Technology Education
"Tell me, and I'll Forget.
Show me, and I may remember.
Involve me, and I'll understand"
Today's classrooms are filled with a diverse community of students from many different backgrounds, comprising various interests, prior knowledge, and learning abilities. The challenges of education have never been greater - all students approach us with unique needs that we must carefully meet. As part of a developed curriculum, technology education provides opportunities to engage students in learning where theoretical concepts are blended with application. In simple terms, technology education is unique in its ability to attract and educate learners in a way that is practical, interdisciplinary, and very hands on.
Defined as an integral part of the general education of each student, technology education is a comprehensive, activity-based program that is concerned with understanding the evolution, application, and significance's of technology as well as how concepts can be applied to meet human needs and wants. There are a variety of focuses in the technology education program that are pivotal towards helping students become technologically literate in the 21st century world in which they live and hope to thrive. One of the most important, enriching the academic experience within the technology education classroom, aims at helping students understand content more deeply by making very direct and deliberate connections to the ways in which all the subjects he or she is studying, both core and elective, are tied together. Without providing a student with this interdisciplinary approach to his academics, he or she risks the danger of not really understanding (or learning) the material from other classes well enough to properly blend content and make applications to real world problems. A real tragedy exists where successful passing grades still leave a student wondering where this knowledge fits into viable application. Technology education works to create this cohesion of academic subjects in its classroom theory and hands-on lab activities by pushing students to apply what they have learned in math, science, and other subjects. This application approach helps students to develop troubleshooting and problem-solving skills in an environment where theory truly does meet practical application. As students are given course activities and design problems that require critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, this process helps reinforce lifelong learning skills that will be reinforced at the post secondary level and ultimately required out in the job market. Understanding how subjects are intertwined is crucial in our attempt to educated the whole child.
Interestingly, experience has shown that as students begin to develop and achieve success in technical areas, this experience helps to build their confidence, self esteem, and understanding which naturally overflows into better successes in all courses; leading to better outcomes in the overall high school experience. Making sense of "Why this matters" is often the light that, once illuminated, better defines a students path forward.
Overall, technology education is more than an academic subject; it is a curriculum that helps students become aware of technical skills and talents they possess and how directly connected and reliant they are to all areas of academic study.
Simply put, Technology Education is a true compliment to the overall learning environment.