Technology Facts for Kids

The wheel was invented circa 4000 BCE.

Technology is the skills, methods, and processes used to achieve goals.

People can use technology to:

Produce goods or services
Carry out goals, such as scientific investigation or sending a spaceship to the moon
Solve problems, such as disease or famine

Technology can be knowledge of how to do things. Machines are examples of embed. This lets others use the machines without knowing how they work.

Technological systems use technology by taking something, changing it, then producing a result. They are also known as technology systems.

The spread of paper and printing to the West, as in this printing press, helped scientists and politicians communicate their ideas easily, leading to the Age of Enlightenment; an example of technology as cultural force.

The most simple form of technology is the development and use of basic tools.

Inventions like the ship, helped people transport goods and themselves.

Images for kids

A steam turbine with the case opened. Such turbines produce most of the electricity used today. Electricity consumption and living standards are highly correlated. Electrification is believed to be the most important engineering achievement of the 20th century.
The invention of integrated circuits and the microprocessor (here, an Intel 4004 chip from 1971) led to the modern computer revolution.
Antoine Lavoisier experimenting with combustion generated by amplified sun light
A primitive chopper
Hand axes from the Acheulian period
An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools
Gibson Technology GL458
Photograph of the Pont du Gard in France, one of the most famous ancient Roman aqueducts
The card catalog, a technology developed in the 19th century, became ubiquitous in the 20th century.
The automobile revolutionized personal transportation.
F-15 and F-16 flying over Kuwaiti oil fires during the Gulf War in 1991.
Luddites smashing a power loom in 1812
This adult gorilla uses a branch as a walking stick to gauge the water's depth, an example of technology usage by non-human primates.