Teaching the nature of technology: determining and supporting student learning of the philosophy of technology

This paper reports on findings related to the Nature of Technology 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 Characteristics of Technology (CoT) and Characteristics of Technological Outcomes (COTO) could be supported. These components fall within the Nature of Technology (NoT) strand of technology in the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (Ministry of Education, 2007) and as such, reflect a philosophical understanding of technology as a discipline. During this stage of the research further exploration was undertaken to determine how student understanding of these two components of technology education progressed from level 1 to level 8 of the NZC (Ministry of Education, 2007). Common misconceptions and partial understandings related to these components are identified and explained and four case studies are presented to illustrate strategies employed by teachers and their impact on student learning related to these two components. The Stage Two outcomes resulted in the revision of the Indicators of Progression for CoT and CoTO in order to clarify the progression expected of students in each component and provide increased teacher guidance to support such progression.     

Perspectives of authenticity: implementation in technology education

To meet the intentions of the New Zealand Curriculum 2007 teachers must critically reflect on their role and their idea of what defines ‘best practice’ for teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. The teacher’s role has changed considerably over time. There is now, more than ever, a need for much greater transparency, accountability and collaborative practice within education. Famous philosophers and theorists including Plato, Rousseau and Dewey have expounded ideals of authenticity and authentic engagement, but it is only with the spread of constructivism that authenticity has gained more favour. The authors will investigate perspectives of authenticity, authentic learning, and authentic activities (Kreber et al. in Adult Educ Q Am Assoc Adult Contin Educ 58(1):22–43, 2007; Newmann in Authentic achievement: restructuring schools for intellectual quality, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Fransisco, 1996; Newmann and Wehlage in Educ Leadersh 50(7):8–12, 1993; Reeves et al. in Quality conversations. Paper presented at the 25th HERDSA annual conference, 2002; Splitter in Stud Philos Educ 28(2):135–151, 2008). Through qualitative investigation they identify and summarise key viewpoints and demonstrate how these can be successfully implemented through programmes of technology education. A model of authentic technology for producing quality technological outcomes is presented. The authors show how an activity from an initial teacher education course in technology education uses identified aspects of authentic technological practice through the various dimensions of authenticity to develop enduring learning for students. They consider the role of context in developing learning and introduce some new ideas on successful student engagement in the field of conation (Riggs and Gholar in Strategies that promote student engagement, Corwin Press, California, 2009). Conation is defined as the will, drive and effort behind students’ engagement in learning and is increasingly seen as an integral part of authentic education.     

Supporting conceptual understandings of and pedagogical practice in technology through a website in New Zealand

This article reports on the up-date and development of an on-line resource to support of teachers’ conceptual understandings and pedagogical practice in New Zealand. Techlink is a website dedicated to supporting technology teachers, students and those with an interest in technology education. This research documents part of a Ministry of Education initiative to develop materials to support teaching and learning in technology education. The research was conducted by educational researchers contracted through Technology Education New Zealand the professional subject association. This research was a component of a larger contract with an overall aim of improving student achievement particularly at Years 12 and 13, the final 2 years of schooling in New Zealand. The aims of the initiative reported in this article were to provide ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the materials developed by the writing team, to support teacher shifts in understanding and pedagogical practice. This article gives an overview of the 3 year research study, focussing on teachers and teacher educators perceptions of Techlink as a professional development resource. An iterative process was used to critique and give feedback on existing and developed materials. The article also discusses enhancements made to ensure that the resource reflected the needs of technology teachers and The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education 2007).     

The road less travelled: a pre-service approach towards the technology teaching profession

This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of an innovative one-year pre-service Graduate Diploma of Teaching (secondary) for teachers of Technology. The timing of this study is significant. Over a decade of review and adjustment to the Technology curriculum, leading to the new learning area of Technology in the New Zealand curriculum, Ministry of Education (2007), has caused many teachers in New Zealand schools to retrench to an earlier approach or make their own interpretation of curricular requirements. This situation in schools created the need for those involved with pre-service teacher education to prepare programmes that signpost pitfalls while building on students’ own strengths and those of the curriculum to cope with the wide variety of interpretation and pedagogical approach of school communities. This paper suggests a way forward.     

