The Second Installment of the ITEA/Gallup Poll and What It Reveals as to How Americans Think about Technology: A Report of the Second Survey Conducted by the Gallup Organization for the International Technology Education Association

Publications Department, International Technology Education Association, 1914 Association Drive, Suite 201, Reston, VA 20191-1539. Tel: 703-860-2100; Fax: 703-860-0353; Web site: http://www.iteaconnect.org.

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12

Technology Education; Information Technology; Technological Literacy; Public Opinion; Surveys

0746-3537

The first poll in what has become a two-part series was commissioned by the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) in the spring of 2001 with the intent of finding out how Americans viewed technological literacy. Funding for this second survey was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Although it was not anticipated at the time, the opportunity has been provided just three years later to revisit this question in a manner designed to either validate or bring into question the findings in that first survey and to build on and extend what those findings told. With that in mind, it is important to cite and acknowledge the three major conclusions reached in 2001. They were: (1) The American public is virtually unanimous in regarding the development of technological literacy as an important goal for people at all levels; (2) Many Americans view technology narrowly as mostly being computers and the Internet; and (3) There is near total consensus in the public sampled that schools should include the study of technology in the curriculum. This survey and the earlier one on which it builds were designed to determine how the public views technological literacy and the importance of technology in their daily lives. The opportunity to do a second study so closely following the first has resulted in adding to, reinforcing, and augmenting the understandings gained in the earlier study. A list of the ITEA/Gallup Poll Survey Committee members concludes the article. (Contains 16 tables.)

ERIC

2005

EJ706291