A future-focused approach to the technology education curriculum: the disparity between intent and practice

The recently revised New Zealand Curriculum in technology education [Ministry of Education (MoE) Digital technologies: Hangarau Matihiki, Wellington, 2017. https://education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/consultations/DT-consultation/DTCP1701-Digital-Technologies-Hangarau-Matihiko-ENG.pdf] presents opportunities for teachers to provide a future-focused approach to learning. Teacher perceptions about the nature of their subject and the discourse within their school however, influence how the curriculum is interpreted, for enactment. This article reports findings from Ph.D. research that explored the disparity between the intent of the technology curriculum and the practice of five technology teachers, in two secondary school settings. There is a focus on the ways that teachers might be supported to navigate challenges and enable change in their practice, if they are motivated to enact technology education in a future-focused way. Teachers’ interpretation and enactment of the New Zealand curriculum are heavily influenced by others’ understanding of their subject, and the organisational structures in their school. A threshold concept is presented as a strategy to transform teachers’ thinking, when making meaning of the curriculum, and to develop their knowledge for practice. Recommendations are made regarding the necessary changes in thinking and practice in technology education in New Zealand, to address a further disparity between what school-based practitioners believe students need and what academic researchers assert is important in contemporary education. Initial Teacher Education Programmes are briefly discussed as a means of addressing this issue from another perspective, to ensure that student teachers are exposed to future-focused conceptions of the curriculum at University, to compensate when such practice is not observed during their school placements.     

Emerging Assessment Practices in an Emergent Curriculum: Implications for Technology

This paper reports on detailed case studies into emerging assessment practices in technology in two New Zealand primary schools (Years 1–6) with nine teachers. This research is part of the two year Research in Assessment of Primary Technology (RAPT) project and formed the basis for the one year New Zealand Ministry of Education funded Learning in Technology Education (Assessment) project.Emerging classroom assessment practices in technology, a new subject area in the national curriculum, are discussed. It was found that the existing subcultures in schools, teachers' subject expertise and the school wide policies impacted on the teachers' assessment practices. Assessment was often seen in terms of social and managerial aspects such as team work, turn taking and information skills, rather than procedural and conceptual aspects. Therefore teachers' formative interactions with students distorted the learning away from procedural and conceptual aspects of the subject, and the learning and the formative assessment interactions focused on generic skills rather than student technological understanding.The importance of developing teacher expertise in three dimensions of knowledge about the subject, knowledge in the subject and general pedagogical knowledge is highlighted. Thus the findings from this research have implications for thinking about teaching, learning and assessment in technology.     

Progression in Technology Education in New Zealand: Components of Practice as a Way Forward

Understanding and undertaking technological practice is fundamental to student learning in technology education in New Zealand, and the enhancement of student technological literacy. The implementation of technology into New Zealand’s core curriculum has reached the stage where it has become critical that learning programmes are based on student progression to allow for a seamless education in technology from early primary to senior secondary. For this to occur, teachers and students need to focus learning on key features of technology education. This paper is based on research initiated in 2001 which explored the nature of progression of student learning in technology. It draws on findings from research undertaken in New Zealand classrooms in 1999–2000 that resulted in the development of the technology assessment framework (TAF), (as reported in detail Compton & Harwood 2003). The 1999–2001 research was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Findings from the 2001 research allowed for the identification of key features of technology education that are relevant across all age groups, contexts and technological areas. These key features were collectively termed components of practice. The three components of practice established to date are brief development, planning for practice, and outcome development and evaluation. This paper discusses the development of progression matrices for each of these and provides illustrative examples of student work levelled against the matrix indicators of progression for brief development.     

Enhancing Practicing Primary School Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Technology

This paper describes the frameworks and cognitive tools that have been developed to enhance practising teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in primary school technology education. The frameworks evolved from our research that firstly examined existing teaching practices, secondly enhanced formative interactions and thirdly enhanced summative assessment strategies. The evidence gained over the three years demonstrated how the effective use of frameworks could be utilised to enhance teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). How we see learning is of prime importance in examining the development of teacher pedagogical content knowledge. A sociocultural view of learning is taken where human mental processes are situated within their historical, cultural and institutional setting. In the research project we strongly emphasised the need for teachers to build a knowledge base for teaching technology. Critical aspects identified as enhancing PCK included: negotiated intervention, planning frameworks, reflection on case studies, workshops and support in classrooms, appropriate resources, teacher agreement meetings, portfolios of student work and summative profiles. The increased PCK resulted in: enhanced teacher knowledge about technology including the nature of technology, areas of technology and specific technological knowledge, changed pedagogical approaches, enhanced teacher student interaction, refinement of appropriate learning outcomes, critical decision making, improved teacher confidence, and enhanced student learning. Seven characteristics or features of pedagogical content knowledge that we believe are important for effective teaching and learning in technology are presented. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Towards a Model for Teacher Development in Technology Education: From Research to Practice