Nurturing the designerly thinking and design capabilities of five-year-olds: technology in the new entrant classroom

Technology is one of eight learning areas of the New Zealand national curriculum. It aims to develop a broad technological literacy through students participating in programmes in which the practice of technological development is experienced, as is knowledge informing practice, and students gain an understanding of technology as a domain in its own right. In New Zealand children begin school at 5 years of age and this paper describes a classroom research project during which these students design and then construct a photo frame. The inducement for this development arose from students needing to safely transport home and then display a class photograph. This provided the opportunity for developing technological knowledge and skills within a real and relevant context—two key drivers when working with young students (Ministry of Education 2007) [MoE]. The results of this project suggest that teaching technology to five-year-old students is achievable and a valuable addition to other learning opportunities provided in the new entrant classroom. Strategies are suggested that will enable students to successfully achieve their goals whilst gaining a simple understanding of the technological process. By making good use of these it is possible to create a worthwhile and imaginatively challenging activity that reflects the essence of the technology education curriculum.     

Representations of technology in the “Technical Stories” for children of Otto Witt, early 20th century Swedish technology educator

Children’s fiction in school libraries have played and still play a role in mediating representations of technology and attitudes towards technology to schoolchildren. In early 20th century Sweden, elementary education, including textbooks and literature that were used in teaching, accounted for the main mediation of technological knowledge to schoolchildren. An investigation of children’s literature for schools is therefore important in order to understand what was considered worth knowing about technology at the time. The aim of this article is therefore to analyse the representations of technology and attitudes towards technology that were mediated through two children’s fiction books in Swedish elementary school libraries in the 1910s. We have limited the analysis of empirical material to the books Technical Stories for Young and Old (Tekniska sagor för stora och små, 1914) and Technical Stories of the War for Young and Old (Krigets tekniska sagor för stora och små, 1915) by the Swedish inventor, author and technology educator Otto Witt. Gauging Witt’s influence on the schoolchildren and educators of his time is very difficult, but in this first English-language article on his “technical stories” one can conclude that he was in many ways unique and probably fairly well-read in the schools of early 20th century Sweden and onward. He was also a particularly perceptive forerunner of today’s technology and science educators in his use of anthropomorphism as an educational tool.     

The Rationality of U.S. Regulation of the Broadcast Spectrum in the 1934 Communications Act

The Federal Radio Commission regulated radio broadcasting, 1927–1934. With the passage of the Communications Act of 1934, the 1927 Radio Act (enabling the Commission) was re-enacted in whole. This congressional endorsement yields key evidence as to what policy outcomes were intended, differentiating competing theories for the origins of spectrum allocation law: Coase (J Law Econ 2(1):1–40, 1959), emphasizing policy error; Hazlett (J Law Econ 33:133–175, 1990), focusing on “franchise rents” in a public choice framework; and the “public interest” hypothesis, reconstructed by Moss and Fein (J Policy Hist 15(4):389–416, 2003). Congress’ revealed preferences prove consistent with the franchise rents theory, while contradicting the other two.     

Who Invented the Lerner Index? Luigi Amoroso, the Dominant Firm Model, and the Measurement of Market Power

The invention of the price/cost margin (P-MC)/P as an index of market power is usually credited to Lerner (Rev Econ Stud 1(3):157?C175, 1934). Landes and Posner (Harv Law Rev 94(5):937?C996, 1981) is similarly often considered the main reference for the generalized version of the index in the case of a dominant firm that shares the market with price-taking rivals. From the viewpoint of the history of industrial economics both claims are incorrect. It was not Lerner who invented the price/cost margin index and the generalized version was fully derived before WWII. In both cases, priority should be given to Luigi Amoroso, the leading Italian mathematical economist in the interwar decades. In the latter case the names of Heinrich von Stackelberg and George Stigler also deserve credit.     

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.     

The importance of design thinking for technological literacy: a phenomenological perspective

“We know that progress depends on discovery, inventions, creativity and design, but we have simply supposed that it happens anyway,” de Bono (1999 p. 43). Technology education is ostensibly a foundation for future designers and creative thinking. However evidence of good design or creative thinking in outcomes displayed in school technology studios is limited. Technology is inextricably linked with applied science, but I argue that scientific method couldn’t be further from creativity and designing as technology education based on this premise can confine problem solving to a set of prescribed components that harness teachers to narrowly defined and deeply focused goals. This paper attempts to analyse the nature of this phenomenom, debate the place of creativity, imagination and personal sensitivities as part of designing and demonstrate that although there are inseperable links between design and technology the structure of a technology curriculum could be a barrier to opportunities for effective design thinking.     

The Impact of Timing on Bidding Behavior in Procurement Auctions of Contracts with Private Costs

We provide a comparison of bidding behavior between multi-round and single-round auctions considering bid lettings for asphalt construction contracts that are known to have primarily private costs. Using a reduced-form difference-in-difference approach as well as the nonparametric estimation technique that was proposed by Racine and Li (J Econom 119(1):99–130, 2004) we find that bidding is more aggressive in a sequential multi-round setting than in a simultaneous single-round format. We explore potential causes for the bidding difference across formats that are related to synergies and the level of bidder participation.     

