As my colleague Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences, points out, students are expected to learn more new words in the average freshman biology course than they are in a foreign language course. Worse than dull, this approach is incomplete. Science is more than specific knowledge. It is the process through which we validate what we know. Technological literacy has many parallels to science literacy, but the terminology is different.
Technology is the body of knowledge.
The process of developing technologies is engineering. To be technologically literate, school children need to understand both the process and the products of engineering. They should be able to use basic mathematics and science skills to design solutions to problems. They also should be familiar with the methods that engineers use to evaluate design alternatives in search of the one that best satisfies constraints related to cost, functionality, safety, reliability, manufacturability, ergonomics, and environmental impact. Admittedly, computers and the Internet are important educational tools, but equating the use of computers with technological literacy is far too limited a view, given the extent to which technology has transformed our lives.