By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — The director of technology education at Pittsburg State University on Monday made a pitch for a statewide technology education program based on the one at Pittsburg High School.
Michael Neden, PSU associate professor, made the presentation to a group of officials invited from the Kansas Department of Education.
The group gathered at the Kansas Technology Center at PSU after having a look at the high school’s technology lab.
Neden called the plan “Project: Clear Way Forward.”
Neden said a course in foundations of technology is required for all ninth-graders at Pittsburg High School.
“Once kids get through the ninth-grade program, they’re all on a level playing field,” Neden said. “At the 10th, 11th and 12th grade, here’s where the kids have a lot of options.”
The upper-level classes include engineering and design, industrial engineering and manufacturing, and power, energy and transportation.
A goal of the effort is to make all students technologically literate, giving them a basic understanding of technological systems, design principles, and the social and cultural impact of technology.
Neden said within a 30-mile radius of Pittsburg, the technology programs in schools have no consistency.
He said parents sometimes are a roadblock to their children pursuing some technology paths.
“Usually it’s the parents talking them out of it, right?” Neden said. “They say, ‘You don’t want to do that. You want to go to college.’”
“I think this is awesome,” said R.J. Dake, education program consultant with the Kansas Department of Education. “The challenge is we don’t tell little schools what they do.”
Neden said schools don’t have to replicate what Pittsburg has done, but the program can serve as a model for the schools.
“We can model it,” Neden said. “We can’t force it. They need a model.”
Larry Dunekack, technology teacher at Pittsburg High School, said state funding attached to the curriculum would encourage it.
Robin Harris, assistant director of career standards and assessment services for the state department, told reporters after the meeting that she thinks it is feasible to adopt the Pittsburg High School technology curriculum statewide. She said she thinks what Pittsburg State University and Pittsburg High School are doing to promote technology education is important.
“Technology is in our lives 24/7,” Harris said.
