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3. The Nature of Technology

  1. Technology and Science
    1. Kindergarten through Grade 2
    2. Grades 3 through 5
    3. Grades 6 through 8
    4. Grades 9 through 12
  2. Design and Systems
    1. Kindergarten through Grade 2
    2. Grades 3 through 5
    3. Grades 6 through 8
    4. Grades 9 through 12
  3. Issues in Technology
    1. Kindergarten through Grade 2
    2. Grades 3 through 5
    3. Grades 6 through 8
    4. Grades 9 through 12

As long as there have been people, there has been technology. Indeed, the techniques of shaping tools are taken as the chief evidence of the beginning of human culture. On the whole, technology has been a powerful force in the development of civilization, all the more so as its link with science has been forged. Technology—like language, ritual, values, commerce, and the arts—is an intrinsic part of a cultural system and it both shapes and reflects the system's values. In today's world, technology is a complex social enterprise that includes not only research, design, and crafts but also finance, manufacturing, management, labor, marketing, and maintenance.

In the broadest sense, technology extends our abilities to change the world: to cut, shape, or put together materials; to move things from one place to another; to reach farther with our hands, voices, and senses. We use technology to try to change the world to suit us better. The changes may relate to survival needs such as food, shelter, or defense, or they may relate to human aspirations such as knowledge, art, or control. But the results of changing the world are often complicated and unpredictable. They can include unexpected benefits, unexpected costs, and unexpected risks—any of which may fall on different social groups at different times. Anticipating the effects of technology is therefore as important as advancing its capabilities.

Science for All Americans

In the United States, unlike in most developed countries in the world, technology as a subject has largely been ignored in the schools. It is not tied to graduation requirements, has no fixed place in elementary education, is absent altogether in the college preparatory curriculum, and does not constitute part of the content in science courses at any level.

However, that situation is now changing. There is growing awareness that technology works in everyday life to shape the character of civilization. Design projects are becoming more evident in the elementary grades, and the transformation of industrial arts and other subjects into technology education is gaining momentum. And the Science-Technology-Society (STS) emphasis in the curriculum is gaining adherents.

The task ahead is to build technology education into the curriculum, as well as use technology to promote learning, so that all students become well informed about the nature, powers, and limitations of technology. As a human enterprise, technology has its own history and identity, quite apart from those of science and mathematics. In history, it preceded science and only gradually has come to draw on science—knowledge of how the natural world works—to help in controlling what happens in the world. In modern times, technology has become increasingly characterized by the interdependent relationships it has with science and mathematics. The benchmarks that follow suggest how students should develop their understanding of these relationships.

This chapter presents recommendations on what knowledge about the nature of technology is required for scientific literacy and emphasizes ways of thinking about technology that can contribute to using it wisely. Chapter 8: The Designed World presents principles relevant to some of the key technologies of today's world. Chapter 10: Historical Perspectives, includes a discussion of the Industrial Revolution. Chapter 12: Habits of Mind includes some skills relevant to participating in a technological world.


Technology is an overworked term. It once meant knowing how to do things—the practical arts or the study of the practical arts. But it has also come to mean innovations such as pencils, television, aspirin, microscopes, etc., that people use for specific purposes, and it refers to human activities such as agriculture or manufacturing and even to processes such as animal breeding or voting or war that change certain aspects of the world. Further, technology sometimes refers to the industrial and military institutions dedicated to producing and using inventions and know-how. In any of these senses, technology has economic, social, ethical, and aesthetic ramifications that depend on where it is used and on people's attitudes toward its use.

Sorting out these issues is likely to occur over many years as students engage in design and technology activities. First, they must use different tools to do different things in science and to solve practical problems. Through design and technology projects, students can engage in problem-solving related to a wide range of real-world contexts. By undertaking design projects, students can encounter technology issues even though they cannot define technology. They should have their attention called to the use of tools and instruments in science and the use of practical knowledge to solve problems before the underlying concepts are understood.


Young children are veteran technology users by the time they enter school. They ride in automobiles, use household utilities, operate wagons and bikes, use garden tools, help with the cooking, operate the television set, and so on. Children are also natural explorers and inventors, and they like to make things. School should give students many opportunities to examine the properties of materials, to use tools, and to design and build things. Activities should focus on problems and needs in and around the school that interest the children and that can be addressed feasibly and safely.

