The literature is replete with references to the many misconceptions about what the term "technology" means. People appear to often think of technology as a particular thing, device, or widget. But, technology is much more complex, and the physical objects we use are only one aspect of technology.
The International Technology Education Association explains that "technology is how people modify the natural world to suit their own purposes... generally it refers to the diverse collection of processes and knowledge that people use to extend human abilities and to satisfy human needs and wants."
According to one federal technology education curriculum, "Technology is a body of knowledge used to create tools, develop skills, and extract or collect materials. It is also the application of science (the combination of the scientific method and material) to meet an objective or solve a problem."
The United Kingdom's Technology Education Center breaks down technology into several constituent parts. "Throughout the twentieth century the uses of the term have increased to the point where it now encompasses a number of "classes" of technology:
- Technology as Objects: Tools, machines, instruments, weapons, appliances - the physical devices of technical performance
- Technology as Knowledge: The know-how behind technological innovation
- Technology as Activities: What people do - their skills, methods, procedures, routines
- Technology as a Process: Begins with a need and ends with a solution
- Technology as a Sociotechnical System: The manufacture and use of objects involving people and other objects in combination"
Extracted from geo-energy.org.
