Technology, Society, and Culture Group Project Term Paper

Technology, Society, and Culture Group Project - Term Paper Example na, Evaristo and Srite (2005) values are acquired early in life through childhood socialization and education, and are often â€Å"stable in nature but can change over time reflecting changes in culture†. Practices develop later in life through activities such as workplace socialization, and are more subject to change than values. According to a cross-cultural research conducted by Kawabata and Tamura (2007) there is limited religious use of the Internet by the Japanese in comparison to the US in spite of a high Internet penetration rate of 66.8% and estimated 85.29 million users by the end of 2005 Internet exchanges are primarily text-based interactions, whereas the new religions, which are more active in Japan than Buddhism or Christianity, have a strong element of religious activities that are physical action-oriented and cannot be translated into text. The structure of public education in Japan is largely based on the American model of education adopted after World War II. Practically almost 100% of Japanese students complete its nine-year compulsory education core. In the late 1980s, the Ministry of Education included computer literacy courses in technology education programs in lower secondary schools to help students understand the roles and functions of computers, and develop capability for the use of computers and information (Murata & Stern, 1993). Combining these new computer courses with introduction of integrated problem solving courses such as mechatronics, applied mechatronics and independent project study at upper secondary technical courses greatly increased the technical human capacity in Japan. Japan has also been able to leverage its superior computer technology and skills to create some of the largest and most advanced products such as textiles, electronics, motor vehicles, chemical substances, processed foods, steel and nonferrous metals and so on. Cultural practices may have changed due to the cross-cultural information brokered by