New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards

8. Technological Literacy

STANDARD 8.1 (Computer and information literacy ) All students will use computer applications to gather and organize information and to solve problems.

Strands and Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in preceding grades, by the end of Grade 12, students will:

A. Basic Computer Skills and Tools

  1. Create a multi-page document with citations using word processing software in conjunction with other tools that demonstrates the ability to format, edit, and print.
    1. Create documents including a resume and a business letter using professional format.
    2. Construct a spreadsheet, enter data, use mathematical or logical functions to manipulate and process data, generate charts and graphs, and interpret the results.
    3. Given a database, define fields, input data from multiple records, produce a report using sort and query, and interpret the data.
  2. Produce a multimedia project using text, graphics, moving images, and sound.
    1. Produce and edit page layouts in different formats using desktop publishing and graphics software.
    2. Develop a document or file for inclusion into a website or web page.
    3. Discuss and/or demonstrate the capability of emerging technologies and software in the creation of documents or files.
  3. Merge information from one document to another.

B. Application of Productivity Tools

Social Aspects

    1. Describe the potential and implications of contemporary and emerging computer applications for personal, social, lifelong learning, and workplace needs.
    2. Exhibit legal and ethical behaviors when using information and technology, and discuss consequences of misuse.
    3. Make informed choices among technology systems, resources, and services in a variety of contexts.
    4. Use appropriate language when communicating with diverse audiences using computer and information literacy.

Information Access and Research

5. Select and use specialized databases for advanced research to solve real world problems.

6. Identify new technologies and other organizational tools to use in personal, home, and/or work environments for information retrieval, entry, and presentation.

7. Evaluate information sources for accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness.

8. Compose, send, and organize e-mail messages with and without attachments.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

9. Create and manipulate information, independently and/or collaboratively, to solve problems and design and develop products.

10. Identify, diagnose, and suggest solutions for non-functioning technology systems.

11. Identify a problem in a content area and formulate a strategy to solve the problem using brainstorming, flowcharting, and appropriate resources.

12. Integrate new information into an existing knowledge base and communicate the results in a project or presentation.

STANDARD 8.2 (Technology Education) All students will develop an understanding of the nature and impact of technology, engineering, technological design, and the designed world as they relate to the individual, society, and the environment.

Strands and Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in preceding grades, by the end of Grade 12, students will:

A. Nature and Impact of Technology

    1. Use appropriate data to discuss the full costs, benefits and trade-offs, and risks related to the use of technologies.
    2. Explain how technological development is affected by competition through a variety of management activities associated with planning, organizing, and controlling the enterprise.
    3. Provide various examples of how technological developments have shaped human history.

B. Design Process and Impact Assessment

    1. Analyze a given technological product, system, or environment to understand how the engineering design process and design specification limitations influenced the final solution.
    2. Evaluate the function, value, and appearance of technological products, systems, and environments from the perspective of the user and the producer.
    3. Develop methods for creating possible solutions, modeling and testing solutions, and modifying proposed design in the solution of a technological problem using hands-on activities.
    4. Use a computer assisted design (CAD) system in the development of an appropriate design solution.
    5. Diagnose a malfunctioning product and system using appropriate critical thinking methods.
    6. Create a technological product, system, or environment using given design specifications and constraints by applying design and engineering principles.

C. Systems in the Designed World

    1. Explain the life cycle of a product from initial design to reuse, recycling, remanufacture, or final disposal, and its relationship to people, society, and the environment, including conservation and sustainability principles.
    2. Analyze the factors that influence design of products, systems, and environments.
    3. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of various products, systems, and environments associated with technological activities in energy, transportation, manufacturing, and information and communication.