Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Krupczak, Hope College; Kate Disney, Mission College

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

theimportance of a high quality first year engineering experience. Both of these changes have beenmotivated by several factors including calls for improved undergraduate education and increasedtechnological literacy for all students. Another unfamiliar challenge is the increasing need forengineering departments to maintain stable levels of enrollment. Two year or communitycolleges are faced with additional demands to maintain an affordable and academicallyappropriate gateway into higher education and a viable means of transferring into four yearprograms. In achieving an effective engineering course, laboratory projects are universallyidentified as a key component. However creating and operating laboratories for large enrollmentclasses is a demanding

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - College Courses and Minors

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Roy McGrann, State University of New York, Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

wereDartmouth, Lehigh and University of Minnesota. Other minor programs within the university(management, computer science, and liberal arts) were reviewed. It was decided that the minorwould require a minimum of 17 credit hours (or five courses) to be comparable to other minorsat Binghamton University.It was also decided that students wishing to earn a minor in general engineering must firstcomplete a set of prerequisite math and science courses. Following completion of theprerequisite courses, students would take the required engineering courses. The engineeringcourses that would be required would include courses from three categories: (1) engineeringfundamentals, (2) advanced engineering, and (3) project work. With this mixture, studentswould be

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Walk, Old Dominion University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

perspectives on acceptance criteria and adoption rates of newtechnology. Quantitative technology forecasting studies have proven reliable in projecting intime technological and social change using relatively simple models such as logistic growth andsubstitution patterns, precursor relationships, constant performance improvement rates of change,and the identification of anthropologically invariant behaviors. In addition, extensive studies ofthe evolution of patents have uncovered not a series of breakthrough discoveries or creations, butpredictable trends of incremental technological innovation, governed by a short list of parametricvariations.This paper presents an overview of the major processes describing technological changeindentified through

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Loendorf, Eastern Washington University; Terence Geyer, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

. Ironically, we struggle with many of the same problems today thatwere actually solved in the past. It is the understanding of past technologies and connecting themto current ones, that is important. To address this issue, a junior level interdisciplinary course hasbeen created that explores a historical perspective of the development of technology and itsimpact on society in a global context. Within this framework lies the dilemma of how to make thesubject interesting. Just offering lectures and discussion sessions does not do the subject justice.There had to be a better way to engage and capture the student's interest and curiosity. With thisobjective in mind, a project was initiated to accumulate or recreate technological artifactsfrom the past

Conference Session

Technological Literacy and the Educated Person

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michele Dischino, Central Connecticut State University; James DeLaura, Central Connecticut State University; Patrick Foster, Central Connecticut State University; David Sianez, CCSU

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

increase at nearlydouble the overall growth rate for all occupations by 2014, growing by 26% from 2004 to 2014,while employment in all occupations is projected to grow 13% over the same period 7. Yet inspite of such promising job prospects, the National Science Foundation recently reported that theUnited States is experiencing a chronic decline in homegrown science, technology, engineeringand math (STEM) talent and is increasingly dependent upon foreign scholars to fill workforceand leadership voids.8 Results from a recent survey by the American Society for Quality (ASQ)revealed that more than 85% of students today are not considering technical careers and thatmore parents encourage their daughters to become actresses than engineers.9 This is one

Conference Session

Technological Literacy - Courses, Educational and Accreditation Standards

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yung-Hsiang Lu, Purdue University; Guangwei Zhu, Purdue; Cheng-Kok Koh, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

it isNP-complete [8]. Many problems related to Tetris are also NP-complete, even for off-line games when thesequences are known in advance [8]. It is computationally expensive to find the minimum height or themaximum number of cleared rows. Some researchers consider Tetris as an optimization problem [9]. Someeducators use Tetris for teaching game development [10–15]. In the fall semester of 2009, we used Tetris as a semester-long project in a course of object-orientedprogramming. This course teaches both Java and C++; the Qt library is used to create graphical userinterfaces for C++ programs. The students had taken at least two programming courses (C Programming andAdvanced C Programming) as prerequisites. Many students had taken or were

Conference Session

Technological Literacy and the Educated Person

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

creation of an ‘A’ level in engineering science. As anexamination it was highly successful, as a source of supply of future engineers it wasa failure. But several of its supporters argued that it should be seen as a component ofliberal education. Many engineering professors objected to this examination andargued that all students should be able to pursue projects through which they wouldlearn the pleasure of technology, and so government through its agencies sponsored“project technology”. It apparently had no effect on the supply of students totechnology programmes even though it was very successful at providing effectivelearning experiences3.In the last twenty or more years the term ‘literacy’ has developed to imply “anacquaintance with the basic