The task in these grades is to begin to channel the students' inventive energy and to increase their purposeful use of tools and—in the process—broaden their understanding of what constitutes a tool (a container, paper and pencil, camera, magnifier, etc.). Design and technology activities can be used to introduce students to measurement tools and techniques in a natural and meaningful manner. For example, five-year-olds have little trouble in designing and making things for their teddy bears built to an appropriate scale. Measurements should deal with magnitudes that are comprehensible to children of this age, which excludes, for example, the circumference of the earth or the diameter of a microbe.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that

  • Tools are used to do things better or more easily and to do some things that could not otherwise be done at all. In technology, tools are used to observe, measure, and make things. 3A/P1
  • When trying to build something or to get something to work better, it usually helps to follow directions if there are any or to ask someone who has done it before for suggestions. 3A/P2
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that

  • Tools are used to do things better or more easily and to do some things that could not otherwise be done at all. In technology, tools are used to observe, measure, and make things. 3A/P1
  • When trying to build something or to get something to work better, it usually helps to follow directions if there are any or to ask someone who has done it before for suggestions. 3A/P2

These years should build on the previous ones by increasing the sophistication of the design projects that students undertake. This approach entails students' increasing their repertoire of tools and techniques and improving their skills in measurement, calculation, and communication. Activities calling on the use of instruments such as microscopes, telescopes, cameras, and sound recorders to make observations and measurements are especially important for reinforcing the importance of the dependence of science on technology. Just as important, students should develop skill and confidence in using ordinary tools for personal, everyday purposes.

Students should begin now to write about technology, particularly about how technology helps people. Most of the complexities of the social consequences of the use of technology can wait, but students should begin to consider alternative ways of doing something and compare the advantages and disadvantages.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that

  • Throughout all of history, people everywhere have invented and used tools. Most tools of today are different from those of the past but many are modifications of very ancient tools. 3A/E1
  • Technology enables scientists and others to observe things that are too small or too far away to be seen otherwise and to study the motion of objects that are moving very rapidly or are hardly moving at all. 3A/E2
  • Measuring instruments can be used to gather accurate information for making scientific comparisons of objects and events and for designing and constructing things that will work properly. 3A/E3
  • Technology extends the ability of people to change the world: to cut, shape, or put together materials; to move things from one place to another; and to reach farther with their hands, voices, senses, and minds. The changes may be for survival needs such as food, shelter, and defense; for communication and transportation; or to gain knowledge and express ideas. 3A/E4
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that

  • Throughout all of history, people everywhere have invented and used tools. Most tools of today are different from those of the past but many are modifications of very ancient tools. 3A/E1
  • Technology enables scientists and others to observe things that are too small or too far away to be seen without them and to study the motion of objects that are moving very rapidly or are hardly moving at all. 3A/E2
  • Measuring instruments can be used to gather accurate information for making scientific comparisons of objects and events and for designing and constructing things that will work properly. 3A/E3
  • Technology extends the ability of people to change the world: to cut, shape, or put together materials; to move things from one place to another; and to reach farther with their hands, voices, senses, and minds. The changes may be for survival needs such as food, shelter, and defense, for communication and transportation, or to gain knowledge and express ideas. 3A/E4

Students can now develop a broader view of technology and how it is both like and unlike science. They do not easily distinguish between science and technology, seeing both as trying to get things (including experiments) to happen the way one wants them to. There is no need to insist on definitions, but students' attention can be drawn to when they are clearly trying to find something out, clearly trying to make something happen, or doing some of each.

Furthermore, as students begin to think about their own possible occupations, they should be introduced to the range of careers that involve technology and science, including engineering, architecture, and industrial design. Through projects, readings, field trips, and interviews, students can begin to develop a sense of the great variety of occupations related to technology and to science, and what preparation they require.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that

  • In earlier times, the accumulated information and techniques of each generation of workers were taught on the job directly to the next generation of workers. Today, the knowledge base for technology can be found as well in libraries of print and electronic resources and is often taught in the classroom. 3A/M1
  • Technology is essential to science for such purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information. 3A/M2
  • Engineers, architects, and others who engage in design and technology use scientific knowledge to solve practical problems. They also usually have to take human values and limitations into account. 3A/M3*
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that

