By Jerianne S. Taylor, Ed. D., Richard E. Peterson, Ed. D., and Jeremy Ernst
Career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) serve as an integral part of many career and technical education (CTE) programs across the country. Their activities and competitions make up many of the strongest CTE programs due to their co-curricular nature. With memberships ranging from tens of thousands to almost a half million, it is hard not to acknowledge their benefit to our society and the educational system.
A career and technical student organization is a powerful instructional tool that works best when integrated into the career and technical education curriculum and classroom by an instructor who is committed to the total development of the student. Data from a study related to the Technology Student Association (TSA), one of the 10 CTSOs, suggests that involvement in CTSO activities allows students to develop skills such as problem solving, creativity and teamwork as well as increase their understandings related to the Standards for Technological Literacy. Even given the CTSOs’ benefits, many teachers still find it hard to merge both the CTSO and the curriculum with the many demands and time constraints of the school day. Yet through the support of the National Science Foundation, it is now easier. The TECH- know project has completed its first set of integrated instructional materials based on 20 of the TSA activities. Through these units of instruction, teachers will be able to bring the competitive event as well as the standards-based concepts into the classroom in a timely and effective way.
The TECH-know Project is an instructional materials grant (NSF # 0095726) funded by the National Science Foundation. In August 2001, North Carolina State University received a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to develop standards-based instructional materials for 20 Technology Student Association (TSA) activities. The TECH-know project represents a significant collaboration between selected state departments, universities, businesses and TSA.
During the past three years, 144 technology education teachers, technology teacher educators, TSA Curriculum Resource Committee members and business representatives from across the country have worked together to develop high-quality standards-based units of instruction that reflect the Standards for Technological Literacy, National Science Education Standards, Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and TSA activities.
During the first three years, technology education teachers from North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma and Florida developed, piloted and field tested the units of instruction each fall. The TECH-know Project has developed 20 units of instruction based on TSA activities. These TSA activities include:
Middle School Units
- Agriculture and Biotechnology Challenge
- Cyberspace Pursuit
- Digital Photography
- Dragster Design Challenge
- Environmental Challenge
- Flight Challenge
- Mechanical Challenge
- Medical Technology Challenge
- Structural Challenge
- Transportation Challenge
High School Units
- Agriculture and Biotechnology Design
- Desktop Publishing
- Film Technology
- Manufacturing Prototype
- Medical Technology Design
- Radio Controlled Transportation
- Scientific Visualization
- Structural Engineering
- System Control
- Technology Challenge
Since the TECH-know instructional units are standards based, they have the potential to encourage broader integration of TSA activities in the classroom. As TECH-know enters the publication phase, it is important that the technology education community understand its value to the field. Through TECH-know, technology education unites theory and application. The project combines the activities that technology education teachers value with the standards that define the field.
Each TECH-know unit consists of a student edition and teacher’s guide. The content in each instructional unit reflects the TSA activity, Standards for Technological Literacy, Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, and the National Science Education Standards.
The Student Edition contains vignettes and the contextual information related to the TSA activity. The vignettes are timely and reflect the concepts related to the TSA activity. The units of instruction are not designed to be a how-to-do the TSA activity, but rather a why we do the TSA activity. For example, the Design Brief focuses on the specific TSA activity, but places it in manageable context so that the students can complete the activity in class.
The Student Edition is divided into the following sections:
- Scope of Technology
- Summary Objectives
- Science that Works
- Math that Works
- Technology that Works
- TECH-know Map
- Technology and Society
- History that Works
- Case Study
- The World of (unit name)
- Design Brief
- Connections to Deepen Meaning
- Everyday People
- Key Terms
The Teacher’s Guide contains an instructional overview, lesson plans, activities, resources, student worksheets, background information, assessment rubrics, PowerPoint presentations and a resource CD. Each lesson is centered around the concepts of TSA activities and integrates science, math and technology content standards.
During the pilot process, the TECH-know Project collected data that supported the need for implementation and integration of these units in technology education classrooms across the country. Pre and post assessments by unit show gains for the units each of the three years. Students also experienced gains in scientific, mathematical and technological concepts in each TECH-know instructional unit.
