"Technology Inevitably Involves Trade-Offs": A Study of How Three States' Social Studies Standards Frame Technology

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Curricular Textures: Theory, Reality, and Standards

Abstract

In this study we interrogate how technology is framed in state curriculum standards for K-12 social studies in Texas, Oregon, and Ohio. There is scant research on what or how students are supposed to learn about technology. From our coding of 251 references to technology across 1,881 K-12 standards, we analyze the quantity, conceptualizations, and framing of technology. These standards frame technology primarily as neutral, developmental, or positive, thus largely aligning with narratives of technological progress. Only rarely are they written in a way that encourages evaluation of collateral or negative effects of technologies. If citizens are to make informed decisions on the role of technology in society then educators should consider how these standards are framed.

Authors

• Daniel G Krutka, University of North Texas

• Scott Alan Metzger, The Pennsylvania State University