  • In earlier times, the accumulated information and techniques of each generation of workers were taught on the job directly to the next generation of workers. Today, the knowledge base for technology can be found as well in libraries of print and electronic resources and is often taught in the classroom. 3A/M1
  • Technology is essential to science for such purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information. 3A/M2
  • Engineers, architects, and others who engage in design and technology use scientific knowledge to solve practical problems. But they usually have to take human values and limitations into account as well. 3A/M3

In addition to participating in major design projects to deepen their understanding of technology, students now should be helped to develop a richer sense of the relationships linking technology and science. That can come from reflection on the project experiences and from a study of the history of science and technology. Certain episodes in the history of science illustrate the importance of technology to science and the difficulty of clearly separating science and technology. The Industrial Revolution is especially important in this regard.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

  • Technological problems and advances often create a demand for new scientific knowledge, and new technologies make it possible for scientists to extend their research in new ways or to undertake entirely new lines of research. The very availability of new technology itself often sparks scientific advances. 3A/H1*
  • Mathematics, creativity, logic, and originality are all needed to improve technology. 3A/H2
  • Technology usually affects society more directly than science does because technology solves practical problems and serves human needs (and also creates new problems and needs). 3A/H3a*
  • One way science affects society is by stimulating and satisfying people's curiosity and enlarging or challenging their views of what the world is like. 3A/H3b*
  • Engineers use knowledge of science and technology, together with strategies of design, to solve practical problems. Scientific knowledge provides a means of estimating what the behavior of things will be even before they are made. Moreover, science often suggests new kinds of behavior that had not even been imagined before, and so leads to new technologies. 3A/H4** (SFAA)
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

  • Technological problems often create a demand for new scientific knowledge, and new technologies make it possible for scientists to extend their research in new ways or to undertake entirely new lines of research. The very availability of new technology itself often sparks scientific advances. 3A/H1
  • Mathematics, creativity, logic and originality are all needed to improve technology. 3A/H2
  • Technology usually affects society more directly than science because it solves practical problems and serves human needs (and may create new problems and needs). In contrast, science affects society mainly by stimulating and satisfying people's curiosity and occasionally by enlarging or challenging their views of what the world is like. 3A/H3

Engineering is the professional field most closely, or at least most deliberately, associated with technology. Engineers solve problems by applying scientific principles to practical ends. They design instruments, machines, structures, and systems to accomplish specified ends, and must do so while taking into account limitations imposed by time, money, law, morality, insufficient information, and more. In short, engineering has largely to do with the design of technological systems.

Perhaps the best way to become familiar with the nature of engineering and design is to do some. By participating in such activities, students should learn how to analyze situations and gather relevant information, define problems, generate and evaluate creative ideas, develop their ideas into tangible solutions, and assess and improve their solutions. To become good problem solvers, students need to develop drawing and modeling skills, along with the ability to record their analyses, suggestions, and results in clear language.

Gradually, as students participate in more sophisticated projects, they will encounter constraints and the need for making trade-offs. The concept of trade-off in technology—and more broadly in all social systems—is so important that teachers should put it into as many problem-solving contexts as possible. Students should be explicit in their own proposals about what is being traded off for what. They should learn to expect the same of others who propose technical, economic, or political solutions to problems.

Feedback should be another main concept learned in the study of technological systems. Students are likely to encounter it often in biology, physiology, politics, games, conversation, and even when operating tools and machines. Students should also learn that technologies always have side effects and that all technological systems can fail. These ideas can be introduced in simple form early and gradually become more prominent in the upper grades. Just as with trade-off and feedback, these new concepts should be encountered in a variety of contexts. Daily newspapers provide an inexhaustible supply of examples to analyze.


Children should design and make things with simple tools and a variety of materials. They should identify a need or opportunity of interest to them, and then plan, design, make, evaluate, and modify the design with appropriate help. They might need help identifying problems that are both interesting to them and within their capabilities. After they gain experience working through one problem, they may find their next design project easier and feel more confident about trying it.

