Technology Education in the Classroom: Understanding the Designed World (Jossey-Bass Education) - Tapa dura

Acerca del autor

SENTA A. RAIZEN is director of the National Center for Improving Science Education. She is coauthor of The Future of Science in Elementary Schools. PETER SELLWOOD is president of Peter Sellwood Associates, an educational consultancy to schools, colleges, and industry. RON TODD is research professor at Trenton State College and a consultant in developing and administering innovating technology education programs in public schools. MARGARET VICKERS is director of the Center for Learning, Technology, and Work, a division of NETWORK, Inc.

De la contraportada

"Technology is not solely an application of science or mathematics. It is a worthy and challenging human activity in its own right with enormous potential for chidlren as they try to figure out how to make the world work. It emphasizes practical reasoning, a goal long neglected in American schools. If technology education is to be taken seriously for all children--and it should be--this book will be a major factor in showing the way."
--J. Myron Atkin, professor of education, Stanford University

"A superb contribution to the ongoing discussions of K-12 school reform. The authors present a clear definition of technology education and provide specific recommAndations for achieving the teacher education and curricula changes necessary for reaching integrated technology education in our schools."
-- John G. Truxal, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Department of Technology and Society, State University of New York at Stony Brook

De la solapa interior

Many groups, including the AAAS Project 2061, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Academy of Sciences are calling for improved technology education. In this book, the authors provide a vision of what a coherent K-12 technology education program for America's schools might look like and what it might achieve. They explain how to construct a series of multiyear courses or course sequences that give students direct experience in designing products, structures, and systems to meet individual and social needs. Their goal is to help students develop an understanding of the two-way interactions between society and technology that have influenced our civilization from earliest times, but especially over the last two or three centuries, and to familiarize students with the technologies they encounter at home and at work. When students engage in sophisticated problem solving and analysis, when they work with real materials and objects and learn their properties by using them, they are actively engaged in their education, whether they head for productive jobs in industry or decide to go on to college.The authors use classroom vignettes throughout the book to give specific examples of the ideas being discussed and make the materials approachable to a wide audience, from classroom teachers to federal policymakers.