What Are the Prerequisites for Today's T&I Students? A Research Paper.

A study identified what competencies secondary trade and industrial (T&I) instructors from Central Pennsylvania believed technology education should provide. A total of 33 instructors of 49 surveyed responded to a questionnaire developed from Pucel's (1992) categories of technology education and work attitudes as identified by Gregson (1991). An analysis of variance treatment indicated 27 competency comparisons significant at the p=.05 level. The results of the data analysis showed that the competencies T&I instructors would like technology education graduates to possess were not current high-tech issues. Rather, they identified these competencies: good work ethic, the ability to measure, and the ability to identify and use hand tools and equipment. Recommendations for technology education included emphasis on these affective domain attributes: following directions, pride in work, being dependable and punctual, exhibiting awareness of safety, and being conscientious. These cognitive and psychomotor competencies were recommended as core content of any technology education curriculum: measurement, identification and use of common hand tools and equipment, and knowledge of technical terminology. The following: competencies were not considered a major part of the technology education curricular content: economic factors, invention process, high-tech applications, and desktop publishing. (Contains 13 references.) (YLB)