One design consideration to be introduced right away is constraints. Safety, time, cost, school policy, space, availability of materials, and other realities restrict student projects. Teachers can point out that adults also face constraints when they design things, and that the real challenge, for adults or children, is to devise solutions that give good results in spite of the restrictions. In the early grades, children may be inclined to go with their first design notion with little patience for testing or revision. Where possible, they should be encouraged to improve their ideas, but it is more important that they develop confidence in their ability to think up and carry out design projects. When their projects are complete, students can tell what they like about one another's designs.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that

  • People may not be able to actually make or do everything that they can design. 3B/P1
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that

  • People may not be able to actually make or do everything that they can design. 3B/P1

Students should become increasingly comfortable with developing designs and analyzing the product: "Does it work?" "Could I make it work better?" "Could I have used better materials?" The more experience students accrue, the less direct guidance they need. They should realize early that cooperative efforts and individual initiative are valuable in spotting and ironing out design glitches. They should begin to enjoy challenges that require them to clarify a problem, generate criteria for an acceptable solution, suggest possible solutions, try one out, and then make adjustments or start over with a newly proposed solution.

As students undertake more extensive design projects, emphasis should be placed on the notion that there usually is not one best design for a product or process, but a variety of alternatives and possibilities. One way to accomplish this goal is to have several groups design and execute solutions to the same problem and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. Ideally, the problems should be "real" and engaging for the students.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that

  • There is no perfect design. Designs that are best in one respect (safety or ease of use, for example) may be inferior in other ways (cost or appearance). Usually some features must be sacrificed to get others. 3B/E1*
  • Even a good design may fail. Sometimes steps can be taken ahead of time to reduce the likelihood of failure, but it cannot be entirely eliminated. 3B/E2
  • The solution to one problem may create other problems. 3B/E3
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that

  • There is no perfect design. Designs that are best in one respect (safety or ease of use, for example) may be inferior in other ways (cost or appearance). Usually some features must be sacrificed to get others. How such trade-offs are received depends upon which features are emphasized and which are down-played. 3B/E1
  • Even a good design may fail. Sometimes steps can be taken ahead of time to reduce the likelihood of failure, but it cannot be entirely eliminated. 3B/E2
  • The solution to one problem may create other problems. 3B/E3

An idea to be developed in the middle grades is that complex systems require control mechanisms. The common thermostat for controlling room temperature is known to most students and can serve as a model for all control mechanisms. But students should explore how controls work in various kinds of systems—machines, athletic contests, politics, the human body, learning, etc. At some point, students should try to invent control mechanisms, which need not be mechanical or electrical, that they can actually put into operation.

The concept of side effects can be raised at this time, perhaps by using actual case studies of technologies (antibiotics, automobiles, spray cans, etc.) that turned out to have unexpected side effects. Students should also meet more interesting and challenging constraints as they work on design projects. Also, students should become familiar with many actual examples of how overdesign and redundancy are used to deal with uncertainty.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that

  • Design usually requires taking into account not only physical and biological constraints, but also economic, political, social, ethical, and aesthetic ones. 3B/M1*
  • All technologies have effects other than those intended by the design, some of which may have been predictable and some not. 3B/M2a
  • Side effects of technologies may turn out to be unacceptable to some of the population and therefore lead to conflict between groups. 3B/M2b
  • Almost all control systems have inputs, outputs, and feedback. 3B/M3a
  • The essence of control is comparing information about what is happening to what people want to happen and then making appropriate adjustments. This procedure requires sensing information, processing it, and making changes. 3B/M3bc
  • In almost all modern machines, microprocessors serve as centers of performance control. 3B/M3d
  • Systems fail because they have faulty or poorly matched parts, are used in ways that exceed what was intended by the design, or were poorly designed to begin with. 3B/M4a
  • The most common ways to prevent failure are pretesting of parts and procedures, overdesign, and redundancy. 3B/M4b
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that

  • Design usually requires taking constraints into account. Some constraints, such as gravity or the properties of the materials to be used, are unavoidable. Other constraints, including economic, political, social, ethical, and aesthetic ones, limit choices. 3B/M1
  • All technologies have effects other than those intended by the design, some of which may have been predictable and some not. In either case, these side effects may turn out to be unacceptable to some of the population and therefore lead to conflict between groups. 3B/M2
  • Almost all control systems have inputs, outputs, and feedback. The essence of control is comparing information about what is happening to what people want to happen and then making appropriate adjustments. This procedure requires sensing information, processing it, and making changes. In almost all modern machines, microprocessors serve as centers of performance control. 3B/M3
  • Systems fail because they have faulty or poorly matched parts, are used in ways that exceed what was intended by the design, or were poorly designed to begin with. The most common ways to prevent failure are pretesting parts and procedures, overdesign, and redundancy. 3B/M4

Adequate time should be spent fleshing out the concepts of resources (tools, materials, energy, information, people, capital, time), systems, control, and impacts introduced in earlier grades. Students should also move to higher levels of critical and creative thinking through progressively more demanding design and technology work. They need practice as individuals and as members of a group in developing and defining ideas using drawings and models.

