Teaching Elements and Principles of Bridge Design - International ...

FEATURE ARTICLE
execution. Inherent in this paradigm
are powerful learning activities that
the modern tech ed teacher should
be capable of articulating in the
classroom. Students should be
challenged to evaluate and debate
the environmental pros and cons of a
variety of technologies. Here are
some representative technologies a
tech ed teacher should be well
versed in and prepared to discuss
and stimulate debate around:
• Trains and rail transportation
• The automobile
• Electric power generation
• Biotechnology
• Micro miniaturization of
electronics/nanotechnology
• Nuclear power
• Solar energy
Invention and Innovation: The
Innovation Process
The creation of new products and
services should be viewed and
respected for the multi-dimensional
challenge and multi-disciplinary
solution process that it is. I know of
no better way to naturally integrate
the curricula than to have students
engage in frequent, open-ended
design challenges. Tech ed teachers
should grasp that:
• Innovation equals invention +
market thrust.
• Technical and non-technical
aspects of a problem must be
resolved and blended.
• High quality questions tend to yield
high quality, and more robust,
solutions.
• Planning a new product is as
important as attempting to execute
implementation.
• Innovation is inherently an iterative
activity.
• An arsenal of creativity techniques
can be used to generate possible
solutions.
• Out-of-the-box thinking is always in
vogue.
• The unique perspective often wins
in the marketplace.
• Innovation is a high-risk process,
and failure is common.
Intellectual Property
In the globally competitive
marketplace, what a company knows
is as important as what it owns.
Aspiring tech ed teachers should:
• Know what patents are.
• Be familiar with how inventors
keep log books.
• Have been involved in invention
challenges in both team and
individual settings.
• Know how to search patents on
the Internet.
• Be able identify both past and
current inventors and what they
have accomplished.
• Be aware of the economic value of
patents.
Invention
A tech ed teacher should be prepared
to use the invention experience as a
true curriculum integrator. Requests
for invention related in-class talks
and teacher in-service seminars has
kept me busy for the last five years.
It is a highly popular topic as it
engages the head and hands of the
students and allows them to
participate in open-ended, teambased,
exercises. Aspiring tech ed
teachers should:
• Understand how marketplace
wishes for new products and
services jump-start the invention
process.
• Conduct exercises in class
whereby student inventors learn
how to compile their thinking in an
inventor’s log book.
• Appreciate how, along with the
invention logbook, inventors
compile their strategies about how
to market their inventions.
• How selecting and staffing the
invention team is as important as
creating the invention (here the
teacher should be able to mix head
and hand learners for maximum
effect).
• Be able to freely identify and
discuss famous U.S. inventors and
their accomplishments.
• Document the growth of various
technologies that have had a major
influence on American life (light
bulb, electronic circuit
miniaturization, personal
computer...etc.).
• Use timelines to show how various
inventions influenced each other
and other segments of society.
Technical Career Considerations
Skill Sets For Success
There are definable skill sets for
success in the twenty-first century
workplace. Most of them are directly
related to the seismic shift away
from a machine to an information
economy, one where great value is
placed upon higher-order thinking
skills. A competent tech ed teacher
should be able to take the key skills
listed below and relate them back to
work being done in the classroom on
a daily basis:
• The ability to connect and
interrelate subject matter
• Good oral and written
communication skills
• Logical and intuitive analytical
skills
• Planning and organization skills
• Interpersonal and team player skills
• Being able to turn ideas into reality
and to manage that process
• Understanding markets and what
customers want
• The capability to learn and re-learn
effectively and efficiently
The Benefits of a Technical
Career
Tech ed students, like all others,
require career guidance. The tech ed
teacher should be able to articulate
the benefits of a technical career and
relate them back to classroom
activities. Specifically, the tech ed
teacher should be able to discuss
how a technical career path:
• Relates to other careers.
• Influences starting and long-term
average salaries.
• Requires life-long learning.
The tech ed teacher should also be
able to present:
• Examples of well-known Americans
who have pursued technical
careers.
38 April 2005 • THE TECHNOLOGY TEACHER