<p>Samson’s Hair: Denuding the Technology Curriculum?</p>

Abstract

The biblical story of Samson (Judges 13– 16) tells of a bold, super-strong hero of his people who was compromised when his hair, the source of his supreme strength, was cut off while he slept. What is occurring in the technology curriculum in the United States may indeed parallel the Samson tale. For, in spite of glorious concepts, relevant content, and ambitious standards, its effectiveness may be compromised. It appears that the curriculum’s “Samson’s hair,” activity that includes hand skill development which, for so long, has been the source of its uniqueness and strength, is being diminished. Regrettably, this important element is totally nonexistent in some technology instruction. In the face of this circumstance, I argue that efforts should be undertaken to ensure that the imaginative curriculum change that is underway integrates and includes, wherever possible, true activity that includes hand skill development. To consciously and conscientiously include hand skill development in technology courses will continue a unique and distinctive approach to activity learning that was evident in industrial arts. That approach contributed powerfully and positively to individual learning and student development. Inclusion of that element in technology courses today will ensure delivery of instruction that benefits students in a way that is not achieved in other school subjects because it will: • Maintain the interest of students to a greater extent than occurs in most other subject areas. • Respond to learning styles that the instructional devices commonly used in other subject areas do not do. • Make a contribution to students’ cognitive development in a manner not enjoyed by virtually every other subject area in the schools. With hand skill development, pursued consciously and effectively, the technology curriculum will reflect unique but important qualities, as did industrial arts. Thus, in response to the industrial age, the content of manual arts and manual training programs appropriately responded to changing societal and human needs. But activity and hand skill Now, technology curriculum efforts are responding to the information and computer age in the same way that industrial arts upgraded the manual training and manual arts content to respond to the industrial age. Interestingly, while we have learned more about the efficacy of activity and hand skill development, technology curriculum developers seem to have chosen not to follow the industrial arts approach to changing content while maintaining the efficacious part of the methodology. A well-founded fear is that although the new standards characterize the new direction as an activity curriculum, the nature and structure of the laboratory settings, learning activities, and equipment in the laboratory settings result in a dearth of learning experience that include true hand skill development. Thus, we may be witnessing noble and efficacious curriculum content and concepts promulgated and implemented without that element that may be considered the most important and beneficial learning aspect that our field has to offer. If this is true, then it is appropriate to challenge leaders to ensure that the new technology content is organized and delivered so that hand skill development remains prominent. I assert that the lack or diminution of hand skill development in our schools limits the student’s engagement in the active learning process and retards the student’s growth and development. Thus, my challenge is that leaders should bravely draw upon, integrate, and ensure that the heritage of the rich, unique, and educationally viable industrial arts learning and instructional method that included hands skill development will be carried forward and be pervasively evident in the new curriculum. While the preceding outlines today’s situation in general, I offer some specifics in the three following parts: First, I relate our heritage as imbedded in the views of an early industrial arts leader. The second part reviews statements regarding that heritage made by contemporary leaders who support activity and hand skill development. The third part is Articles