New concepts to be introduced in high school include risk analysis and technology assessment. Students should become aware that designed systems are subject to failure but that the risk of failure can be reduced by a variety of means: overdesign, redundancy, fail-safe designs, more research ahead of time, more controls, etc. They should also come to recognize that these precautions add costs that may become prohibitive, so that few designs are ideal.

Because no number of precautions can reduce the risk of system failure to zero, comparing the estimated risks of a proposed technology to its alternatives is often necessary. The choice, usually, is not between a high-risk option and a risk-free one, but comes down to making a trade-off among actions, all of which involve some risk.

Students should realize that analyzing risk entails looking at probabilities of events and at how bad the events would be if they were to happen. Through surveys and interviews, students can learn that comparing risks is difficult because people vary greatly in their perception of risk, which tends to be influenced by such matters as whether the risk is gradual or instantaneous (global warming versus plane crashes), how much control people think they have over the risk (cigarette smoking versus being struck by lightning), and how the risk is expressed (the number of people affected versus the proportion affected).

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

  • In designing a device or process, thought should be given to how it will be manufactured, operated, maintained, replaced, and disposed of and who will sell, operate, and take care of it. The costs associated with these functions may introduce yet more constraints on the design. 3B/H1
  • The value of any given technology may be different for different groups of people and at different points in time. 3B/H2
  • Complex systems have layers of controls. Some controls operate particular parts of the system and some control other controls. Even fully automatic systems require human control at some point. 3B/H3
  • Risk analysis is used to minimize the likelihood of unwanted side effects of a new technology. The public perception of risk may depend, however, on psychological factors as well as scientific ones. 3B/H4
  • The more parts and connections a system has, the more ways it can go wrong. Complex systems usually have components to detect, back up, bypass, or compensate for minor failures. 3B/H5
  • To reduce the chance of system failure, performance testing is often conducted using small-scale models, computer simulations, analogous systems, or just the parts of the system thought to be least reliable. 3B/H6
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

  • In designing a device or process, thought should be given to how it will be manufactured, operated, maintained, replaced, and disposed of and who will sell, operate, and take care of it. The costs associated with these functions may introduce yet more constraints on the design. 3B/H1
  • The value of any given technology may be different for different groups of people and at different points in time. 3B/H2
  • Complex systems have layers of controls. Some controls operate particular parts of the system and some control other controls. Even fully automatic systems require human control at some point. 3B/H3
  • Risk analysis is used to minimize the likelihood of unwanted side effects of a new technology. The public perception of risk may depend, however, on psychological factors as well as scientific ones. 3B/H4
  • The more parts and connections a system has, the more ways it can go wrong. Complex systems usually have components to detect, back up, bypass, or compensate for minor failures. 3B/H5
  • To reduce the chance of system failure, performance testing is often conducted using small-scale models, computer simulations, analogous systems, or just the parts of the system thought to be least reliable. 3B/H6

More and more, citizens are called on to decide which technologies to develop, which to use, and how to use them. Part of being prepared for that responsibility is knowing about how technology works, including its alternatives, benefits, risks, and limitations. The long-term interests of society are best served when key issues concerning proposals to introduce or curtail technology are addressed before final decisions are made. Students should learn how to ask important questions about the immediate and long-range impacts that technological innovations and the elimination of existing technologies are likely to have. But intelligent adults disagree about wise use of technology. Schooling should help students learn how to think critically about technology issues, not what to think about them. Teachers can help students acquire informed attitudes on the various technologies and their social, cultural, economic, and ecological consequences. When teachers do express their personal views (to demonstrate that adults can have well-informed opinions), they should also acknowledge alternative views and fairly state the evidence, logic, and values that lead other people to have those views.

