High School Students' Views about Technology

Abstract

Abstract A representative sample of 26 high school students was interviewed. They were interviewed individually to determine their understanding of the meaning of technology and of differences between science and technology. Questions solicited students' knowledge of examples of science and technology; their knowledge of activities associated with each of these fields and the purposes of each; relationships between science, technology and society; characteristics of scientists and technologists and students' sources of information about each field. Although most students had a good understanding of the general purposes of both science and technology, they were less clear about differences between the products of these fields. Most of the students believed erroneously either that, without science, technology would not exist or that science and technology were one and the same thing. Students' stereotypes of typical scientists were similar to those identified elsewhere in the literature, but no consistent v...