Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Camille George, University of St. Thomas; Elise Amel, University of Saint Thomas; Christopher Greene, University of Saint Thomas

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

practice and refrigeration. Air-conditioning has altered ourarchitecture. Refrigeration has influenced our military practices easing the burden of desertwarfare. Our modern society could not function without refrigeration, yet few people eitherunderstand the technology behind refrigeration or examine its long-term sustainability. Ingeneral, few people discuss the additional amount of electricity that would have to be generatedto simply provide this technology to the four billion people in the world who currently have noaccess to it or what resources would be used to provide this extra power. Few people reflect onthe production and management issues of modern-day man-made refrigerants; a massive globalexpansion of devices containing toxic

Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Non-Engineers

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lawrence Whitman, Wichita State University; James Steck, Wichita State University; David Koert, Wichita State University; Larry Paarmann, Wichita State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

discussion on the rationale for each alternative. 8.0 Discussion of Not organized in a Rationale for final Rationale for final Rationale for final design is Results useful manner design is present, design is logical, but logical, accommodates all the but lacking a logical does not accommodate pertinent variables. basis all variables. 9.0 Reflections and Absent Haphazard Discussion explained Clear understanding

Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Byron Newberry, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

illiterate consumer—is a problem to be solved. But the solution strategy in thiscase is not to educate consumers about technology, but rather to increasingly design technologyto cater to consumers’ low level of technological knowledge.In a research paper on why engineers sometime design poor user interfaces for technologies, theauthors attribute such failures to the fact that engineers are biased toward designing the interfaceto reflect the underlying mechanism of the technology, an interface style which the engineer,who understands the underlying mechanism, finds intuitive but the user does not. Rather, theauthors conclude, a black box model for the user interface is more effective for the user—that is,an interface which is modeled upon the tasks

Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Non-Engineers

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Ollis, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

variousengineering labs across the campus.Science, technology, society projectsAll students completed two science, technology, and society projects. Working in teamsof three and imitating the work in the “take-apart” lab, they studied an artifact of theHispanic world. Their task was to research and describe the historical significance andengineering importance of the artifact and then to explain how the artifact reflects theculture which produced it. The fruits of these activities were two group presentations inthe course of the semester –practicing the final methodology of the end project—and agroup paper in English to summarize their project in Sevilla, Spain, and inMilwaukee,Wisconsin, two cities seemingly disparate in culture.Evaluation and assessment

Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Non-Engineers

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jan DeWaters, Clarkson University; Susan Powers, Clarkson University; Mary Graham, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

affective domains, and is broadly categorized into the three dimensions ofknowledge, sensitivity/attitudes, and intentions/behaviors. Specifically, an energy literateindividual is one who: ‚ has a basic understanding of how energy is used in everyday life; ‚ has an understanding of the impact that energy production and consumption have on all spheres of our environment and society; ‚ is sensitive to the need for energy conservation and the need to develop alternatives to fossil fuel-based energy resources; ‚ is cognizant of the impact of personal energy-related decisions and actions on the global community; and ‚ strives to make choices and decisions that reflect these attitudes with respect to energy