Understanding the potential impact of technology may be critical to civilization. Technology is not innately good, bad, or neutral. Typically, its effects are complex, hard to estimate accurately, and likely to have different values for different people at different times. Its effects depend upon human decisions about development and use. Human experience with technology, including the invention of processes and tools, shows that people have some control over their destiny. They can tackle problems by searching for better ways to do things, inventing solutions and taking risks.

Case studies of actual technologies provide an excellent way for students to discuss risk. There is a vast array of topics: the Aswan High Dam, the contraceptive pill, steam engines, pesticides, public-opinion polling, penicillin, standardized parts, refrigeration, nuclear power, fluoridated water, and hundreds more. Teachers and students can assemble case-study material or use commercially developed case studies. Good design projects and case studies can help students to develop insight into experience.


Design projects give students interesting opportunities to solve problems, use tools well, measure things carefully, make reasonable estimations, calculate accurately, and communicate clearly. And projects also let students ponder the effects their inventions might have. For example, if a group of the children in a class decides to build a large shallow tank to create an ocean habitat, the whole class should discuss what happens if the tank leaks, whether this project interferes with other projects or classroom activities, whether there are other ways to learn about ocean habitats, and so forth. More generally, young children can begin to learn about the effects that people have on their surroundings.

Students at this level are old enough to see that solving some problems may lead to other problems, but the social impact matters should not be pressed too hard now. That might overemphasize constraints and take much of the fun out of doing simple projects by requiring too much analysis.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that

  • People, alone or in groups, are always inventing new ways to solve problems and get work done. The tools and ways of doing things that people have invented affect all aspects of life. 3C/P1
  • When a group of people wants to build something or try something new, they should try to figure out ahead of time how it might affect other people. 3C/P2
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that

  • People, alone or in groups, are always inventing new ways to solve problems and get work done. The tools and ways of doing things that people have invented affect all aspects of life. 3C/P1
  • When a group of people wants to build something or try something new, they should try to figure out ahead of time how it might affect other people. 3C/P2

Students can become interested in comparing present technology with that of earlier times, as well as the technology in their everyday lives with that of other places in the world. They can imagine what life would be like without certain technology, as well as what new technology the future might hold. Reading about other civilizations or earlier times than their own will illustrate the central role that different technologies play. Students may get involved in current campaigns related to technology—saving energy, recycling materials, reducing litter, and the like. Waste disposal may be a particularly comprehensible and helpful topic in directing their attention to the side effects of technology.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that

  • Technology has been part of life on the earth since the advent of the human species. 3C/E1a
  • Like language, ritual, commerce, and the arts, technology is an intrinsic part of human culture, and it both shapes society and is shaped by it. 3C/E1b
  • The technology available to people greatly influences what their lives are like. 3C/E1c
  • Any invention is likely to lead to other inventions. Once an invention exists, people are likely to think up ways of using it that were never imagined at first. 3C/E2
  • Transportation, communications, nutrition, sanitation, health care, entertainment, and other technologies give large numbers of people today the goods and services that once were luxuries enjoyed only by the wealthy. These benefits are not equally available to everyone. 3C/E3
  • Factors such as cost, safety, appearance, environmental impact, and what will happen if the solution fails must be considered in technological design. 3C/E4*
  • Technologies often have drawbacks as well as benefits. A technology that helps some people or organisms may hurt others—either deliberately (as weapons can) or inadvertently (as pesticides can). 3C/E5*
  • Because of their ability to invent tools and processes, people have an enormous effect on the lives of other living things. 3C/E6
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that

