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The following is an overview
of the modules in the 7th & 8th grade program. The first 5 modules are
part of the 7th grade program and the last 5 modules are part of the 8th
grade program.
MODULE: GETTING TO KNOW TECHNOLOGY
Goal:
Examining the historical evolution of technological innovation as a means
through which human needs
and wants are satisfied.
Performance Objectives:
1. Demonstrate how the evolution of physical, biologically related, and
information/ communication
aspects of technology led to the shift from an agriculturally-based...to
an industrially-based...to an
information-based society.
2. Give one example (from each of the three aspects of technology) of an
application of a modern tool,
device, or method which has evolved from simple beginnings and describe
how it has changed daily
routines and contributed to human progress.
3. Research examples of technological innovations from each of the three
aspects of technology which
satisfy needs and wants and model one of these innovations.
MODULE:
LEARNING WHAT RESOURCES ARE NEEDED FOR TECHNOLOGY
Goal:
Exploring and using the seven basic resources which are necessary for
technology
Performance
Objectives:
4.
Investigate the different forms of each resource category. Select one (or
more) resources) and
demonstrate
how it (they) can be used.
5.
Utilize the seven resources to produce a product, transport an object,
grow living material, communicate
an
idea, or utilize the seven resources to implement a process and describe
how full access to
resources
would have led to improved results.
6.
Identify technological alternatives which would be appropriate for two
nations (with differing non-renewable
resources)
to satisfy a given human need.
MODULE:
LEARNING HOW PEOPLE USE TECHNOLOGY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
Goal:
Exploring and experiencing how people can solve technological problems by
using a formalized problem
solving
“system.”
Performance
Objectives:
7.
Design and implement the optimal solution to a given technological problem
(which will involve
biologically-related
technology, information/communication technology and/or physical
technology)
and
use a formalized problem solving method.
8.
Identify constraints which prevent a technological problem from being
solved. Classify the constraints
as
those imposed by resource limitations, values, and/or attitudes of people
and scientific
principles.
MODULE:
LEARNING ABOUT SYSTEMS AND SUBSYSTEMS
Goal:
Becoming familiar with the structure ,function, components and control of
technological systems and
gaining
an understanding of the similarities that exist among physical,
information/ communication and
biologically
related technological systems.
Performance
Objectives:
9.
Model a system in biologically related, information/communication and
physical technology using
the
basic systems block diagram.
10.
Apply the technological systems model to the safe assembly or construction
and operation of a
system
which encompasses biologically related, information/ communication, and/or
physical technology.
11.
Add feedback to close the loop in an operable open-looped system and then
safely operate the system
in
order to bring actual results closer to desired results.
12.
Identify the subsystems of a modern, complex technological system from
each of the three aspects
of
technology and explain how they have been combined to generate the new
system resulting in
improved
or additional human capabilities.
MODULE:
LEARNING HOW TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Goal:
Understanding the positive and negative impacts of technology while
instilling the perception that people
must
assume the responsibility for adapting technology to the environment and
to the human user.
Performance
Objectives:
13.
Demonstrate (in one or more of the three aspects of technology) outputs
that are desired, undesired,
expected,
and unexpected.
14.
Identify instances of the lack of fit between the technological system and
the human user, identify
techniques
for improving the match between the technology, the human user, and the
human-made
environment,
and demonstrate alternatives in order to improve the match in one or more
of the
given
examples.
15.
Identify instances of the lack of fit between the technological systems
and the natural environment,
identify
techniques for improving the match between the technology and the natural
environment,
and
model alternatives in order to improve the match.
MODULE:
CHOOSING APPROPRIATE RESOURCES FOR TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
Goal:
Learning how to make informed choices in selecting the proper resources
for technological systems and
choosing
resources from seven resource categories.
Performance
Objectives:
16.
Identify needed resources and a range of possible alternative resources
that can be used to solve a
given
problem situation in each of the three aspects of technology.
17.
Investigate the properties of various synthetic, raw, and biological
materials through testing and
describe
why materials are often chosen on the basis of their properties.
18.
Substitute different resource inputs for those originally provided in a
functioning technological sys-tem, in order to optimize system outputs
within given constraints.
19.
Use a computer and appropriate computer software to access data about the
resources given in a
situation
relating to one or more of the performance objectives above.
MODULE:
HOW RESOURCES ARE PROCESSED BY TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
Goal:
Learning how resources are processed by technological systems to meet
human wants and needs and
solving
problems based on the conversion of energy, information, and materials
from one form to another.
Performance
Objectives:
20.
Perform a variety of traditional and modern material conversion processes
within each of the three
aspects
of technology.
21.
Process information and communicate a message using graphic, photographic,
or electronic means.
22.
Perform a variety of energy conversion processes within each of the three
aspects of technology.
23.
Process information using computer hardware and software to reach an
informed decision on a
problem
with several variables.
MODULE:
CONTROLLING TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
Goal:
Learning how technological systems are controlled in the three aspects of
technology by feedback in
closed-loop
systems or by subsystems such as timers or computer programs in open-loop
systems
Performance
Objectives:
24.
Describe examples graphically of open-loop and closed-loop systems in the
three aspects of technology.
25.
Demonstrate the use of human and technological sensors to monitor the
output of a process.
26.
Assemble and operate a closed-loop technological system when given plans
and access to necessary
equipment.
27.
Use a computer to control a technological system when given access to the
necessary hardware and
software.
MODULE:
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY: NOW AND IN THE FUTURE
Goal:
Learning the social and environmental impacts of technology on society
from a local, national, and glob-al perspective by accessing current and
future technological systems.
Performance
Objectives:
28.
Anticipate the consequences of a new technology using futuring techniques
when given an example
of
a technological system in each of the three aspects of technology.
29.
Describe how emerging technologies have created new jobs and made others
obsolete in each of
the
three aspects of technology.
30.
Propose alternative technological solutions to a local, national, and
global issue and model one of
the
alternatives.
MODULE:
USING SYSTEMS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
Goal:
Learning how to apply knowledge of systems to solve problems in
biologically related, communications/
information,
and physical technology and to combine various subsystems to provide
integrated solutions to realistic problems or challenges.
Performance
Objectives:
31.
Draw and label a systems diagram which depicts the systems approach
solution to a problem in
each
of the three aspects of technology.
32.
Use a systems approach to develop a technological solution to a
technological problem.
33.
Use the computer as a record keeping device to document progress while
developing an optimal
solution
to the problem proposed in performance objective
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