High Point Regional High School Technology Education

High Point Regional High School’s Technology Education Department prides itself in offering various technological electives to high school students. On the exterior, our department has five classrooms. We have six technology teachers who help in all fields of technology. The department is unique. For most students, it is a treasured place where classmates and teachers strive to conquer technological challenges and goals.

While researching for a TSA project, a student amplifies the output of a AC function generator and measures it with an oscilloscope

Our department does not just compete in Technology Student Association conferences. Many teachers have found programs for our students to compete in. Although all of our teachers in the department have different strengths and interests, each one realizes the significance of obtaining real-world opportunities in challenges. Annually, our department has classmates that compete in the Thomas Edison Invention Challenge, Panasonic Creative Design Challenge, and many more. In fact, a team received a patent for solving a real-world problem that received nationwide attention.

Intrinsically, our department consists of the best staff and students. All of the teachers contribute to the functioning department by committing their expertise and attention to their students. Not all teachers are willing to stay after school so that students can work on their competition projects. Not all teachers challenge their students to new heights. Not all teachers genuinely care for their students. That may be the case, but the Technology Education Department’s teachers are like that. Our technology students are able to be the best because are department is motivating, challenging, and successful.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

The US National Science Board recognizes STEM Fields as the academic and professional disciplines that comprise the core of advanced society. 
In Defense of Pre-Engineering, STEM, and Technology Education

What is Technical Literacy?

Technology is defined by Merriam-Webster as the “practical application of knowledge” in systematic and often specialized ways. The human race advances technology with each successive discovery, no matter how small or large. We have been progressing in this manner from the day the caveman discovered fire, but especially since the likes of Francis Bacon pushed to make sciences methodic and objective.

The United States National Academy of Engineering defines technological literacy as the capability to effectively use knowledge of technology to accomplish a given task. One’s level of technological literacy is determined by three dimensions, as illustrated in the chart to the right (provided by the NAE): Knowledge, Ways of Thinking and Acting, and Capabilities.

One who is technologically literate is: A) knowledgeable of principle concepts of sciences, mathematics, engineering, and current trends; B) a critical thinker who is capable of making objective decisions; and C) well-equipped to act on their decisions.

How does one become technologically literate?

The American education system seeks to provide future voters with the foundations necessary to make informed, relevant decisions. This is the basis of democracy. STEM courses offered by local schools correspond to state and national bars. At High Point, the engineering department is well known for its successful graduates and TSA competition members. Where the high school does not have necessary resources, Sussex County Community College is apt to provide concurrent and summer courses in a variety of STEM subjects.

Youth know no other way than the current way, so they are more inclined to be familiar with conventions of technology. For example, if a room has electric lights, there is probably a switch on the wall. To use an iPhone, tap, pinch, and drag. To view a video, use the triangle labelled “play”. These conventions have been rigorously developed through years of successful and unsuccessful R&D of various groups. Many people do not understand them, yet to most high school students these familiarities seem obvious. For this reason, youth tend to be more STEM-inclined than older demographics.