Technology and Engineering are Both Addressed through Technology Education.

Technology education has had its directions as a school subject influenced by changes in society, the economy, politics, and homeland threats. The philosophy and curriculum content for technology education has had certain turning points due to these changes. As we move through the twenty-first century, outside factors and internal research will continue to impact our school subject. A critical factor that will influence what we will teach is the field and profession of engineering. Technology education, as an applied school subject, had its roots in educational strategies developed in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These were the eras where practical activity was included in the school curriculum to establish contexts to make learning meaningful. These practices were similar to those of John Dewey in his experimental school in the early twentieth century. These practices and their accompanying educational philosophies sought practical activity to reinforce the application of what was taught. During these earlier eras, the nations of the world were agriculturally based, so students experimented in the garden and forest. As the developed countries moved from an agricultural base to an industrial base, entrepreneurs wanted public schools to better prepare workers for their industrial workforces. The U.S. Morrill Act of 1862 created land-grant colleges that sought variance from the strict liberal arts curriculum (composition, literature, mathematics, social sciences, humanities, and sciences) to include mechanical arts and agriculture. If one prepared to be a technology education teacher at a land-grant university during the twentieth century, he/she learned in laboratories established for the study of the mechanical arts, which later became engineering. The philosophy of the faculty at the land-grant universities during the twentieth century determined the technical nature and its depth of content and skill that were needed to prepare to be a technology education teacher (then industrial arts or industrial education teacher). Some teacher education candidates enrolled in the same laboratory classes as their engineering counterparts. As technology education evolved during the twentieth century, there were public school programs that moved toward technical preparation, while some attempted to study the broad bases of technology, i.e., Warner, Olson, and DeVore. Although technology education was heavily influenced by vocational education, with its inclusion in U.S. legislation for vocational education, some technology educators continued to maintain a general education focus in their technology education laboratories. In 1958, the United States enacted legislation, the National Defense Education Act, which was intended to boost the nation's literacy in technical and scientific education. This strategically occurred to bring the U.S. into the space race. Russia had launched Sputnik I in 1957. Again, a call for technical competence in American schools was heard. During the 1960s, the U.S. Office of Education established funds for the creation of innovative programs in industrial education (then considered trade and industrial education and industrial arts education). Although many of these innovations were directed at improving the technical education of high school graduates, a vocational thrust, some, such as American Industry Project (University of Wisconsin-Stout), Industrial Arts Curriculum Project (Ohio State University), and the Maryland Plan (University of Maryland) developed broad-based technological literacy programs that studied the major industries of the time. Included in their curriculum were product engineering and design. Students were taught to role-play engineers and designers. Research and development was now included in the technology education curriculum. A major result of these best-practices demonstration programs was their influence on state technology education curriculum frameworks. …