Green is a question with varying answers and sometimes no answer at all. It is a question of location, resources, people, environment, and money. As green really has no end point, a teacher's goal should be to teach students to question and consider green. In this article, the author provides several useful metrics to help technology teachers…

At a high school level, sometimes students can perceive math as simply another step towards graduation and learn just what is needed to get by. If realistic examples were used more often in classroom settings, then teachable moments would happen--and that is where inspiration can be fostered. This article provides thoughts and ideas behind the…

All too often, one reads about high-speed police chases in pursuit of stolen cars that result in death and injury to people and innocent bystanders. Isn't there another way to accomplish the apprehension of the thieves that does not put people at such great risk? This article presents a classroom challenge to use technology to remotely shutdown…

After many years of using the mouse and keyboard as the primary means of computer input, people are seeing a strong surge into a new generation of input technologies such as tablet PCs. As more professionals adopt tablet PCs for use in the workplace, there is a subsequent increased demand for tablet PC instruction in the classroom. Examples of…

Watching a radio-controlled car zip along a sidewalk or street has become a common sight. Within this toy are the basic ingredients of a mobile robot, used by industry for a variety of important and potentially dangerous tasks. In this challenge, students consider modifying an of-the-shelf, radio-controlled car, adapting it for a robotic task.

Over the past three years, the authors have conducted research in middle and high school classrooms in an effort to improve the effectiveness of robotics to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education--their focus has been on math. The authors have found that subtle changes in the design and setup of the lesson make a…

For all students to become successful, productive citizens in the future, it is apparent that they must be well educated in technology. Those students who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have further to go in attaining that education because they often do not have the capabilities at home to practice technology nor do they have the…

This article aims to examine if technology education is getting close to the destination of technological literacy for all in the United States. People now live at a point where all those interested in technological literacy must take a critical, unrelenting look at the profession's history, research base, and contemporary practice. Here, the…

Synectics is a creative problem-solving process developed by William J. J. Gordon and George Prince in the 1960s (Gordon, 1961). A result of Gordon and Prince observing brainstorming sessions that achieved varying levels of success, Synectics outlines the processes that people can use to help them overcome mental blocks while working on difficult…

This article presents an interview with Michael Hacker and David Burghardt, codirectors of Hoftra University's Center for Technological Literacy. Hacker and Burghardt address issues related to technology and engineering. They argue that teachers need to be aware of the problems kids are facing, and how to present these problems in an engaging…

In classroom settings, most problems are usually well defined, so students have little experience with open-ended problems. Technological design problems, however, are seldom well defined. The design process begins with broad ideas and concepts and continues in the direction of ever-increasing detail, resulting in an acceptable solution. So using…

Technology teacher educators across the nation are considering what changes will be made to their pre-service teacher education programs to implement the standards in Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) (ITEA, 2000/2002) and to help future teachers learn to develop and teach curriculum that is based on those standards (Custer & Wright,…

When one mentions the word engineering, most people think immediately of high-tech items such as computers, or large-scale projects such as bridges, buildings, and roads. While these products represent the products of engineering, there are clear challenges to having students work directly on any of these projects in the context of a science…

A technologically literate individual should be able to use, manage, and understand technological concepts and systems. A technologically literate individual should also have the capacity to design, develop, control, use, and assess technological systems and processes. These abilities are essential elements of the universals of technology, as…

The availability of digital media technology for consumer use has increased students' exposure to technology that was once limited primarily to educational and business environments. As students become more adept consumers and developers of digital media, their expectations in the classroom increasingly involve digital media as an instructional…