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In regard to teaching problem solving in technology education, three questions are posed: (1) Why should problem solving be the intent and content of technology education? (2) How can a problem-solving approach be incorporated into technology education programs? and (3) What must be done to implement a problem-solving approach in the junior high school technology education programs in Taiwan? In answer to the first question, problem-solving has often been equated with thinking and learning skills, can be taught and that technology is a human adaptive system, technology education should urge problem-solving as its intent to enable students to become practical problem solvers and as its content to integrate a problem-solving process throughout all the instructional content. It has also been found that more research and development efforts should be made to comprehend how to employ a problem-solving approach effectively in technology education programs. In addition, a study completed in Taiwan found the following: there is an obvious distinction between the key instructional strategies in the current curriculum standard and the new proposed curriculum standard; the instructional strategies that current teachers actually use (usually lecture-demonstration-practice) do not measure up to ideal teaching strategies suggested in the current curriculum standard; current teachers consider that employing a problem-solving approach with the newer recommended curriculum is necessary and feasible; and to implement a problem-solving approach, current teachers have to strengthen their own pedagogical and technical skills and adapt instructional activities as well as facilities and equipment. (Contains 17 references.) (KC)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert