
Pages 11-24
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From page 11... ...
Barry, August 4, 1822 T he United States is experiencing a whirlwind of technological change. Most Americans feel the change instinctively each time they encounter a new consumer gadget, read about the possibility of human cloning, or observe children as young as six or seven socializing with their school friends via online instant messaging.
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From page 12... ...
The intended audience for the report includes schools of education, schools of engineering, K-12 teachers and teacher organizations, developers of curricula and instructional materials, federal and state policy makers, industry and nonindustry supporters of educational reform, and science and technology centers and museums. These groups are well positioned to influence the development of technological literacy.
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From page 13... ...
Technology also includes all of the infrastructure necessary for the design, manufacture, operation, and repair of technological artifacts, from corporate headquarters and engineering schools to manufacturing plants and maintenance facilities. Technology comprises the entire system of people and organizations, knowledge, processes, and devices that go into creating and operating technological artifacts, as weft as the artifacts themselves.
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Conversely, technology is the basis for a good part of scientific research. The climate models meteorologists use to study global warming require supercomputers to run the simulations.
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Although computer skills are an important aspect of being an educated, well-rounded citizen in a modern country like the United States, the conception of technological literacy used in this report is much broader and more complex. It encompasses three interdependent dimensions: (1)
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Different job and life circumstances require different levels and types of literacy. For example, a state legislator involved in a debate about the merits of constructing new power plants to meet future electricity demand ought to understand at a fairly sophisticated level the technological concepts of trade-offs, constraints, and systems.
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From page 17... ...
This will quickly lead to the realization that technology permeates modern society, from little things that everyone takes for granted, such as pencil and paper, to major projects, such as dams and rocket launches. A technologically literate person should be familiar with basic concepts important to technology.
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From page 18... ...
The technologically literate person also recognizes that society shapes technology as much as technology shapes society. There is nothing inevitable about the changes influenced by technology—they are the result of human decisions and not of impersonal historical forces.
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The United Nations recently recognized the importance of DDT to public health in a treaty banning a number of persistent organic pollutants (UNEP, 2001~. The ability to use quantitative reasoning skills, especially skills related to probability, scale, and estimation, is critical to making informed judgments about technological risk.
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From page 20... ...
Technologically literate people will know how to extract the most important points from a newspaper story or a television interview or discussion, ask relevant questions, and make sense of the answers (Box 1-2~. A technologically literate individual should also have some handson capabilities with common, everyday technologies.
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From page 21... ...
All of these jobs and many others require technically competent peoplepeople with technical proficiency in a certain technological area, although not generally in other areas of technology. A technologically literate person will not necessarily require exMANDATE FOR TECHNOEOG~CAE E~TERACY J 1 Technological literacy is not the same as technical competency.
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From page 22... ...
But specialized technical skills do not guarantee technological literacy. Workers who know every operational detail of an air conditioner or who can troubleshoot a software glitch in a personal computer may not have a sense of the risks, benefits, and trade-offs associated with technological developments generally and may be poorly prepared to make choices about other technologies that affect their lives.
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From page 23... ...
1983. Educating Americans for the 21st Century: A Plan of Action for Improving Mathematics, Science and Technology Education for All American Elementary and Secondary Students So That Their Achievement Is the Best in the World by 1995: A Report to the American People and the National Science Board.
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From page 24... ...
2001. Text of Persistent Organic Pollutants Treaty Concluded in Johannesburg; Signing Conference Set for Stockholm 22 to 23 May 2001.
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