Tesla. Page 11.1238.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 20061 Technological Literacy and Empowerment: Exemplars from the History of Technology As technological literacy takes form as a curriculum and field of study, we need toask ourselves continually what we are trying to accomplish. Is our goal simply to teachstudents how things work so that they can be passive employees or consumers in acapitalist economy? Or could the goal of technological literacy be broader and moreactive--that we want our students not only to understand the machine but to comprehendhow individuals, groups, and societies use