Our modern information age requires people to interact with technology daily. Technology so impacts our decisions in the areas of career, home, personal affairs, and government, that technological literacy has been called the new basic in education. Technological literacy is the ability to interact successfully with technology, to assess the impact of technology on everyday life and make appropriate decisions, and to apply conceptual knowledge to solve problems. Technology education is a comprehensive, experience-based educational program designed to develop a population that is knowledgeable about technology, its evolution, systems, techniques, utilization, and social and cultural significance. Technology education as a subject area is taught in an active laboratory setting rich with hands-on multi-sensory experiences. Such a laboratory setting has abundant opportunities for varied and multiple methods of student assessment. Therefore, student assessment in technology education will account for the variety of ways in which students demonstrate achievement of the learner outcomes. In Grades 9-12, it provides students with opportunities to learn about, to explore, and to apply technology to solve problems and meet human needs. Emphasis is placed on actual laboratory activities. Students taking technology education courses: Acquire the knowledge needed to be technologically literate in order to interact successfully with technology, assess the impact of technology, and solve technical problems. Interact with new and emerging technologies through the study of technological systems. Use higher order competencies, such as critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, organizational effectiveness, and technological literacy to solve problems relating to engineering invention and innovation. Integrate academic and career competencies. The next four pages include the new courses for Grades 9-12. These courses focus on students at all ability levels. All four courses are Category 1 courses (offered at every high school). Exploring Technological Concepts is a ninth grade course that has been developed to parallel the ninth grade physical science course under development. It will be tied to this course so students will experience the hands-on application of the science concepts being taught. The concepts of science, mathematics, language arts and social studies integrate themselves naturally into all of the courses listed. The remaining three courses, Communications Systems Technology, Technological Innovations, and Pre-Engineering are considered advanced technology courses. These courses will also receive Certificate of Merit credit.

[ Exploring Technological Concepts ] [ Pre-Engineering ]
[ Communications Systems Technology ] [ Technological Innovations ]

Maintained by Steve Mikulski, Instructional Specialist Division of Career and Technology Education. Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Maryland. Entire contents © copyright 1996-2005. All Rights Reserved. Last Modified: January, 2005