Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre  2008.

"Technacy Media Release 2008The ability of young Australians to wield technology – technacy – will be as vital to them as literacy and numeracy were to Australians who grew up in the 20th century. That is one of the findings of a remarkable 18-month collaborative study between teachers and students from NSW, the Desert Knowledge CRC and the Centre for Appropriate Technology in Alice Springs ..."

URL: Technacy – key to the education revolution.

ALT URL: http://www.desertknowledgecrc.com.au/resource/DKCRC-MR-June-24_Technacy_Key-to-the-education-revolution.pdf

You Are What You Touch: How Tool Use Changes the Brain's Representations of the Body

Rapid Assimilation of External Objects Into the Body Schema
Thomas A. Carlson1,2,3⇓,
George Alvarez2,
Daw-an Wu2 and
Frans A.J. Verstraten3
+ Author Affiliations
1University of Maryland, College Park
2Harvard University
3Helmholtz Institute, Experimental Psychology Division, Utrecht University
Thomas A. Carlson, Department of Psychology, 1145A Biology/Psychology Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740 E-mail: tcarlson@psyc.umd.edu
Abstract

When a warrior picks up a sword for battle, do sword and soldier become one? The notion of an extended sense of the body has been the topic of philosophical discussion for more than a century and more recently has been subjected to empirical tests by psychologists and neuroscientists. We used a unique afterimage paradigm to test if, and under what conditions, objects are integrated into an extended body sense. Our experiments provide empirical support for the notion that objects can be integrated into an extended sense of the body. Our findings further indicate that this extended body sense is highly plastic, quickly assimilating objects that are in physical contact with the observer. Finally, we show that this extended body sense is limited to first-order extensions, thus constraining how far one can extend oneself into the environment.

Read more here from Scientific America
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/you-are-what-you-touch/

Original research article here:
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/7/1000

By Dr Angela Turner

"This thesis asserts that at the heart of the problem was the lack of a theoretically valid and reliable framework that may help both sectors clarify and articulate exactly what form of technology capability they are pursuing that best defines their practice and direction of scholarship.  The study was guided by the recent proposition of Technacy Genre Theory as it was assessed as offering the most contemporary and coherent approach in the literature for examining forms of technological knowledge."

Link to Thesis:  http://works.bepress.com/angela_turner/64/

This bilaterally endorsed Foresight Report of the Australian Fedreal Government identified Technacy education as the most apprpriate framework for all primary, secondary and teacher education course to use for curriculum design and pedegogy in teh study of design and technology.

The Background FINDINGS and SUMMARY OUTCOMES are detailed in the reports below:

REF:
Australian Science Technology and Engineering Council. (1996). Developing Long-Term Strategies for Science and Technology in Australia: Outcomes of the Study: Matching Science and Technology for Future Needs 2010. Canberra: AGPS.

Australian Science Technology and Engineering Council. (1996). Developing Long-Term Strategies for Science and Technology in Australia: Findings of the Study: Matching Science and Technology for Future Needs 2010. Canberra: AGPS.

A call to action for educationlists who seek more than skills training in design and technology teaching and learning.

Seemann, Kurt. (2007). Waking up the Subject: From Craft to Critical Technacy. Journal of Curriculum Perspectives, 2(3). 

Click here for direct link.