The International Technology and Engineering Educators Association's STEM±Center for Teaching and Learning™ has developed the only standards-based national model for
Grades K-12 that delivers technological literacy. The model,
Engineering byDesign™ is built on Standards
for Technological Literacy (ITEEA); Principles
and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM); and Project
2061, Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS).
 Built
on the constructivist model, students participating in the
program learn concepts and principles in an authentic, problem-based
environment. A network of teachers (EbD™ Network) has
been selected to collaborate and conduct action research in
order to better understand the complexities of student learning
and to help all students succeed and be prepared for the global
society in which they will grow up.
Mission
We live in a technological world. Living in
the twenty-first century requires much more from every individual
than a basic ability to read, write, and perform simple mathematics.
Technology affects every aspect of our lives, from enabling
citizens to perform routine tasks to requiring that they be
able to make responsible, informed decisions that affect individuals,
our society, and the environment.
Citizens of today must have a basic understanding
of how technology affects their world and how they exist both
within and around technology. Technological literacy is fundamentally
important to all students. Technological processes have become
so complex that the community and schools collaborate to provide
a quality technology program that prepares students for a
changing technological world that is progressively more dependent
on an informed, technologically literate citizenry.
Vision
The ITEEA model technology program is committed
to providing technological study in facilities that are safe
and facilitate creativity, enabling all students to meet local,
state, and national technological literacy standards. Students
are prepared to engage in additional technological study in
the high school years and beyond. Students will be prepared
with knowledge and abilities to help them become informed,
successful citizens who are able to make sense of the world
in which they live. The technology program also enables students
to take advantage of the technological resources in their
own community.
Goals
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Provide a standards-based K-12 program that
ensures that all students are technologically literate.
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Provide opportunities for all students without
regard to gender or ethnic origin.
-
Provide clear standards and expectations
for increasing student achievement in math, science, and
technology.
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Provide leadership and support that will
produce continuous improvement and innovation in the program.
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Restore America's status as the leader in
innovation. Provide a program that constructs learning from
a very early age and culminates in a capstone experience
that leads students to become the next generation of technologists,
innovators, designers, and engineers.
Organizing Principles
The program is organized around seven principles.
These principles are very large concepts that identify major
content organizers for the program. In order of importance,
the seven organizing principles are:
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Engineering through design improves life.
-
Technology has and continues to affect everyday
life.
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Technology drives invention and innovation
and is a thinking and doing process.
-
Technologies are combined to make technological
systems.
-
Technology creates issues that change the
way people live and interact.
-
Technology impacts society and must be assessed
to determine if it is good or bad.
-
Technology is the basis for improving on
the past and creating the future.
STEM and IT Pathways
The EbD™ Program is a model used by schools developing
themes in the STEM and IT Clusters that are seeking to increase
all students' achievement in technology, science, mathematics,
and English through authentic learning. The program is built
on constructivist models and creates awareness and competence
over time as it builds on learned knowledge and skills--aligning
closely with the Cluster Knowledge and Skills in both the STEM
and IT Clusters.
The EbD™ Program was designed to maintain integrity through
two delivery scenarios.
Pathway program, where schools adopt the articulated sequence
of courses in a STEM and/or an IT-themed academy.
Modularizing the components and adapting the design themes
to support the STEM, IT, or other academy models. In this scenario,
as in many career-themed academy models, some modification is
required to ensure themes are aligned with the Cluster Knowledge
and Skills. |
