New York State Education Performance Indicators in Technology

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTIONS

ENGINEERING DESIGN

Engineering design is an iterative process involving modeling and optimization used to develop technological solutions to problems within given constraints.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Identify needs and opportunities for technical solutions from an investigation of situations
• Locate and utilize a range of printed, electronic, and human information resources
• Consider constraints and generate several ideas for alternative solution, using group and individual ideation techniques (group discussion, brainstorming, forced connections, role play); defer judgment until a number of ideas have been generated; evaluate (critique) ideas; and explain why the chosen solution is optimal.
• Develop plans, including drawings with measurements and details of construction, and construct a model of the solution, exhibiting a degree of craftsmanship
• Test their solutions against design specifications, present and evaluate results, describe how the solution might have been modified for different or better results, and discuss tradeoffs that might have to be made

STANDARD 2: 

TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Technological tools, materials, and other resources should be selected on the basis of safety, cost, availability, appropriateness, and environmental impact; technological processes change energy, information, and material resources into more useful forms.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Choose and use resources for a particular purpose based upon an analysis and understanding of their properties, costs, availability, and environmental impact
• Use a variety of hand tools and machines to change materials into new forms through forming, separating, and combining processes, and processes which cause internal change to occur
• combine manufacturing processes with other technological processes to produce, market, and distribute a product

STANDARD 3:

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and knowledge.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Use a computer system to connect to and access needed information from various Internet sites
• Use computer hardware and software to draw and dimension prototypical designs
• Use a computer as a modeling tool
• Use a computer system to monitor and control external events and/or systems

TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS

Technological systems are designed to achieve specific results and produce outputs, such as products, structures, services, energy, or other systems.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Select appropriate technological systems on the basis of safety, function, cost, east of operation, and quality of post-purchase support
• Describe how subsystems and system elements (inputs, processes, outputs) interact within systems
• Describe how system control requires sensing information, processing it, and making changes.

STANDARD 5: 

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology has been the driving force in the evolution of society from an agricultural to an industrial to an informational base.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Describe how the evolution of technology led to the shift in society from an agricultural base to an industrial base to an information base
• Understand the contributions of people of different genders, races, and ethnic groups to technological development
• Describe how new technologies have evolved as a result of combining existing technologies (e.g., photography combined optics and chemistry; the airplane combined kite and glider technology with a lightweight gasoline engine).

STANDARD 6: 

IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology can have positive and negative impacts on individuals, society, and the environment and humans have the capability and responsibility to constrain or promote technological development.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Describe how outputs of a technological system can be desired, undesired, expected, or unexpected
• Describe through examples how modern technology reduces manufacturing and construction costs and produces more uniform products.

MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY

Project management is essential to ensuring that technological endeavors are profitable and that products and systems are of high quality and built safely, on schedule, and within budget.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs

COMMENCEMENT LEVEL PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTIONS

STANDARD 1: 

ENGINEERING DESIGN

Engineering design is an iterative process involving modeling and optimization used to develop technological solutions to problems within given constraints.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Initiate and carry out a thorough investigation of an unfamiliar situation and identify needs and opportunities for technological invention or innovation
• Identify, locate, and use a wide range of information resources including subject experts, library references, magazines, videotapes, films, electronic data bases and on-line services, and discuss and document through notes and sketches how findings relate to the problem
• Generate creative solution ideas, break ideas into the significant functional elements, and explore possible refinements; predict possible outcomes using mathematical and functional modeling techniques; choose the optimal solution to the problem, clearly documenting ideas against design criteria and constraints; and explain how human values, economics, ergonomics, and environmental considerations have influenced the solution
• Develop work schedules and plans which include optimal use and cost of materials, processes, time, and expertise; construct a model of the solution, incorporating developmental modifications while working to a high degree of quality (craftsmanship)
• In a group setting, devise a test of the solution relative to the design criteria and perform the test; record, portray, and logically evaluate performance test results through quantitative, graphic, and verbal means; and use a variety of creative verbal and graphic techniques effectively and persuasively to present conclusions, predict impacts and new problems, and suggest and pursue modifications.

STANDARD 2: 

TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Technological tools, materials, and other resources should be selected on the basis of safety, cost, availability, appropriateness, and environmental impact; technological processes change energy, information, and material resources into more useful forms.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Test, use, and describe the attributes of a range of material (including synthetic and composite materials), information, and energy resources
• Select appropriate tools, instruments, and equipment and use them correctly to process materials, energy, and information
• Explain tradeoffs made in selecting alternative resources in terms of safety, cost, properties, availability, ease of processing, and disposability
• Describe and model methods (including computer-based methods) to control system processes and monitor system outputs.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and knowledge.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Understand basic computer architecture and describe the function of computer subsystems and peripheral devices
• Select a computer system that meets personal needs
• Attach a modem to a computer system and telephone line, set up and use communications software, connect to various on-line networks, including the Internet, and access needed information using 3-mail, telnet, gopher, ftp, and web searches
• Use computer-aided drawing and design (CADD) software to model realistic solutions to design problems
• Develop an understanding of computer programming and attain some facility in writing computer programs.

STANDARD 4: 

TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS

Technological systems are designed to achieve specific results and produce outputs, such as products, structures, services, energy, or other systems.

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Explain why making tradeoffs among characteristics, such as safety, function, cost, ease of operation, quality of post-purchase support, and environmental impact, is necessary when selecting systems for specific purposes
• Model, explain, and analyze the performance of a feedback control system
• Explain how complex technological systems involve the confluence of numerous other systems.

STANDARD 5: 

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology has been the driving force in the evolution of society from an agricultural to an industrial to an informational base.

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Explain how technological inventions and innovations have caused global growth and interdependence, stimulated economic competitiveness, created new jobs, and made other jobs obsolete.

STANDARD 6: 

IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology can have positive and negative impacts on individuals, society, and the environment and humans have the capability and responsibility to constrain or promote technological development.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Explain that although technological effects are complex and difficult to predict accurately, humans can control the development and implementation of technology
• Explain how computers and automation have changed the nature of work
• Explain how national security is dependent upon both military and nonmilitary applications of technology.

STANDARD 7: 

MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY

Project management is essential to ensuring that technological endeavors are profitable and that products and systems are of high quality and built safely, on schedule, and within budget.

Students will:

• Apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs
• Develop and use computer-based scheduling and project tracking tools, such as flow charts and graphs
• Explain how statistical process control helps to assure high quality output
• Discuss the role technology has played in the operation of successful U.S. businesses and under what circumstances they are competitive with other countries
• Explain how technological inventions and innovations stimulate economic competitiveness and how, in order for an innovation to lead to commercial success, it must be translated into products and services with marketplace demand
• Describe new management techniques (e.g., computer-aided engineering, computer-integrated manufacturing, total quality management, just-in-time manufacturing), incorporate some of these in a technological endeavor, and explain how they have reduced the length of design-to-manufacture cycles, resulted in more flexible factories, and improved quality and customer satisfaction
• Help to manage a group engaged in planning, designing, implementation, and evaluation of a project to gain understanding of the management dynamics.