What Koreans Think About Technology

Abstract

This study purposed to survey Korean people’s thought about technology and to derive meaningful implications related to technological literacy. In order to collect data, the questionnaire developed by ITEA(2004) was translated and conducted a questionnaire survey rather than a telephone survey due to the circumstance of research. The questionnaire was composed of 16 questions mainly on technological literacy. The questionnaires were distributed to citizens aged over 18 in the Incheon area, Korea, and 680 of them were recovered. From the results of analyzing the questionnaires were drawn conclusions as follows. First, Korean people recognized the necessity of technology education in school and the necessity of technological literacy. This result suggests that technology education in daily life is demanded although the status of technology education is getting lower in school. Second, Korean people recognized the necessity of knowledge about various technology-related works. In addition, they regarded technological abilities in daily life as important but could not distinguish among technology, science and engineering clearly. Third, Korean people lacked accurate knowledge of technology in daily life, so they were in need of technological literacy education. That is, they had some misconceptions in their basic knowledge about daily used goods such as mobile phone, microwave oven, radio, pharmaceuticals, Internet, and fuel cell. Lastly, Korean people perceived that decision making on technology and technological literacy would have huge impacts on society and environment, so they recognized the necessity of technological literacy. They were interested in many technological issues, but their knowledge of such issues was not sufficient.