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Loendorf, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

similarinventions appear in different parts of the world almost simultaneously? How did informationand technology spread from one place to another and why did they fade away in one place onlyto resurface later in a different place? How and why were inventions or innovations diffused orborrowed from one culture adapted to suit the needs of another?Teaching methods include lectures, discussions, videos, and written essay projects. The lecturesand discussions are designed and intended to be very interactive and engaging for the students.The selected videos show how past technologies were developed and used. The essays requirestudents to identify and apply the knowledge obtained from the course to both historical andtoday’s technologies. The students are

Conference Session

Technological Literacy and the Educated Person

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

R. William Graff, LeTourneau University; Paul Leiffer, LeTouneau University; Martin Batts, Le Tourneau University; Maria J. Leiffer, LeTouneau University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

. Theyhave not experienced the laws of probability, because very improbable things havebecome commonplace to them. When I first saw “Mission Impossible”, having beentrained as an engineer, I had to laugh out loud, as a complicated device, built withouthaving been tested, functioned perfectly the first time! My sophomore students have tobe retrained in the way they build projects, so that they test each part of the deviceindividually before incorporating it in the overall project. This is now necessary in orderto overcome their expectation that everything will work perfectly the first time they tryit. In other words, they need to learn, by experience, “Murphy’s Law”. One of theprojects I assign in lab is to build a Rube Goldberg machine, which is a

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - College Courses and Minors

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Austin Talley, University of Texas, Austin; Christina White, Columbia University; Kristin Wood, University of Texas, Austin; Richard Crawford, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

University and is the senior coordinator for Design, Technology, & Engineering for All Children. Her research is in engineering education with a focus on humanitarian engineering, design, diversity, and the NAE's 21st century grand challenges. She has earned her M. Ed from The University of Texas at Austin. Contact: ckw.columbia@gmail.comKristin Wood, University of Texas, AustinRichard Crawford, University of Texas at Austin Dr. RICHARD H. CRAWFORD is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and is the Temple Foundation Endowed Faculty Fellow No. 3. He is also Director of the Design Projects Program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received his

Conference Session

Technological Literacy for K-12 and for Community College Students: Concepts, Assessment, and Courses

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Macho, Buffalo State College

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

several successful Engineering Technology programs and a TechnologyEducation program within our department. In 2007, faculty these programs workedtogether to provide engineering education professional development experiences fornearly 400 teachers; who in turn have taught thousands of K-12 students. This wasfacilitated with the assistance of a $1.7 million grant, and visiting faculty from severalleading design centers in England. This conceptual framework is partially a result of thefindings of that project. Within our Technology Education program, this is ourframework for preparing technology teachers. These teachers promote technologicalliteracy and engineering. The four elements of the framework are 1) Design, 2) Living, 3) Productivity

Conference Session

Technological Literacy for K-12 and for Community College Students: Concepts, Assessment, and Courses

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Randy Libros, Community College of Philadelphia; Kathleen Harter, Community College of Philadelphia

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

. Use of nanostructured devices for tracking versus privacy issues and a hypotheticalcase study of a solar panel company (which uses nanotechnology in its manufacturing process)moving into a town provide opportunities to explore the societal impacts of nanotechnology.6PedagogyThe pedagogy employed for all the modules is active and cooperative and includes some if notall of these techniques in each module: group work, project based learning, role plays, paneldiscussions and guest speakers. The use of interactive, team-based activities in the course aredrawn from many of the “best-practices” identified in educational literature that have beenshown to increase student understanding and retention of materials as well as improve studentpersistence

Conference Session

Technological Literacy for K-12 and for Community College Students: Concepts, Assessment, and Courses

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen O'Brien, The College of New Jersey

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

the MSTprogram are coordinated by the Department of Technological Studies. The Department ofTechnological Studies provides all of the T&E courses and has five full time professors and~6 adjunct professors. Educational requirements and advising for the MST students arecoordinated by the School of Education.Four works set important context for the Department of Technological Studies curriculumand the design of the MST program: (i) Benchmarks for Science Literacy (“Project 2061”),(ii) Technological Literacy Counts, (iii) Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) and (iv)Technically speaking- why all Americans need to know more about technology.2-5 Thesedocuments discuss the important role of teacher preparation in meeting educational goals

Conference Session

Technological Literacy - Courses, Educational and Accreditation Standards

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Blake, Austin Peay State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

to continue to learn throughout their careers. With experience, graduates should grow Page 15.1195.2professionally from the level of a junior team member to that of a leader with responsibility forthe broad scope of a technological project. Their job duties should progress from dealing withspecific problems as part of a broader project to managing the entire project where the personmust deal with social and economic as well as purely technical issues.While the initial job function may have the graduate performing basic tasks such as calculationsand analyses where someone else makes critical judgments based on these calculations, or

Conference Session

Technological Literacy for K-12 and for Community College Students: Concepts, Assessment, and Courses