Access Pricing and Network Expansion in Natural Gas Markets

In this paper, we discuss different indirect approaches to cope with local market power in natural gas markets, in particular the extension of pipeline capacity as an instrument to combat nodal market power. One perspective, as expressed in Cremer and Laffont (Eur. Econ. Rev. 46:928–935, 2002) is that a discriminatory access price can correct for market failure and induce an increase in output. We argue, on the contrary, that the opposite holds: non-discriminatory access to the pipeline system will lead to overcapacity, and is thus the preferable strategy.     

Countervailing Power and Chain Stores

The countervailing power of large buyers subdues the market power of sellers, but price concessions won by large buyers in upstream markets may or may not translate into lower prices downstream as Galbraith (American capitalism: The concept of countervailing power. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1952, Am Econ Rev 44:1–6, 1954) once contended. This paper presents a model that formalizes certain previously neglected elements of Galbraith’s argument, and shows that upstream price concessions may lead to lower downstream prices. In this model, a large retail chain store with countervailing power plays one large supplier off against another to win lower prices. An indirect effect of these interactions is that small retailers also pay lower prices, although not as low as the chain. Finally, competition among the retailers drives retail prices lower. The retail-price-restraining effect of the chain is stronger than the effect that is produced by the entry of an additional supplier.     

The developing field of technology education: a review to look forward

This paper attempts to review the development of technology education over the last 20–25 years. The purpose is to reflect on how far the field has come and where it might go to, including what questions need to be considered in its ongoing development. The data for this paper draw on our work in developing The International Handbook of Research and Development in Technology Education (Jones and de Vries 2009). However, the paper is more than a summary of this work, instead representing a synthesis in its own right. The work was not undertaken to report solely on the collective achievement of a large number of people internationally, but rather to use this as a means for setting a sound foundation for future research, development and teaching in technology education. By considering the underlying philosophy, international development of curriculum, relationships of technology education with other subject areas, teaching, learning and assessment as well as teacher education, and educational research, we are able to scope past activities and present an agenda for moving forward in teaching, research and development.     

A review of Technology Education in Ireland; a changing technological environment promoting design activity

In Ireland, Technology Education’s structure and organisation across the levels of education is not delivered or governed in a coherent manner. Technology Education in primary level education, for students between 5 and 12 years of age, does not explicitly exist as a separate subject. In primary level education, Social, Environmental and Scientific Education (Science), encourages a child to examine and appreciate how technology and science impacts on their lives and the environment. It supports children developing design and make skills, and to apply scientific ideas to everyday situations and practical problems (DES in Primary school curriculum, science. Social, environmental and scientific education curriculum, 1999). In addition, various initiatives such as the Junior Lego League, supported by the Galway Education Centre, facilitate various perspectives of Technology Education. In second level education, which this paper primarily focuses on, Technology Education exists as a suite of eight subjects, for students of 12–18 years of age. In third level education students can choose from a wide range of bachelor degree programmes in science, technology, engineering or maths. The degree programmes available at third level also include programmes in initial teacher education (ITE). These programmes in initial teacher education are offered by two institutions, and graduate second level teachers to service the second level system. Technology Education in second level education was first introduced to Ireland in 1885. Since this introduction, revisions and changes have occurred, in both the Irish economy and syllabi. In 2006, Technology Education syllabi were revised to include more design activity at senior cycle. These changes reflect the forward thinking of policy makers in reflection of the progression from the industrial era to the information era to the conceptual era. The scope of second level Technology Education in an Irish context is still perceived by many as vocational, though progressive reformations are advancing towards a design-driven framework, grounded in a strong craft practice. This changing technological environment has resulted in the promotion of design activity in second level Technology Education in Ireland. This paper reviews the establishment of design education in Technology Education in the Irish second level education context, where an epistemological shift towards design activity has occurred.     

