By Ellen Chaffee 

The technology education program at VCSU has a new partnership with the Boston Museum of Science and its National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®). NCTL creates curriculum materials and advocates for technological literacy; VCSU creates the teachers who can make it happen in the schools.
National interest is growing rapidly in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) because the US economy depends on having many talented people in these fields. This initiative focuses on the T and the E – technology and engineering.
Massachusetts has state standards in this area, saying, “Technology/engineering seeks different ends from those of science. Engineering strives to design and manufacture useful devices or materials, defined as technologies, whose purpose is to increase our efficacy in the world and/or our enjoyment of it. Can openers are technology, as are microwave ovens, microchips, steam engines, camcorders, safety glass, zippers, polyurethane, the Golden Gate Bridge, much of Disney World, and the “Big Dig” in Boston. Each of these, and innumerable other examples of technology/engineering, emerges from the scientific knowledge, imagination, persistence, talent, and ingenuity of its practitioners. Each technology represents a designed solution, usually created in response to a specific practical problem.”
The national Standards for Technological Literacy state that students need to learn more in each of five categories:
* The nature of technology.
* Technology and society.
* The nature of engineering.
* The ability to apply the engineering design process.
* The ability to understand, select, and use modern technologies.
The National Governors Association is one of the groups promoting STEM initiatives, saying that the U.S. must improve the capacity of its schools to harness the creativity of young people and encourage them to study and pursue careers in engineering and science.
Similarly, the National Research Council has said, “Without high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs and the innovative enterprises that lead to discovery and new technology, our economy will suffer and our people will face a lower standard of living.”—Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (NRC, 2005, page 1)
Are we encouraging everyone to become an engineer? Not at all. All of us, and especially those whose lives will take them well into the 21st Century, need to have a higher level of technological literacy. A report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council put it well.
“As far into the future as our imaginations take us, we will face challenges that depend on the development and application of technology. Better health, more abundant food, more humane living and working conditions, cleaner air and water, more effective education, and scores of other improvements in the human condition are within our grasp. But none of these improvements are guaranteed, and many problems will arise that we cannot predict. To take full advantage of the benefits and to recognize, address, or even avoid the pitfalls of technology, Americans must become better stewards of technological change.”—Technically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology (NAE and NRC, 2002 page 12).