designerly thinking: a tool for citizenship in a democratic society

摘要

For as long as the profession of technology and engineering education (TEE) has existed (the addition of engineering to the professional title marks the official beginning of the profession, and that occurred in 2010), there has been a struggle. Arguably, this struggle's roots go back to the beginning of public education in the U.S. The struggle, specifically within TEE, is based on the question: Is the purpose of technology and engineering education to provide career and vocational value to the education of some students, or is it to provide the universal value of technological literacy to the education of all students? How we answer that question is dependent on a range of factors. One significant influence is how we perceive the purpose of public education in a democracy. To the field of TEE, the value placed on Standards for Technological Literacy (STL); (International Technology Education Association, 2000) molds how we answer that question. As Litowitz (2014) found in his study of TEE teacher preparation programs, STL's impact on shaping the nature of what we teach about technology, why we teach what is taught, and how we ultimately go about teaching about technology has been significant. The acceptance of STL has formed the basis of how individual teachers have been answering this question for almost a generation.