Page 116 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

APPENDIX B 101

Science (splits into Chemistry and Introductory Physics at the high school level), and
Technology/Engineering. The strands are treated equally in state policies, such as course credit
for graduation, licensure, and state testing. Each strand is made up of 6 to 9 topics; each topic has
2 to10 standards.

Influential Reference Documents
The development of the initial 1996 MA Science and Technology Curriculum Framework drew
upon the nation’s seminal standards documents for science education, including the National
Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and the Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy (AAAS,
1993), as well as the 1996 NAEP Science Framework (USED, 1996). For the 2001 MA Science
and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework, the NRC and AAAS documents were
once again used as references with the 2000 NAEP Science Framework (USED, 2000) and
Standards for Technological Literacy (ITEA, 2000) added as core references. In addition, policy
factors the led to the articulation of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) were
considered, specifically the expectation that content would be a central focus.

For the expected 2011 revision of the framework, the seminal science and technology education
documents are again being used as references, substituting the 2009 NAEP Science Framework
(USED, 2008) and adding references being developed by Achieve, Inc., that analyze
international benchmarks.

1996 Framework Technology Topics and Sample Standards
With references and advocacy from both the science and technology education communities, the
technology topics in the initial 1996 framework reflect the combined STS and technology
education perspectives:

1996 Technology Topics (high school)
• The design process
• The nature and impact of technology
• Technology yesterday, today, and tomorrow
• The tools and machines of technology
• Resources of technology
• Technological areas of communication, construction, manufacturing, transportation, power,
and bio-related technologies

Figure 1 High school technology topics in the 1996 MA Science and Technology Curriculum
Framework.

These combined perspectives are also found in the specific standards:

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