Page 131 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

116 STANDARDS FOR K–12 ENGINEERING EDUCATION?

means of estimating what the behavior of things will be even before we make them or observe them.
Moreover, science often suggests new kinds of behavior that had not even been imagined before, and
so leads to new technologies. Engineers use knowledge of science and technology, together with
strategies of design, to solve practical problems. (AAAS, 1990, p. 23–24)

The definition of technology and its proposed role in the schools was further developed in Benchmarks
for Science Literacy (AAAS, 1993):

Technology is an overworked term. It once meant knowing how to do things—the practical arts or the
study of the practical arts. But it has also come to mean innovations such as pencils, television,
aspirin, microscopes, etc., that people use for specific purposes, and it refers to human activities such
as agriculture or manufacturing and even to processes such as animal breeding or voting or war that
change certain aspects of the world. Further, technology sometimes refers to the industrial and
military institutions dedicated to producing and using inventions and know-how. (AAAS, 1993, p. 43)

In The National Science Education Standards ([NSES]; NRC, 1996), technology was given a prominent
place in science education, and a distinction was made between scientific inquiry and technological
design:

Although these are science education standards, the relationship between science and technology
is so close that any presentation of science without developing an understanding of technology
would portray an inaccurate picture of science. (NRC, 1996, p. 190)

As used in the Standards, the central distinguishing characteristic between science and technology is a
difference in goal: The goal of science is to understand the natural world, and the goal of technology
is to make modifications in the world to meet human needs. Technology as design is included in the
Standards as parallel to science as inquiry. (NRC, 1996, p. 24)

NSES also differentiated the roles of scientists and engineers:

Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions
relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations. (NSES, p. 166)

In contrast to the science documents, which define technology broadly, mathematics documents define
technology much more narrowly as electronic tools:

Calculators and other technological tools, such as computer algebra systems, interactive geometry
software, applets, spreadsheets, and interactive presentation devices, are vital components of a high-
quality mathematics education. With guidance from effective mathematics teachers, students at
different levels can use these tools to support and extend mathematical reasoning and sense making,
gain access to mathematical content and problem-solving contexts, and enhance computational
fluency. In a well-articulated mathematics program, students can use these tools for computation,
construction, and representation as they explore problems. The use of technology also contributes to
mathematical reflection, problem identification, and decision making. (NCTM, 2008)

In brief, mathematics documents use the term “technology” to refer to modern electronic tools. They do
not typically refer to engineering at all, except as one of many fields that require mathematics. The
science frameworks use the term “technology” to refer to all of the ways natural materials are modified to
meet human needs and desires. Mathematics documents distinguish between science and technology,
and scientists and engineers, primarily by differences in their goals. This distinction is concisely stated in

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