Page 132 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

APPENDIX B 117

the following quote attributed to the famous engineer Theodore von Karman: The scientist seeks to
understand what is, the engineer seeks to create what never was (Petroski, 1997).

Additional insights about the relationship between science and technology in education and the distinct
role of engineering emerges from a series of papers delivered at UNESCO conferences in the 1970s on
the question of how to organize science and technology education in developing countries. For example,
Harold Foecke, then director of pre-university science and technology education for UNESCO, urged
attendees to teach science and technology together as basic education for all students. He made the
distinction between science and technology (and between scientist and engineer) as one of motivating
forces [goals], processes, and products:

Motivating forces [goals]: In science to know, explain, and predict, and in technology to find new
and better ways of doing things;

Processes: In science the research process proceeds from the particular to the general, and in
technology the design, problem-solving or decision-making process proceeds from the general to the
particular; and

Products: Science results in new knowledge about the natural and man-made worlds while
technology produces new materials, devices, techniques, processes, and systems to serve human
needs.

Another of Foecke’s themes concerns the role of engineers in society. In one paper, he lists many of the
problems that plague humankind—natural disasters, shortages of food and water, disease, air and water
pollution, and so on.

With respect to these human problems the scientists’ role is to find out what is. The technologist’s role
is to determine what can be, and the engineer’s role is to recommend what should be. Because the
engineer’s role in decision-making may profoundly affect society, engineers need to be well educated
in the humanities and social sciences as well as in science, mathematics, and engineering design”
(Foecke, 1970).

A third theme that emerges from this literature is a strategy for including science and technology as
distinct but related subjects for all citizens. In Fifty Years of UNESCO Leadership in Science and
Technology Education, Foecke (1995) explains that the introduction of technology as part of general
education grew out of earlier efforts by UNESCO to integrate various fields of science into courses of
study that have practical value at all pre-university levels. However, initial efforts to introduce
technology as separate courses in the curriculum were resisted because they were incorrectly perceived as
“vocational,” and some educators thought they were inappropriate for college-bound students.
Consequently, UNESCO adopted a strategy of integrating technology education and science education,
while preserving the distinctions between science and technology. We will return to the question of
strategy later. First, we will look at technology and engineering in current national and state standards
documents.

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