Two technology education programs are reviewed to determine how well they are designed to prepare students for the workplace or engineering careers. A list of workplace related functional skills is used as evaluation criteria for the assessment. Another aspect of this review concerns how contextual learning has been implemented. Both programs were judged to contain instructional activities that use advanced technology effectively to prepare students for the workplace or college. These programs are also excellent models of how to help students learn concepts and skills via real-world problems and examples.
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References
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U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Secretary Dole Announces Workplace Skills Commission, News Release, April 5, 1990.
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HamiltonS. F., Is There Life after High School?, The Harvard Education Letter, July/August 1990.
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U.S. Department of Labor, “Conceptual Approach to the Definition of Necessary Skills in Work,” Working Paper, Washington, D.C., 1990.
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New York State Education Department, Introduction to Technology, Curriculum Guide and Technology Learning Activities, Albany, 1987.