Curriculum restructuring in technology in NSW secondary schools — Response to change

This research project aimed to analyse and clarify the impact of the formation of the Technological and Applied Studies (TAS) Key Learning Area (KLA) on school organisation, teachers and teaching method. It further aimed to examine the implications of this change for pre-service teacher education programs. In 1989 the NSW government White paper on curriculum reform mandated the restructuring of primary and secondary schooling. As a part of this restructuring the subjects that had been traditionally taught under the Home Economics and Industrial Arts departments, together with agriculture and computing studies were brought together under the TAS KLA. The government also mandated that every secondary school student would be required to study technology through a newly developed syllabusDesign and Technology Years 7–10. These changes have had significant implications for the organisation and delivery of technology curriculum in secondary schools and there are consequent implications for the provision of teacher education in the field of technology.Ms. Y. McDonald is currently the program director and practicum co-ordinator of the undergraduate bachelor of education secondary home economics: design, technology and health studies program in the Faculty of Education at Sydney University.Mr. J. Gibson is currently the program director and practicum co-ordinator of the undergraduate bachelor of education secondary industrial arts: design and technology program in the Faculty of Education at Sydney University. He has had extensive experience in curriculum development in the technology area through his membership of syllabus committees and the Technological and Applied Studies Key Learning Area Co-ordinating Committee of the NSW Board of Studies.     

Marktwirtschaftliche Energiewende: Ein Wettbewerbsrahmen für die Stromversorgung mit alternativen Technologien

If the German energy transition is to succeed, environmental soundness should not be the only criterion on the agenda with respect to the restructuring of the energy system. It is rather the security of electricity supply and likewise the social sustainability during the transformation process that has to be ensured. The primary question is how to fulfill this challenge in the light of the legal obligation of a complete nuclear power phase-out in the most cost-effective way. The looming avalanche of costs triggered by record-breaking highs of the expanding solar power systems, promoted under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), should have made it clear that cost efficiency has only played a minor role so far. According to this study, (real) additional costs for all solar power systems, which had been installed between 2000 and the end of 2011 in Germany, sum up to about 100 billion Euros (prices as of 2011). Since these resources are withdrawn from other societal uses, it is essential that costs for the energy transition in general and in particular the consumers’ costs due to an increased share in renewable energies have to be minimized. For this reason, a new, more cost-efficient and market-oriented promotion/funding system is needed to replace the current system based on the EEG. As suggested by the Monopoly Commission (Monopolkommission 2011), the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR 2011) and recently by acatech, Germany’s National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech 2012), a market-based promotion system with quantity control in the form of quotas for “green” energy would be a more efficient system. If from 2013 onwards, the future expansion of renewable energies would be fostered by a national quota-based system instead of the EEG, the expansion could be more cost-effective, according to calculations of this study. If, for example, the future price for green electricity certificates exclusively accelerated the expansion of on-shore wind power, the overall subsidies for those wind power capacities that may be installed between 2013 and 2020 merely amount to EUR 6.8 billion (current prices) instead of subsidies in the amount of nearly 58.8 billion Euro (current prices) in the case of further sticking to the EEG. This alone should give sufficient reason to replace the EEG as quickly as possible by a market-based support system such as the quota system.     

Why do venture capital firms exist: An institution-based rent-seeking perspective and Chinese evidence

This paper is a theory development to Amit, Brander, and Zott (1998, Journal of Business Venturing, 13: 441-466) on the nature of venture capital firms. In their paper, the authors argue that venture capital firms exist because they fill a market niche by developing the ability to overcome extreme information asymmetry embedded in high-risk entrepreneurial firms. However, this theory encounters difficulties in explaining a variety of organizational and behavioral divides among venture capitalists in different contexts and over time. In this paper, we apply the institution-based view to reveal the nature of venture capital. We argue that it is the venture capitalists’ capability to capture economic rents from the institutional environment that distinguish them from other financial intermediaries. We show the connection of our perspective with the conventional view as well as the usefulness of this theory in explaining the development of the venture capital industry in China.     

Student teachers of technology and design into industry: a Northern Ireland case study

This paper, based in Northern Ireland, is a case study of an innovative programme which places year 3 B.Ed. post-primary student teachers of Technology and Design into industry for a five-day period. The industrial placement programme is set in an international context of evolving pre-service field placements and in a local context defined by the Northern Ireland Curriculum (CCEA 2007); a rationale for the inclusion of Technology and Design within that curriculum; and the promotion of a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) agenda. Undertaken in collaboration with a range of industrial partners, the placements aim to give the student teachers an opportunity to spend time in industry. All the students concerned started their teacher education degree straight from school and therefore are without industrial experience. As a result of the placements the students gained valuable industrial experience and thereby further enhanced their working knowledge and understanding in their main subject area of Technology and Design, in particular, and other curricular areas, in general. The students report many benefits, both personally and professionally, to be gained from the placements typically the opportunity to see a range of industrial processes, many of which they are required to teach, and to gain a better understanding of the link between content of Technology and Design education and the activities of industry. This case study is based on feedback from the 2010 to 2011 cohort of students whose comments confirm the inherent value of exposing student teachers to industrial environments.