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[RETURN TO 5-14 ONLINE] [BACK] [INDEX] [NEXT] Section 5: Attainment Outcomes, Strands and Targets in Environmental Studies 5.16 Technology
Technology is a distinct form of creative activity where people interact with their environment to bring about change in response to needs, wants and opportunities. Technology is not new: it has always been profoundly influential in all human societies and impinges strongly on human relationships and on many aspects of social and economic development - locally, nationally and globally. It is an intrinsic part of all cultures, and reflects and shapes the values and beliefs of the wider cultural context - past, present and future.
A broad, balanced and coherent experience of technology is an essential part of the curriculum of all pupils 5-14 and beyond. Pupils will be better equipped to live purposefully, productively, confidently and wisely if they have been enabled to acquire and deploy a broadly based technological capability. That capability encompasses knowledge and understanding of appropriate concepts and processes; the ability to apply knowledge and skills by thinking and acting confidently, imaginatively, creatively and with sensitivity; and the ability to evaluate technological activities, artefacts and systems critically and constructively. These aspects of technological capability are summarised in Technology Education in Scottish Schools: a Statement of Position from Scottish CCC (Scottish CCC, 1996).
At the heart of technology education is the engagement of children with practical tasks that lead to products that serve a need, solve a problem or, in a word, `work'. To be successful at this, children need specific skills such as being able to measure and cut accurately and broader ones such as being able to work with other members of a team. Other abilities are important too, such as being able 'to see how things might be done'.
Teachers need to plan activities that will provide contexts within which children can develop these skills. Achieving a more rounded capability, however, will require that children 'learn about' as well as learn 'how to'. Children should know about needs and how these can be met, about possible resources that could be used and about the processes that are needed to turn resources into products that meet needs. Varied, interesting activities will help them develop knowledge and understanding of these, both through their own designing and making experiences and by relating what they do to what is evident in the real world. Skills and knowledge acquired in these ways provide, in turn, a basis on which they can develop informed attitudes. [RETURN TO 5-14 ONLINE] [BACK] [INDEX]
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