Technology Education In K 12: Revelations From Designing And Delivering A Robotics Lesson Plan For Pre Service Teachers
Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, Madhumi Mitra · 2020
In partnership with NASA, National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) and Bennett College for Women, University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) hosted the 11 th Pre-service Teacher Program.The program had two significant components: a) A national Preservice Teacher Conference (PSTC) held at Alexandria, VA, during February 16-18, 2006, that drew participation from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), HSIs(Hispanic Serving Institutions), TCUs ( Tribal Colleges and Universities) and majority universities with significant minority enrollment and b) An intensive two week Preservice Teacher Institute (PSTI) in the summer for a relatively small group of pre-service teachers held at NASA Langley for inspiring future K-12 teachers in the fields of mathematics, science, and technology education fields.This paper will focus on a robotics activity designed by the primary author for the PSTI.While designing the activity the technology education standards as proposed by ITEA (International Technology Education Association)/CTTE (Council on Technology Teacher Education) and ISTE (International Standard for Technology Education) were consulted and incorporated in the lesson.For the primary author, who is an engineering educator the experience revealed the confusion that prevails in the teacher education field with regard to "technology education" and its evolving standards.It is important for engineering educators to get involved and facilitate K-12 curricula development efforts based on these standards, and provide clarity to how "technology education" in the K-12 is related to vocational technology, instructional technology, mathematics, sciences, engineering and engineering technology.