Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Technology Education

Volume

16

Issue

2

Publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Publication Date

2005

First Page

34

Last Page

51

Abstract

This article addresses the challenges posed by engineering design as a content area of technology education. What adjustments will technology teachers have to make in their approach to teaching and learning when they teach design as engineering in response to the new standards? How faithful to engineering as practiced must their approach be? There is already some advocacy in the literature that greater attention will need to be paid to mathematics and science, where these subjects underpin design. Cotton (2002) proposed that mathematical theories should be applied to design in technology education classrooms, and that students should be encouraged to use mathematics to predict the outcomes of their designs. Neumann (2003) suggested that students should spend more time engaged in research and redesign activities, as is the case in British schools. Roman (2001) encouraged an integrative approach to design that incorporates mathematics and applied science, in keeping with the cross-cutting nature of engineering. Afoot here is a discourse on curriculum integration that raises challenging questions for the field, including whether technology teachers as normatively trained are equipped to venture into the teaching of engineering design.

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