Designing the Classroom Curriculum Designing the Classroom Curriculum | Page 151

Lynch, Smith, Howarth
"What distinguishes a technological revolution from a random collection of technology systems and
justifies conceptualizing it as a revolution are two basic features:
1. The strong interconnectedness and interdependence of the participating systems in their
technologies and markets.
2. The capacity to transform profoundly the rest of the economy (and eventually society)." (Perez,
2009)
Technology has certainly changed how the economy of the world operates in a short space of time. This is
a revolution in the sense of the Industrial Revolution, it is changing our lives. Nick Bostroam wrote: “We
might define a technological revolution as a dramatic change brought about relatively quickly by the introduction of some new
technology.” (Bostroam, 2007). Certainly the appearance of computer technology has produced dramatic
changes in less than 40 years.
Moore’s Law, sometimes referred to as ‘The Rule of 2s’, appeared in the computer world in 1965. Quite
simply it states that every 2 years computing power will double, computing speed will double, size will halve
and cost will halve.
A computer chip that contained 2,000 transistors and cost $1,000 in 1970, $500 in 1972, $250 in
1974, and $0.97 in 1990 costs less than $0.02 to manufacture today (Anon, n.d.)
By 2010 it was generally accepted that the time span to double was now only 18 months. Computer chips
only costing $0.02 to manufacture by 2010 means it has become economically viable to place microchip
technology in more and more devices. Computer controlled devices are appearing everywhere at an alarming
rate. Modern cars, microwaves, televisions, and even fridges are all reliant on microchip technology to
operate. Smart phones have developed in less than 30 years from a simple telephone call maker to the smart
mobile phone we have today - complete communication devices, with text messenger, camera, audio
recorder, online computer and GPS all rolled into one palm-sized device. The smart phone I have today is
far more powerful than the first PC I bought in 1990 in every respect: CPU, RAM, storage capacity internet
connectivity and sheer processing speed. Thus, computer technology has stormed into our life in the last 40
years. Almost every job has been affected by, and uses, some form of computing within its daily routine.
This implicates what schools do and by direct association what teachers