A Systems Approach for Developing Technological Literacy

In order to examine the implications of applying a teaching strategy that integrates a systems approach and project-based learning (PBL), it was implemented in two courses. The objective of the first course was to train preservice teachers to teach the subject of "Science and Technology to All" (mandatory subject in all of Israel's junior high schools), a mandatory methods course has been developed in the Department of Education in Technology and Science at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology: "Methods for Teaching Science and Technology for All". The course participants were pre-service teachers who were studying toward a teaching certificate in the Department of Education in Science and Technology parallel to their studies for a B.Sc. degree in one of the Technion's science Faculties. Most students in this course lack basic knowledge in engineering and technology. The second course was an introductory freshman course in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The goal of the second course was to achieve certain objectives through experiential learning. These were to provide students with a clear overview of the different fields in mechanical engineering; to introduce them to the essence of engineering work and the processes of design and development of new technological products; to raise their awareness of the importance and necessity of analysis for finding optimal solutions for engineering problems, and to acquaint freshmen with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and familiarize them with the different aspects of mechanical engineering expertise (Elata & Garaway, 2002). The innovation here is the integration of PBL and the systems approach, and the implementation of this combination in courses that up until today had been taught in traditional ways. This was an attempt to exploit this integrated approach to teach technology through a top-down process, without explaining the details to students lacking a technological background. This paper describes a qualitative study that followed the progress of the two classes. It presents what was learned during implementation of this approach in these two courses, as well as thoughts on future implications.