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Ethics and the technology curriculum

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conference contribution
posted on 2006-05-08, 10:23 authored by Terry Liddament
'Values' in the technology curriculum are usually put in technical or commerical terms. This can lead to a conflation, between commercial/industrial domains, and the pedagogic domains which is frequently unresolved in curriculum literature, and which can manifest itself in a confusion between insturmental and intrinsic values. Commercial artefacts are generally taken as having instrumental value only, ie they are typically valued only as means to further ends. In addition, if the artefact ceases to be commercially viable then the processes and skills contributing to its production are similarly otiose unless they can be turned to the production of other artefacts which again render them of instrumental value only. This paper seeks to clarify the distinctions between instrinsic and instrumental value in relation to the technological curriculum, and argues that the values that should be identified and explicated are often instrinsic and not merely instrumental. The techno-scientific framework itself, it is argued, is impoverished through a tacit rendering of value systems in instrumentalist terms. Active pedagogic engagement through the technology curriculum is seen as an essential corrective towards a viable techno ethics.

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  • IDATER Archive

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21128 bytes

Citation

LIDDAMENT, T., 1995. Ethics and the technology curriculum. IDATER 1995 Conference, Loughborough: Loughborough University

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© Loughborough University

Publication date

1995

Notes

This is a conference paper.

Language

  • en

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