Selection of microelectronic subject matter for industrial arts instruction

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to derive industrial arts subject matter, suitable for use at the secondary school level, from the technology of microelectronics. This subject matter was to reflect the technology of the microelectronic industry and also be compatible with the objectives of industrial arts education.

The study involved three major steps. The first step was the arrangement of information about the technology of microelectronics into groups of information denoted by conventional electric terms. In the second step, industrial arts subject matter was selected from the groups of information by using Olson’s “curricular components” as “categories of subject matter''. The third step involved the placing of the selected subject matter under the technical, avocational, and consumer functions of industrial arts.

The sources of information about the technology of microelectronics were 312 periodicals dealing with the electronic industry for the years 1963, 1964, and 1965. The derived subject matter was presented in both narrative and topical outline forms.