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A. Agriculture
By the end of 8th grade, students should know that:
- Early in human history, there was an agricultural revolution in which people changed from hunting and gathering to farming.
- People control the characteristics of plants and animals they raise by selective breeding and by preserving varieties of seeds (old and new) to use if growing conditions change.
- In agriculture, as in all technologies, there are always trade-offs to be made.
- Many people work to bring food, fiber, and fuel to US markets.
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B. Materials and Manufacturing
By the end of 8th grade, students should know that:
- The choice of materials for a job depends on their properties and on how they interact with other materials.
- Manufacturing usually involves a series of steps, such as designing a product, obtaining and preparing raw materials, processing the materials mechanically or chemically, and assembling, testing, inspecting, and packaging.
- Modern technology reduces manufacturing costs, produces more uniform products, and creates new synthetic materials that can help reduce the depletion of some natural resources.
- Automation, including the use of robots, has changed the nature of work in most fields, including manufacturing.
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C. Energy Sources and Use
By the end of 8th grade, students should know that:
- Energy can change from one form to another, although in the process some energy is always converted to heat.
- Different ways of obtaining, transforming, and distributing energy have different environmental consequences.
- In many instances, manufacturing and other technological activities are performed at a site close to an energy source.
- Electrical energy can be produced from a variety of energy sources and can be transformed into almost any other form of energy.
- Energy from the sun (and the wind and water energy derived from it) is available indefinitely.
- Different parts of the world have different amounts and kinds of energy resources to use and use them for different purposes.
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D. Communication
By the end of 8th grade, students should know that:
- Errors can occur in coding, transmitting, or decoding information, and some means of checking for accuracy is needed.
- Information can be carried by many media, including sound, light, and objects.
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E. Information Processing
By the end of 8th grade, students should know that:
- Most computers use digital codes containing only two symbols, 0 and 1, to perform all operations.
- What use can be made of a large collection of information depends upon how it is organized.
- Computer control of mechanical systems can be much quicker than human control.
- An increasing number of people work at jobs that involve processing or distributing information.
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F. Health Technology
By the end of 8th grade, students should know that:
- Sanitation measures such as the use of sewers, landfills, quarantines, and safe food handling are important in controlling the spread of organisms that cause disease.
- The ability to measure the level of substances in body fluids has made it possible for physicians to make comparisons with normal levels, make very sophisticated diagnoses, and monitor the effects of the treatments they prescribe.
- It is becoming increasingly possible to manufacture chemical substances such as insulin and hormones that are normally found in the body.
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