International Technology Education Association Standards

Used with permission of the International Technology Education Association (ITEA).

Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology (STL) was developed by the International Technology Education Association's Technology for All Americans Project in 2000. STL articulates the necessary content to be taught in K–12 laboratory-classrooms to empower all students to develop technological literacy. Technological literacy is the ability to use, manage, understand, and assess technology. The standards were constructed around a cognitive base and a "learning by doing" activity base, and they also include assessment checkpoints at specific grade levels (K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12).

For the benefit of curriculum planning and lesson development, the resources and information offered here are aligned with the following ITEA Standards for Technological Literacy:

Standard 8: Students will develop an understanding of the attributes of design
E. Design is a creative planning process that leads to useful products
F. There is no perfect design and systems.
G. Requirements for a design are made up of criteria and constraints.

Standard 9: Students will develop an understanding of engineering design.
F. Design involves a set of steps, which can be performed in different sequences and repeated as needed.
G. Brainstorming is a group problem-solving design process in which each person in the group presents his or her ideas in an open forum.
H. Modeling, testing, evaluating, and modifying are used to transform ideas into practical solutions.

Standard 10: Students will develop an understanding of the role of troubleshooting, research and development, invention and innovation, and experimentation in problem solving.
G. Invention is a process of turning ideas and imagination into devices and systems. Innovation is the process of modifying an existing product or system to improve it.
H. Some technological problems are best solved through experimentation.

Standard 11: Students will develop abilities to apply the design process.
H. Apply a design process to solve problems in and beyond the laboratory-classroom.
I. Specify criteria and constraints for the design
J. Make two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of the designed solution.
K. Test and evaluate the design in relation to the pre- established requirements, such as criteria and constraints, and refine as needed.
L. Make a product or system and document the solution

Standard 12: Students will develop abilities to use and maintain technological products and systems.
I. Use tools, materials, and machines safely to diagnose, adjust, and repair systems.

Standard 13: Students will develop abilities to assess the impact of products and systems.
F. Design and use instruments to gather data.
G. Use data collected to analyze and interpret trends in order to identify the positive or negative effects of a technology.
H. Identify trends and monitor potential consequences of technological development.
I. Interpret and evaluate the accuracy of the information obtained and determine if it is useful.

View the standards list at http://www.iteaconnect.org/TAA/Publications/STL/STLListingPage.htm and the benchmarks at http://www.iteaconnect.org/TAA/Publications/STL/Benchmarks.pdf.

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Copyright November 2004 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.