  • Technology has been part of life on the earth since the advent of the human species. Like language, ritual, commerce, and the arts, technology is an intrinsic part of human culture, and it both shapes society and is shaped by it. The technology available to people greatly influences what their lives are like. 3C/E1
  • Any invention is likely to lead to other inventions. Once an invention exists, people are likely to think up ways of using it that were never imagined at first. 3C/E2
  • Transportation, communications, nutrition, sanitation, health care, entertainment, and other technologies give large numbers of people today the goods and services that once were luxuries enjoyed only by the wealthy. These benefits are not equally available to everyone. 3C/E3
  • Scientific laws, engineering principles, properties of materials, and construction techniques must be taken into account in designing engineering solutions to problems. Other factors, such as cost, safety, appearance, environmental impact, and what will happen if the solution fails also must be considered. 3C/E4
    In the current version of Benchmarks Online, the first sentence of this benchmark has been moved to grades 6-8 and recoded as 3C/M8**
  • Technologies often have drawbacks as well as benefits. A technology that helps some people or organisms may hurt others either deliberately (as weapons can) or inadvertently (as pesticides can). When harm occurs or seems likely, choices have to be made or new solutions found. 3C/E5
  • Because of their ability to invent tools and processes, people have an enormous effect on the lives of other living things. 3C/E6

To enrich their understanding of how technology has shaped how people live now, students should examine what life was like under different technological circumstances in the past. They should become aware that significant changes occurred in the lives of people when technology provided more and better food, control of sewage, heat and light for homes, and rapid transportation. Studying the past should engender respect for the inventions and constructions of earlier civilizations and cultures.

Both historical and literary approaches ought to be used to imagine what the future will bring and to reflect on people's somewhat limited ability to predict the future. Science fiction and novels set in future times suggest changes in human life that might occur because of yet uninvented technology. Stories selected for this purpose should raise many different issues regarding the impact of technology, and students should probe beneath the plot to analyze those issues. Student groups can formulate and compare their own scenarios for some future time—say, when they are adults.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that

  • Technology cannot always provide successful solutions to problems or fulfill all human needs. 3C/M2*
  • Throughout history, people have carried out impressive technological feats, some of which would be hard to duplicate today even with modern tools. The purposes served by these achievements have sometimes been practical, sometimes ceremonial. 3C/M3
  • Technology is largely responsible for the great revolutions in agriculture, manufacturing, sanitation and medicine, warfare, transportation, information processing, and communications that have radically changed how people live and work. 3C/M4*
  • New technologies increase some risks and decrease others. Some of the same technologies that have improved the length and quality of life for many people have also brought new risks. 3C/M5
  • Rarely are technology issues simple and one-sided. Relevant facts alone, even when known and available, usually do not settle matters. That is because contending groups may have different values and priorities. They may stand to gain or lose in different degrees, or may make very different predictions about what the future consequences of the proposed action will be. 3C/M6*
  • Societies influence what aspects of technology are developed and how these are used. People control technology (as well as science) and are responsible for its effects. 3C/M7
  • Scientific laws, engineering principles, properties of materials, and construction techniques must be taken into account in designing engineering solutions to problems. 3C/M8** (BSL)
  • In all technologies, there are always trade-offs to be made. 3C/M9** (BSL)
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that

  • The human ability to shape the future comes from a capacity for generating knowledge and developing new technologies—and for communicating ideas to others. 3C/M1
  • Technology cannot always provide successful solutions for problems or fulfill every human need. 3C/M2
  • Throughout history, people have carried out impressive technological feats, some of which would be hard to duplicate today even with modern tools. The purposes served by these achievements have sometimes been practical, sometimes ceremonial. 3C/M3
  • Technology has strongly influenced the course of history and continues to do so. It is largely responsible for the great revolutions in agriculture, manufacturing, sanitation and medicine, warfare, transportation, information processing, and communications that have radically changed how people live. 3C/M4
  • New technologies increase some risks and decrease others. Some of the same technologies that have improved the length and quality of life for many people have also brought new risks. 3C/M5
  • Rarely are technology issues simple and one-sided. Relevant facts alone, even when known and available, usually do not settle matters entirely in favor of one side or another. That is because the contending groups may have different values and priorities. They may stand to gain or lose in different degrees, or may make very different predictions about what the future consequences of the proposed action will be. 3C/M6
  • Societies influence what aspects of technology are developed and how these are used. People control technology (as well as science) and are responsible for its effects. 3C/M7

As suggested earlier, the real-world work of students as supplemented by case studies probably provides the most effective way to examine issues related to how society responds to the promise or threat of technological change—whether by adopting new technologies or curtailing the use of existing ones. What must be avoided by teachers is turning the case studies into occasions for promoting a particular point of view. People tend to hold very strong opinions on the use of technologies, and not only of nuclear reactors and genetic engineering. The teacher's job is not to provide students with the "right" answers about technology but to see to it that students know what questions to ask.

