technology (tek no., pl. -gies l
1. the branch of knowledge that deals with applied science, engineering,
the industrial arts, etc.
2. the application of knowledge for practical ends.
3. a technological process, invention, or method.
4. the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the
material objects of their civilization.
or (if you are not one of those militia-types who feel the United Nations is
out to subjugate America (:=)) I offer you the UNESCO (1985) definition of
"technology":
"...the know-how and creative processes that may assist people to utilise
tools, resources and systems to solve problems and to enhance control
over the natural and made environment in an endeavour to improve the
human condition."
Alternatively, you might also heed the Technology for All Americans
Project, jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (??) and NASA
which has recognized the difference between technology and science.
My point has no disrespect for participants in this thread -it is just
the final straw to all the other discussions which bastardize the much
larger meaning of "technology". Technology is emerging as a distinct
discipline in its own right, much like ecology started seeing forests
instead of focusing on individual trees. Throughout history our societies
have been the product of the dynamic interaction between environment, our
sociocultural values and the available technology. In the last fifty
(??) years it is the latter which has assumed an increasingly dominant
role in that interaction.
Technology education has a crucial role in imparting understandings about
the assessment of technology, its role in determining our past and futures
for both individuals and nations, and in empowering sudents with a wide range
of necessary skills and knowledge as well as the proactive attitude to control
technology rather than be passive cogs in it. As the ITEA slogan goes,
"Technology education is the new basic". Its understandings are
undermined by teaching students that "technology" is synonymous with
"computers". Technology started with a stone axe and will exist when
"computers" are no more trendy than a BIC lighter.
Just sign me as a piqued Tech Ed teacher and remember that 95% of all
"computers" are in embedded applications and do not sit on the desktop.
Vern Sandberg
vsandber@cln.etc.bc.ca