Citizenship and Technology

Citizenship and technology

The study of technology can contribute to education for citizenship by enabling pupils to come to a range of conclusions including those based on the impact that technology and technological change have on society as a whole. It can encourage and develop pupils' capacities to debate the social, ethical and cultural implications of technology for individuals and businesses.

Technology can provide a base for the study of issues relating to sustainability and the environmental consequences of design, manufacture, choice of material and product life. It also has wider links to values and issues of health and safety, for example looking at the social value of products and identifying the needs and values of users when designing a product.

Through investigation and research, pupils learn to evaluate information from a wide variety of differing sources to put this information into the context of technologies and their effects on society to form an opinion based on the findings.

Pupils studying technology should have the opportunity for experiential learning and critical thinking to enable them to justify decisions, work co-operatively and participate actively.

Explore what citizenship can add to your technology classes through:

• learning and teaching approaches
• sharing practice
• citizenship themes.