Chapter 2 Notes Technology as a System

1. What does technology involve?

Technology involves performing a task by using an object that is not part of the human body.

2. What motivates technology to advance?

Technology arises and moves forward out of human wants and needs. It is designed and evaluated by people and in time is modified or abandoned.

3. Explain why each technology is developed through a system.

Each technology has parts and each part has a relationship with all other parts and to the whole. The parts work together in a predictable way, and they are designed to achieve a goal.

Circulatory System

4. What are the major components of a technological system?

A technological system has several major components: goals,inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback/ control.

Universal Systems Model

5. What is a technological goal?

Humans develop technology to meet needs so humans have a purpose in mind when developing technology.

6. Give an example of how technology is developed to meet more than one goal.

Humans developed radar to determine the position and speed of aircraft in WWII. Today radar contributes to safe, reliable air transportation, helping to predict the weather, catching cars breaking the speed limit, and detecting the surface features on other planets.

7. What are inputs?

Inputs are the resources that go into technological systems and are used by the system.

8. What are the seven inputs to a technological system?

Technological systems have seven inputs: people, materials, tools and machines, energy, information, money (finances), and time.

9. What parts do people play in a technological system?

People are the most important part in a technological system because human needs and wants give rise to the systems and human will and purposes decide the types of systems that will be developed. People provide management, knowledge, labor, values, and government policies along the way and ultimately are the consumers of the output.

10. What is a consumer?

A consumer is the user of the products and services that the technological system provides.

11. How are materials classified?

Materials are the substances from which artifacts are made and can be classified as natural (found in nature like stone or wood), synthetic (made by humans like plastics or glass), or composite (natural products that have been modified like paper and leather).

12. What is a tool?

Tools are the artifacts we use to expand what we are able to do.

13. What are two kinds of tools?

Tools include both hand tools and machines.

14. What is a machine?

A machine amplifies the speed, amount, or direction of a force.

15. What is energy?

Energy is the ability to do work.

16. Explain how energy has to be converted to power a light bulb.

Light energy from the sun was stored in plants long ago that were buried and stored as potential energy in coal and oil which is now burned creating heat energy used to boil water to turn turbines with mechanical energy to create electrical energy to power a light bulb which puts out light and heat energy.

17. What is the difference between data and information?

Information is organized data.

18. What are finances?

The money and credit necessary for the economic system to operate is called finances.

19. Why are finances important in a technological system?

The inputs to a system require money to be purchased and the outputs generate money which provides the incentive for producing the product or service.

20. Science uses the scientific method to understand the world. What does technology use to advance?

Technology develops and uses tools and machines, systems, and materials to extend the human ability to control and modify the environment.

21. What is the procedure used for developing technology called and what are its major steps?

The procedure used to develop technology is called the problem- solving/design process which involves identifying the problem, developing possible solutions, detailing the best solution, modeling the solution, and communicating the final solution.

22. What are the four functions of management activities?

Management activities involve four functions: planning (set ting goals & developing a course of action), organizing (setting goals & assigning resources), actuating (assigning and supervising work), and controlling (comparing output to the goal).

23. List three undesired outputs.

Manufacturing and construction produce scrap, waste, chemical by-products, fumes, and noise. Cars, train, airplanes, etc. produce noise, air pollution, and congestion. Poorly designed buildings can create soil erosion.

24. Give one example of how technological development has affected society.

The automobile started out as a novelty but it soon changed where and how we live. We travel further to work. Small compact towns have been replaced with cities and shopping is no longer close to the neighborhood.

25. Describe feedback and control.

Feedback and control involves using information about the outputs of a system or process to regulate the system. For example, a thermostat regulates the room's temperature by turning on or off the air conditioner depending upon the temperature of the room.