Hidden Factors In Technological Change

Hidden Factors in Technological Change examines the educational implications of living in an advanced technological society and suggests ways in which teaching programs and learning situations in schools might be appropriately reoriented. Trends in technological innovation and design are discussed, along with their likely social, aesthetic, environmental, economic, moral, and political consequences. This book is comprised of 20 chapters and begins with an assessment of the wider implications of technological innovation from a variety of different viewpoints, with emphasis on television. More specifically, the social, economic, aesthetic, scientific, moral, and political implications of technology are considered. The next section focuses on various aspects of living with technology, including the use of resources, the quality of life in cities, and transport and communication. The consequences of technology for education, especially the school curriculum, are also discussed. Other chapters explore ways in which schools might begin to develop in their pupils critical, informed, and constructive attitudes to the many opportunities and problems associated with technological change, and thereby help to make technology more accountable to society and more responsive to the wishes of ordinary people. This monograph will be of interest to educators and school administrators, education officials, and science and technology policymakers.

What links the frustrations of daily life, like VCR clocks and voicemail systems, to airplane crashes and a staggering “hidden epidemic” of medical error? Kim Vicente is a professor of human factors engineering at the University of Toronto and a consultant to NASA, Microsoft, Nortel Networks and many other organizations; he might also be described as a “technological anthropologist.” He spends his time in emergency rooms, airplane cockpits and nuclear power station control rooms--as well as in kitchens, garages and bathrooms--observing how people interact with technology. Kim Vicente sets out the disturbing pattern he’s observed: from daily life to life-or-death situations, people are using technology that doesn’ t take the human factor into account. Technologies as diverse as stove tops, hospital work schedules and airline cockpit controls lead to ‘human error’ because they neglect what people are like physically, psychologically, and in more complex ways. The results range from inconvenience to tragic loss of life. Our civilization is at a crossroads: we have to change our relationship with technology to bring an end to technology-induced death and destruction, and start to improve the lives of everyone on the planet. The Human Factor sets out the ways we can regain control of our lives.

This book defines STS--science, technology, and society--education and discusses current thinking about its conceptual evolution. It synthesizes a broad range of research and thought in the history and philosophy of science and technology, STS studies, and education as they are informed by the the dual perspectives of cognitive and social psychology. A model for STS curriculum development in science, social studies, or technology education is presented with well-chosen examples. The book includes an extensive and invaluable bibliography that will enable students, teachers, and researchers to explore the richness of this emerging field.

Education for the Future: The Case for Radical Change focuses on the developments in educational systems and the role of teachers and learning institutions in shaping society. The book first ponders on the problems confronting progress in education, including the pressure on schools and teachers to perform according to the dictates of society. The need to develop curriculum in universities that can instill efficient learning for students is also underscored. The text also takes a look at the relationship of literary culture and the productive and distributive activities of the market place. The manuscript focuses on the influence of educational technology in the provision of aids in learning. The text also underscores that the solution to the problems of education in Britain should not be taken individually, but rather it should be treated as part of a larger pattern. The controversy in the establishment of the Gresham College is noted. The book is a dependable reference for readers interested in studying the development, issues, and trends in the educational system of Great Britain.

This book argues that knowledge is now central to the modern economy and its productive processes. It is also essential for social relations, social cohesion and conflict resolution. We have moved from a society based around heavy commodities to symbolic goods, from situated markets to non-place-specific locations, from machines to software and from things to ideas. These changes produce new forms of social interaction and new perspectives on identity, practice and association. This penetrating book slices through the cliches and blind alleys of discussions around the knowledge society to reveal the tendons of contemporary change. Written with insight and panache the book explains the momentous nature of the changes associated with the knowledge society.

As globalization continues apace, market segmentations are diminishing, distance is shrinking and the boundaries between nation states are becoming increasingly blurred. National economies are closely interlinked through manychannels and we rarely view things from a single country’s view, adopting a global perspective instead. It is therefore imperative to understand how the world economy functions. This book utilizes up to date empirical evidence to illuminate the mechanics of the world as a single entity. The author explores the properties of the world economy, the diverse mechanisms of interdependence, shocks and disturbances, economic processes and structures, and the institutional arrangements that guide these processes. Key topics covered include: world GDP, growth and global product and factor markets China as a new global player the roots and impact of financial and currency crises the performance of the developing countries over time (which have gained, which have lost?) conflicts between the national interest and global concerns (protectionism, locational competition for mobile factors of production, environmental issues) the institutional arrangements for the world economy (IMF, WTO). The World Economy: A Global Analysis will be essential reading for students studying the world economy from the perspective of economics, finance, business and politics.

The anthropological approach is the central focus of this study. Laboratories are looked upon with the innocent eye of the traveller in exotic lands, and the societies found in these places are observed with the objective yet compassionate eye of the visitor from a quite other cultural milieu. There are many surprises that await us if we enter a laboratory in this frame of mind... This study is a realistic enterprise, an attempt to truly represent the social order of life in laboratories and institutes of research, just as they are. By bringing the philosophical issues to the surface as matters not of prejudgement but as matters of concern, Karin Knorr-Cetina has developed the first really positive challenge to the philosophy of science since the days of paradigms and internal definitions of meanings

A Turning Point for Literacy: Adult Education for Development, The Spirit and Declaration of Persepolis contains the proceedings of the International Symposium for Literacy, held at Persepolis, Iran in September 1975. The conference intends to evaluate the results of international actions on literacy teaching, with the aim of extending and intensifying adult literacy teaching throughout the world. The compendium presents the work of specialists and some international institutions in the framework of the themes of the symposium; they serve as catalysts for discussion and reflection. The themes of the symposium include appraisal and lessons of 10 years of adult literacy work and functionalities of literacy, in view of the need to satisfy the essential needs of human in terms of economic activities, health, culture, and participation in the reform of society. Other themes are the determination to introduce deep changes in the living conditions of human and in social structures as a sine qua non of literacy undertakings and the innovative role of literacy experiments in the reform of teaching and training systems and their integration into the global educational process. The book will be of interest to educators, policymakers, teachers, historians, and students of education.