This paper reports on a series of interventions in New Zealand schools in order to enhance the teaching of, and learning in, technology as a new learning area. It details the way in which researchers worked with teachers to introduce technological activities into the classroom, the teachers' reflections on this process and the subsequent development of activities. These activities were undertaken in 14 classrooms (8 primary and 6 secondary).The research took into account past experiences of school-based teacher development and recommendations related to teacher change. Extensive use was made of case-studies from earlier phases of the research, and of the draft technology curriculum, in order to develop teachers' concepts of technology and technology education. Teachers then worked from these concepts to develop technological activities and classroom strategies. The paper also introduces a model that outlines factors contributing to school technological literacy, and suggests that teacher development models will need to allow teachers to develop technological knowledge and an understanding of technological practice, as well as concepts of technology and technology education, if they are to become effective in the teaching of technology.     

Making the Processes of Designing Explicit Within an Information Technology Environment

In this paper, technology is described as involving processes whereby resources are utilised to satisfy human needs or to take advantage of opportunities, to develop practical solutions to problems. This study, set within one type of technology context, information technology, investigated how, through a one semester undergraduate university course, elements of technological processes were made explicit to students. While it was acknowledged in the development and implementation of this course that students needed to learn technical skills, technological skills and knowledge, including design, were seen as vital also, to enable students to think about information technology from a perspective that was not confined and limited to `technology as hardware and software'. This paper describes how the course, set within a three year program of study, was aimed at helping students to develop their thinking and their knowledge about design processes in an explicit way. An interpretive research approach was used and data sources included a repertory grid `survey'; student interviews; video recordings of classroom interactions, audio recordings of lectures, observations of classroom interactions made by researchers; and artefacts which included students' journals and portfolios. The development of students' knowledge about design practices is discussed and reflections upon student knowledge development in conjunction with their learning experiences are made. Implications for ensuring explicitness of design practice within information technology contexts are presented, and the need to identify what constitutes design knowledge is argued.     

New Zealand secondary technology teachers’ perceptions: “technological” or “technical” thinking?

Technology education in the New Zealand context has seen significant change since it’s inception as a technical subject. The changing nature of the subject in New Zealand secondary schools is influenced by some teachers’ preoccupation with the making of quality product outcomes, rather than their enactment of the curriculum, which conceptualises a wider remit. Research into the perceptions of technology teachers’ interpretation and enactment of the curriculum suggests that to enable change, teachers need to adopt a form of “technological thinking”, in support of their “technical thinking”. Technological thinking is a notion presented to support teachers to explore a range of differing pedagogical approaches and learning outcomes, reflective of the intent of the New Zealand curriculum, which aims to foster learning environments that are innovative and responsive to students’ social and academic needs.     

The Development of a National Curriculum in Technology for New Zealand

New Zealand under went major curriculum reforms in the early 1990's. These reforms were determined by the New Zealand Curriculum Framework which provides an overarching framework for the development of curricula in New Zealand and which defines seven broad essential learning areas rather than subject areas. Technology is important and should be part of the education of all students. Six grounds for developing technology education were given, namely: economic, pedagogic, motivational, cultural, environmental, and personal. This paper reports on the development of a technology curriculum in schools. The philosophy of the curriculum will be discussed, particularly crucial aspects such as inclusiveness. The way in which the technology curriculum has attempted to meet the needs of a New Zealand technological society will be examined. The general aims of technology education in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum are to develop: technological knowledge and understanding; an understanding and awareness of the interrelationship between technology and society; technological capability. The development of seven technological areas for all students will be highlighted. This paper will discuss in detail the development of the national technology education policy and the way in which the curriculum was developed. The last section of the paper will consider issues related to teacher development programmes and areas of future research.     

The Influences of Teacher Knowledge and Authentic Formative Assessment on Student Learning in Technology Education

Students involved in holistic technological practice need to develop an understanding of technological practice outside the classroom and to participate in tasks set as close as practicable to actual technological practice. This paper investigates the context of assessment and its relationship to achievement and the importance of teacher knowledge to student technological practice. I argue that ‘out of context’ assessment tasks do not give an accurate indication of achievement levels of the children assessed. Introduced is the Model of Student Technological Practice, which identifies four constraints that influence student technological practice. A significant factor is teacher knowledge, as it impacts greatly on the quality of feedback given to students by their teachers. Timely teacher intervention and formative assessment feedback will alter student technological practice and should improve the students’ likelihood of developing successful outcomes.     

