Design and technology (D&T) is taught in most primary (5-11 year old children) and secondary schools (11-16 year olds) in England. Seen by some as a relatively new subject (White, 2011), some of its origins lie in craft tradition and domestic skills. This is partly reflected in classroom activities where children design and make, usually in…

Creating a community rather than an institution is a goal that all educators should strive to meet. To do this, school districts try to unify their student bodies by bringing attention to an obstacle too many children face--bullying. In the Technology and Education (TE) classroom, topics involving bullying can be difficult to include in everyday…

The importance of design and technology (D&T) education has been advocated by numerous researchers over the last three decades. For instance, Nigel Cross suggests that in design education, there are ill-defined problems and "designerly ways of knowing" (2006). Today D&T in school education is employed globally and the common…

Computational thinking is an important and necessary way of thinking for computer programmers and other professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Research on emerging practices around computational thinking that is developed through coding initiatives in schools reports that elementary children typically learn how…

Technology and Engineering (T&E) education has traditionally included safety as a core component of its curriculum and instruction. Recommendations for safety instruction can be found in manual arts and industrial arts documents (Christy, 1938). Safety was emphasized across all grade levels, including the elementary grades (Miller & Boyd,…

The International Technology and Engineering Educators Association's (ITEEA's) "Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy" ("STEL") describes design thinking as an approach that allows students and educators to integrate other content areas by considering relevant contextual information to guide design and making…

This is the nineteenth in a series of articles entitled "The Legacy Project." The Legacy Project focuses on the lives and actions of leaders who have forged the technology and engineering teaching profession into what it is today. Members of the profession owe a debt of gratitude to these leaders. One simple way to demonstrate that…

Underwater robots (or ROVs: Remotely Operated Vehicles as they are typically called in industry) have recently become a very popular instructional STEM activity. Nationally, ROVs have been used in science and technology classrooms for several years in cities such as Seattle, San Diego, Virginia Beach, and other coastal areas. In the past two…

Within the past few years there has been an increasing emphasis on making computer science (CS) more accessible for all K-12 students. In 2013 there were 12 states that allowed CS courses to count towards high school graduation, and in 2018 that number had grown to 35 states plus the District of Columbia (Code.org, 2018). Due to the increasing…

Teachers can find opportunities to incorporate design thinking and scientific inquiry within any lesson where a constraint of the design can be connected to a scientific experiment. Within a lesson, this connection establishes context between engineering and science and can positively impact students' learning and interest in these subjects. The…

Exposing students to the application of math and science through a design-based activity can make them more technologically literate and teach integration between the STEM disciplines at an early age. This article discusses an activity that originated as a portion of a green residential house project conducted by the authors with their high school…

Can engineering technology be taught at the elementary level? Designing and building trebuchets, catapults, solar cars, and mousetrap vehicles in a west central Florida elementary class was considered very unusual in recent years. After a review of current research on failing schools and poor curriculum, the author wondered what her school could…

Technology and engineering education continues to evolve as it becomes more apparent that students need this information to become more successful in college and careers. The International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA ) has tracked the status of technology education in the United States in three separate studies over the…