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Moshe Barak, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

participants to reflect on their learning.In compliance with these principles, we consider extending the course in the future toalso include additional technological subjects as well as project-based learning in thecourse.Bibliography1. Barlex, D. (Ed.) (2009). Design and technology for the next generation, Whitchurch, UK: Cliffeco Communications.2. Hacker, M. & Burghardt, D. (2008). Technology education: Learning by design, Boston, MA: Pearson Prentice Hall.3. Mitcham, C. (1994). Thinking through technology, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.4. De Vries, M.J. (2005). Teaching about technology: An introduction to the philosophy of technology for non-philosophers, Dordrecht: Springer.5. Bertalanffy, L.V. (1968). General system theory

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - College Courses and Minors

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Krupczak, Hope College; Mani Mina, Iowa State University; Robert J. Gustafson, Ohio State University; James Young, Rice University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

results achieved in the Minor in EngineeringStudies Program at Iowa State. The project goal is to develop the concepts and resources tosupport model minors which can be adopted efficiently and widely within American highereducation. To facilitate adoption by other institutions, flexibility is a key objective of theintended guidelines. Since the appropriateness of using the name engineering in the context of aminor is subject to debate, the specific name of minor should be part of that flexibility. Thesedegrees do not focus on teaching specific engineering technical content but on teaching studentshow to think like an engineer. The minor aims to develop the broad understanding and practicaltechnological competence outlined by the National Academy

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - College Courses and Minors

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelli Huser, Iowa State University; Thomas Kelly, Iowa State University; Mani Mina, Iowa State University; Seth Ballou, Iowa State University; Joseph Crispin, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

influenced the area he or she chose to research. Onestudent, a business major, decided to research currency and the impacts of this technologicalpractice. Another student, with coursework interests in water resources, chose to explorehistorical and current water technologies and how these technologies influenced societaldevelopment.The research paper was a semester long project intended to allow students to delve deeper into aparticular subject area of technology that interested them and would drive their interest for theentire semester. The general requirements were to select a broad subject area that related totechnology, cover the historical aspects of the technology, and address the impacts of thistechnology. All paper topics had to be approved

Conference Session

Technological Literacy - Courses, Educational and Accreditation Standards

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yoojung Chae, Purdue University; Senay Purzer, Purdue University; Monica Cardella, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

. Page 15.324.8Table 5. The commonalities among science, technology, and mathematics Societal Impact Process Modeling throughScience Inquiry Scientific Models KnowledgeTechnology Design Technological Models ToolsMathematics Problem-Solving Mathematical Models Analysis The one theme that resulted of this study, systems and models, was also identified as acommon theme across science, technology and mathematics in the Project 2061: Benchmarks forScience Literacy by AAAS.5 There are four common

Conference Session

Technological Literacy - Courses, Educational and Accreditation Standards

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Blake, Austin Peay State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

engineering and technology, each ofthese items is relevant and worthy of discussion. A prospective major should recognize thebroad scope of technology (i.e., technology is not just information technology). They shouldrecognize the importance of technology in our lives and how many important technologicalmarvels are so commonplace as to be ignored. While recognizing the benefits of technology, thestudents also need to recognize the downside to technology and the risks inherent intechnological developments. Failure to recognize that there are negative as well as positiveconsequences and that a poorly chosen or managed technological project may promise benefits

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Howell, San Jose State University; Patricia Backer, San Jose State University; Belle Wei, San Jose State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

made… Scientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity. (pp. 132–33)This definition of scientific literacy encompasses technology. In this area, the colleges ofengineering are uniquely poised to provide this type of literacy education to students from otherdisciplines. The Green Report-- Engineering Education for a Changing World5, released inOctober 1994 as a joint project report by the Engineering Deans Council and CorporateRoundtable of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), challenged the deansof the colleges of

Conference Session

Teaching Technological Literacy - College Courses and Minors

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Doyle, Penn State University; Richard Devon, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

incorporating nanotechnology - devices ofmicroscopic size - were sold. According to estimates, the amount may grow to $2.6 trillion by2014.”28 On April 24, 2008, David Rejeski, Director of the Project on EmergingNanotechnologies (PEN ) at the Woodrow Wilson Center testified to the United States SenateCommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology,and Innovation. He said that in the last two years the number of nanoenabled consumer productshad increased from 212 to over 600 with a doubling period of 14 months, and that these productscame from 321 companies in 21 countries. Rejeski noted that “All of these products are availablein shopping malls or over the Internet, and we have purchased many of them on-line.”29

Conference Session

Technological Literacy and the Educated Person

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Krupczak, Hope College

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

to carry out the engineering design process.The wide range of accessible materials available about the engineering design process helps topromote design as synonymous with engineering. Engineering for K-12 students emphasizesapplication of engineering design methods.7 Design is a common focus in introduction toengineering courses for first-year undergraduates.8-11Design offers several advantages when introducing engineering to non-engineers. The process isrelatively accessible at a variety of levels and it emphasizes the creation of physical objects tosolve problems. Design projects are active and engage students. The activity can use a widevariety of materials ranging from simple to complex. The engineering design methodology doesnot rely