Technology Education Design Briefs for the Elementary Grades

The Design Briefs were created by undergraduate students taking ITDPT 364, Technology Education for the Elementary Grades. They tested each design brief by teaching the problem-solving activity to a group of their peers. The students then re-wrote the design briefs. A few other briefs are by technology education graduate students, and by experienced teachers pursuing a degree or certification for teaching MIMH students. Most of these design briefs have been tested with children. All are categorized according to the Technology Education Curriculum for the State of Indiana. Page last updated November 16, 1998.
Click on a cluster for a list of problem-solving design briefs.

File FolderNew Briefs Fall, 1998

File FolderCommunication

"Communication technology: Using knowledge, tools, and skills to communicate." Sanders, M. (1991). Communication Technology Today and Tomorrow. Mission Hills, California: Glencoe / McGraw-Hill.
File FolderConstruction
"Construction technology is the study of the efficient practice of using production and management processes to transform materials and assemble components into buildings, and heavy industrial and civil structures that are built on site" Wescott and Henak, eds. (1994). Construction in technology education. (43rd Yearbook of the CTTE). New York: Glencoe-Macmillan / McGraw-Hill.
File FolderTransportation
"Our unity as a nation is sustained by free communication of thought and by easy transportation of people and goods . . . Together, the uniting forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear--United States. Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts." Dwight D. Eisenhower.
File FolderManufacturing
"Manufacturing involves the transformation of raw materials into industrial and consumer goods." Seymour and Shackelford, Eds. (1993). Manufacturing in technology education (44th Yearbook of the CTTE). Peoria, Illinois: Glencoe-Macmillan / McGraw-Hill.
"Elementary school technology education is an educational program in which children engage in constructional activities designed to help them learn about themselves and the world around them."

Foster, P. N., & Kirkwood, J. J. (1997). The child, the school, and the world. In J. J. Kirkwood & P. N. Foster, Elementary school technology education: The 46th yearbook of the Council on Technology Teacher Education. (p. 3). Peoria, IL: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.

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