Industrial technology as the content base for industrial arts¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The guide argues that industrial arts should draw its content from industrial technology rather than industry as a whole. It defines industry as "a societal institution that develops and uses technology" and industrial technology as "the systematized knowledge derived from the nature, the principles and practices, the products, the services, and energies employed by industry." The premise responds to 1960s curriculum innovations seeking a more suitable content base, citing arguments that technology is emerging as a distinct discipline while industry is not.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Content must be drawn from the dominant systems of industry: communications, energy, and production

Constraints¶

• Industrial arts should not assume the entire spectrum of technology as its content base, since technological specialties such as medical and agricultural technology exist

Target Learners¶

• K-12 industrial arts students

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Understanding of the technical, consumer, occupational, and cultural aspects of industry and technology

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• General goals of industrial arts: career emphasis and industrial-technological emphasis
• Career cluster concept for organizing industrial arts study

Examples¶

• Level-differentiated emphases: awareness, exploration, specialization
• Louisiana middle-school communications industrial arts curriculum guide (drafting, electricity-electronics, graphic arts, photography)

Key Sources¶

• The Iowa Guide for Curriculum Improvement in Industrial Arts, K-12. A Study of Industrial Technology. (1975). Iowa State Dept. of Public Instruction. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED113517