Trends and issues in technology education in the USA: Lessons for the Caribbean

Abstract

This paper traces various developments in technology education at the turn of the 21st century in the USA. It begins by highlighting issues that were being discussed in the 1990s among the technology education community, and the efforts by the science and engineering communities to help shape the content of technology education. The efforts of the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) to create standards for technological literacy in 2000 and supporting standards for assessment and professional development in 2003 are discussed. The recommendations from the report Technically Speaking and the impact it had in defining how a technologically literate person is characterized are also presented. This paper also examines the work of the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) from 2005-2012 in spearheading an understanding of how engineering design can be infused in schools, and also how students learn engineering design. The role of pre-engineering curricula in STEM education is examined, and the various curricula that are being used in technology education classrooms since the publication of the Standards for Technological Literacy are also traced. Finally, lessons that the Caribbean can learn from the recent evolution of technology education in the USA are discussed