Teaching Technological Knowledge: determining and supporting student learning of technological concepts

This paper reports on findings related to Technological Knowledge from Stage Two of the Technological Knowledge and Nature of Technology: Implications for teaching and learning (TKNoT: Imps) research project undertaken in 2009. A key focus in Stage Two was the trialing of different teaching strategies to determine how learning related to the components Technological Modelling (TM), Technological Products (TP) and Technological Systems (TS) could be supported. These components fall within the Technological Knowledge (TK) strand of technology in the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (Ministry of Education, 2007) and as such, reflect the key generic concepts or ‘big ideas’ of technology. During this stage of the research further exploration was also undertaken to determine how student understanding of these three components of technology education progressed from level 1 to 8 of the NZC (Ministry of Education, 2007). This resulted in a significant review of the Indicators of Progression for TM, TP and TS, providing clarification of the nature of the progression expected of students in each component as well as increased teacher guidance to support such progression. Common misconceptions, partial understandings and alternative concepts related to these components were confirmed and explained and five case studies were developed to illustrate strategies employed by teachers and their impact on student learning related to these three components.     

Enhancing teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge and practices: a professional development model for technology teachers in Malawi

This paper reports on a professional development that was designed and implemented in an attempt to broaden teachers’ knowledge of the nature of technology and also enhance their technological pedagogical practices. The professional development was organised in four phases with each phase providing themes for reflection and teacher learning in subsequent phases. On-going support, reflection and feedback underpinned the professional development processes to enhance teachers’ prospects of putting aside old traditions and culture to implement new practices in their classrooms. The teachers collaboratively explored new concepts through readings of selected scholarly papers, making presentations of their views generated from the readings and engaging with peers in discussing learning, curriculum issues and concepts related to the nature of technology and technology education. A qualitative analysis of the teachers’ journey through the phases of the professional development showed the teachers’ enhanced knowledge of technology and technology education. However, their classroom practices showed technological pedagogical techniques that reflected their traditional strategies for teaching technical subjects. It is argued that although the teachers’ conceptualisation of learning in technology was still fragile at this point, attempts to shift teachers’ beliefs and practices require deep theoretical grounding and transferring that into technological practices. A professional development built on existing ideas and context helps expand the teachers’ views about the nature of technology and technology education.     

Embedded creativity: teaching design thinking via distance education

This paper shows how the design thinking skills of students learning at a distance can be consciously developed, and deliberately applied outside of the creative industries in what are termed ‘embedded’ contexts. The distance learning model of education pioneered by The Open University is briefly described before the technological innovations—which feature a fully integrated web 2.0 learning environment and design studio—and concepts behind a new course in Design Thinking are explained in detail. In teaching the more generic skills of design and developing experiential knowledge in students, the paper also explores the changing role of designers in becoming less problem-focussed and more socially engaged through the construction of design process. The paper ends by presenting the results of an extensive student and tutor survey as part of an ongoing longitudinal study which indicate that this new approach to teaching design has been successful.     

Hotspots and trends of technology education in the International Journal of Technology and Design Education: 2000–2018

Using visualized bibliographic data and a range of quantitative research methods, the analysis of the International Journal of Technology and Design Education (IJTDE), which is included in the core collection of Social Science Citation Index, reached a number of conclusions. Firstly, IJTDE is an important platform for the exchange of research results in the field of technology education, and has a significant influence. Secondly, De Vries, Williams, Ankiewicz and a number of others are influential and prolific authors in the IJTDE. Authors from the USA, England, New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia make most contributions to the IJTDE, Delft University of Technology, University of Auckland and the University of Waikato are the more prolific institutions in the IJTDE. Thirdly, technology education, education, design, science, creativity, technology, design education, knowledge, student, technological literacy and problem solving are the most frequency keywords in the IJTDE. Creativity, design education, problem solving, curriculum development, design and critical thinking, practice, engineering education, and STEM education are research trends in the IJTDE between 2000 and 2018. Fourthly, the discipline knowledge base mainly focuses on teaching and design methods in the technological environment, and the definitions of technology-related concepts. The results enable a deeper understanding and consideration of the content and influence of IJTDE, and the research hotspots in the field of technology education.

     

Issues of Learning and Knowledge in Technology Education

This article examines issues that arise from learning and knowledge in technology education. The issues examined are, first, the definition of technological knowledge and what the nature of that knowledge should be, where the concern is with how we define and think about that knowledge, especially in the context of how students learn and use knowledge in technology education. Second, the relationship between learning and knowledge in particular the inter-relationship between learning and knowledge, focusing on a situated view of learning. The third issue sees learning related to the context within which the learning takes place.This paper will explore these three inter-related issues in four sections. First, an outline of a view of learning that privileges context. Second, there will be a consideration of types of knowledge, namely, procedural and conceptual knowledge. These two types will be elaborated upon through research done at the Open University, particularly on problem solving and design. In discussing conceptual knowledge empirical work in mathematics and science education will be drawn on, along with work on the use of mathematics and science in technology education. Third, it will be argued that qualitative knowledge should become a part of teaching and learning in technology education because it both reflects a view of knowledge stemming from situated learning, and the tasks of technology. The article will end with a research agenda for what we have yet to understand, drawing on the earlier arguments.     

Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge

The ideas that underlie the title of this chapter have been part of a familiar debate in education, namely that of the contrast of content and process. In both science and mathematics similar arguments have taken place, and these debates represent a healthy examination of, not only the aims of science and mathematics education, but the teaching and learning issues, and as such they reflect the relative maturity of these subject areas. Even in technology education, which is still in its infancy as a subject, echoes of these debates exist and there are contrasts of approaches to the balance of process and content across the world. The 'debate' in technology is evangelical in nature, with for example, proponents making claims for problem-solving approaches as a basis for teaching with few accounts and almost no empirical research of what actually happens in classrooms. There is insufficient consideration of the learning issues behind this, or other proposals, and it is timely to turn our attention to student learning. This article examines the nature of technological knowledge and what we know about learning related to it. The article argues that learning procedural and conceptual knowledge associated with technological activity poses challenges for both technology educators and those concerned with research on learning.     

Visible parts,invisible whole: Swedish technology student teachers’ conceptions about technological systems

Technological systems are included as a component of national technology curricula and standards for primary and secondary education as well as corresponding teacher education around the world. Little is known, however, of how pupils, students, and teachers conceive of technological systems. In this article we report on a study investigating Swedish technology student teachers’ conceptions of technological systems. The following research question is posed: How do Swedish technology student teachers conceive of technological systems? Data was collected through in-depth qualitative surveys with 26 Swedish technology student teachers. The data was analysed using a hermeneutic method, aided by a theoretical synthesis of established system theories (system significants). The main results of the study are that the technology student teachers expressed diverse conceptions of technological systems, but that on average almost half of them provided answers that were considered as undefined. The parts of the systems that the students understood were mostly the visible parts, either components, devices, or products such as buttons, power lines, hydroelectric plants, or the interface with the software inside a mobile phone. However, the ‘invisible’ or abstract aspects of the technological systems, such as flows of information, energy or matter, or control operations were difficult to understand for the majority of the students. The flow of information was particularly challenging in this regard. The students could identify the input and often the output of the systems, that is, what systems or components do, but the processes that take place within the systems were elusive. Comparing between technological systems also proved difficult for many students. The role of humans was considered important but it was mostly humans as users not as actors on a more systemic level, for example, as system owners, innovators, or politicians. This study confirms previous research in that the students had a basic understanding of structure, input and output of a technological system. Thus, the adult students in this study did not seem to have better understanding of technological systems than school pupils and teachers in previous studies, although this is in line with previous investigations on the general system thinking capabilities of children and adults. The most important implication of this study is that students need to be trained in systems thinking, particularly regarding how components work and connect to each other, flows (especially of information), system dependency, and the human role in technological systems.     

An Analysis of Student Existing Technological Capability: Developing an Initial Framework

This paper reports on the analysis of student (ages 6–15 years) technological capability as they undertake technological tasks. The activities covered a number of different contexts (including different subject areas), and had differing degrees of openness and methods of presentation. Data was obtained from 261 of the 400 students that took part in the classroom activities. A holistic approach to analysing student performance was developed and this provided insights into the strategies adopted by the students. Some preliminary conclusions are: the focus of students on an end-product meant that they did not fully consider the processes that might be required to solve the problem; student technological approaches were influenced by the culture of the classroom; and existing concepts of technological processes influenced the approaches undertaken. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The study of technology as a field of knowledge in general education: historical insights and methodological considerations from a Swedish case study, 1842–2010

Today, technology education in Sweden is both a high-status and a low-status phenomenon. Positive values such as economic growth, global competitiveness and the sustainability of the welfare state are often coupled with higher engineering education and sometimes even upper secondary education. Negative values, on the other hand, are often associated with primary and lower secondary education in this subject. Within the realm of technology education at such lower levels of schooling in Sweden, different actors have often called for reformed curricula or better teacher training, owing to the allegedly poor state of technology education in schools. Recurring demands for a change in technology education are nothing unique from an historical point of view, however. In fact, the urge to influence teaching and learning in technology is much older than the school subject itself. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse some key patterns in technology education in Swedish elementary and compulsory schools from 1842 to 2010. This study thus deals with how technological content has developed over time in these school forms as well as how different actors in and outside the school have dealt with the broader societal view of what is considered as important knowledge in technology as well as what kind of technology has particular significance. The long period of investigation from 1842 to 2010 as well as a double focus on technology as scattered educational content and a subject called Technology make it possible to identify recurring patterns, which we have divided into three overarching themes: Technological literacy and the democratic potential of technological knowledge, The relationship between school technology and higher forms of technology education and The relationship between technology and science.