Evaluation methods used in the TECH-know units present evidence that the units provide appropriate materials and instruction for both genders and all ethnic groups identified. Ethnicity was determined by seven categorical breakdowns: African American, American Indian, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, other and no response. Gain by gender data reveals that in 16 of the units, female gains are at a higher level than their male counterparts. More than half of the units allowed special populations (students with Individual Education Plans and 504 plans) to have equal or greater gains than general education students. Thirteen of the 18 units reporting data on economically disadvantaged students (students identified as receiving aid from lunch programs) showed comparable gains to general education students.
Combining the TSA activities and standards-based learning in an effective manner provides the potential for all students to succeed in science, mathematics and technology education. Throughout the pilot and field test of these units, student comments have suggested that these units enable students to get excited about learning, doing and thinking right here in the technology education classroom.
One Agricultural and Biotechnology Design student comments, “The project provided a chance to learn about a particular biotechnology science and taught us why that science is important to our lives. The project also showed us how the technology is being used to help and benefit our lives today and in the future.”
A Radio Controlled Transportation student adds, “The TECH-know project proved to be very educationally beneficial in understanding the concepts of physics and their application in the R/C transportation TSA event—specifically, the mathematics in determining voltage and calculating speed from rpm and wheel diameter. The information presented was all important; however, the manner in which it was presented with respect to application in the real world was much more valuable.”
A Dragster Design Challenge student sums the project up best: “I learned you can learn math, reading and science all in one period.”
By interweaving science, math and technology, the TECH-know Project is opening the door for integration with academic areas.
Other students note that, through the TECH-know Project, they realized the importance of problem solving and teamwork.
“It also helped because of the fact that, when the groups finished and observed the results in all of the groups, we wanted to go back and do it better than the first time we did it.... Problem solving is also easier with a group than with yourself,” explains a Film Technology student.
Character education even found its way into the TECH-know project. Ideals such as responsibility and the feeling of success were highlighted in many of the middle school comments such as this one: “It is really cool watching your car from a block of wood form into a winning dragster. Also knowing you made this dragster all by yourself. This takes some responsibility.”
TSA will mature and grow because of the TECH-know Project and the commitment of all the teachers involved in the project and TSA. Students will have the opportunity to become more technologically literate through the integration of these materials.
The TECH-know units of instruction provide teachers the opportunity to be successful by integrating TSA activities and the Standards for Technological Literacy in a fun and exciting context. Students are able to make connections to math, science and technology while enhancing their understanding of the concepts embedded in the TSA activities. By incorporating standards-based materials centered around the TSA activities, students become actively engaged in higher-order thinking and problem solving in a real-world context.
For further exploration, here are some of the sources for this article.
High School Technology Activities: The Official TSA Competitive Events Guide 2004-2005 (2004); and Middle School Technology Activities: The Official TSA Competitive Events Guide 2004-2005 (2003), GW Publishing, Reston, Va.
National Science Education Standards (1996), National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
TECH-know Integrated Instructional Materials for Technological Literacy: Second Year Report (April 2002), and TECH-know Integrated Instructional Materials for Technological Literacy: Third Year Report (April 2003), by R.E. Peterson and J. Taylor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
TECH-know Integrated Instructional Materials for Technological Literacy: Project Summary Proposal (2000), by R.E. Peterson, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000), The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Reston, Va. (www.nctm.org)
Overview of Career and Technical Education (2nd ed.) (2001), by J. Scott and M. Sarkees-Wircenski, Homewood: American Technical Publishers, Inc. (www.go2atp.com)
Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology (2000), International Technology Education Association, Reston, Va. (www.iteawww.org)
An Analysis of the Variables that Affect Technological Literacy as Related to Selected Technology Student Association Activities (2004), unpublished doctoral dissertation by J.S. Taylor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
Jerianne S. Taylor, Ed.D., jerianne_taylor@ncsu.edu, is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Math, Science and Technology Education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.
Richard E. Peterson, Ed.D., richard_peterson@ncsu.edu, is an associate professor in the Department of Math, Science and Technology Education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. He is also the principal investigator for TECH-know.
Jeremy Ernst is a doctoral student in the Department of Math, Science and Technology Education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.
- Techniques April 2005 Issue - 