Students can also add detail to their awareness of the effects of the human presence on life. For instance, they should be able to cite several examples of how the introduction of foreign species has changed an ecosystem. Out of this should come an awareness that people can make some decisions about what life on earth will survive and a sense of responsibility about exercising power. Students also should learn that people cannot shape every aspect of life to their own liking.

For example, most Americans recognize that technology has provided new goods and services, but not that industrialization of agriculture, by eliminating the need for children to work in the fields, made it possible for them to attend school, thereby increasing the general educational level of the population. These kinds of social impacts should be studied as well as those that affect human health and the environment.

Current Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

  • Social and economic forces strongly influence which technologies will be developed and used. Which will prevail is affected by many factors, such as personal values, consumer acceptance, patent laws, the availability of risk capital, the federal budget, local and national regulations, media attention, economic competition, and tax incentives. 3C/H1
  • Some scientists and engineers are comfortable working in situations in which some secrecy is required, but others prefer not to do so. It is generally regarded as a matter of individual choice and ethics, not one of professional ethics. 3C/H2*
  • In deciding on proposals to introduce new technologies or curtail existing ones, some key questions arise concerning possible alternatives, who benefits and who suffers, financial and social costs, possible risks, resources used (human, material, or energy), and waste disposal. 3C/H3*
  • The human species has a major impact on other species in many ways: reducing the amount of the earth's surface available to those other species, interfering with their food sources, changing the temperature and chemical composition of their habitats, introducing foreign species into their ecosystems, and altering organisms directly through selective breeding and genetic engineering. 3C/H4
  • Human inventiveness has brought new risks as well as improvements to human existence. 3C/H5
  • The human ability to influence the course of history comes from its capacity for generating knowledge and developing new technologies—and for communicating ideas to others. 3C/H6** (BSL)
1993 Version of the Benchmarks Statements

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

  • Social and economic forces strongly influence which technologies will be developed and used. Which will prevail is affected by many factors, such as personal values, consumer acceptance, patent laws, the availability of risk capital, the federal budget, local and national regulations, media attention, economic competition, and tax incentives. 3C/H1
  • Technological knowledge is not always as freely shared as scientific knowledge unrelated to technology. Some scientists and engineers are comfortable working in situations in which some secrecy is required, but others prefer not to do so. It is generally regarded as a matter of individual choice and ethics, not one of professional ethics. 3C/H2
  • In deciding on proposals to introduce new technologies or to curtail existing ones, some key questions arise concerning alternatives, risks, costs, and benefits. What alternative ways are there to achieve the same ends, and how do the alternatives compare to the plan being put forward? Who benefits and who suffers? What are the financial and social costs, do they change over time, and who bears them? What are the risks associated with using (or not using) the new technology, how serious are they, and who is in jeopardy? What human, material, and energy resources will be needed to build, install, operate, maintain, and replace the new technology, and where will they come from? How will the new technology and its waste products be disposed of and at what costs? 3C/H3
  • The human species has a major impact on other species in many ways: reducing the amount of the earth's surface available to those other species, interfering with their food sources, changing the temperature and chemical composition of their habitats, introducing foreign species into their ecosystems, and altering organisms directly through selective breeding and genetic engineering. 3C/H4
  • Human inventiveness has brought new risks as well as improvements to human existence. 3C/H5

VERSION EXPLANATION

During the development of Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2, Project 2061 revised the wording of some benchmarks in order to update the science, improve the logical progression of ideas, and reflect the current research on student learning. New benchmarks were also created as necessary to accommodate related ideas in other learning goals documents such as Science for All Americans (SFAA), the National Science Education Standards (NSES), and the essays or other elements in Benchmarks for Science Literacy (BSL). We are providing access to both the current and the 1993 versions of the benchmarks as a service to our end-users.

The text of each learning goal is followed by its code, consisting of the chapter, section, grade range, and the number of the goal. Lowercase letters at the end of the code indicate which part of the 1993 version it comes from (e.g., “a” indicates the first sentence in the 1993 version, “b” indicates the second sentence, and so on). A single asterisk at the end of the code means that the learning goal has been edited from the original, whereas two asterisks mean that the idea is a new learning goal.

Copyright © 1993,2009 by American Association for the Advancement of Science