Factors Affecting Learning in Technology in the Early Years at School

The nature of progression in technology is still a matter of debate in technology education. While there is a growing research-based literature exploring the elements of technological literacy that might be appropriate measures of progression, little has been written about the factors that may influence both group and individual development of technological literacy. This article reports the findings of a longitudinal ethnographic study of the progression in technological literacy of 20 children during their first 3 years at school. It focuses on the factors that affected their learning in technology, and identifies a number of personal and systemic factors that affected progression in technological literacy. The implications of these findings for teaching, and for further research are then explored.     

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.     

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.     

Social Change: How Should Technology Education Respond?

Rapid social change creates a powerful challenge to individuals and educational institutions. Technology education is not an exception. To be a useful and authentic learning area, technology education should constantly re-examine its rationale in order to formulate responses to changing contexts to improve the quality of learning for students. The more perspectives used for this process, the better the results should be. This article explores several facets of social change that can influence an understanding of the aims and nature of technology education and that might contribute to its development. Social change is a very complex and dynamic phenomenon that can be considered from a variety of perspectives and is reflected in a number of processes. These processes are different in different types of societies. In relation to the topic, the following processes that are relevant to Western societies (it is acknowledged that for different type of societies, e.g. Islamic, Chinese, social context will be different) will be analyzed: (1) The shift of emphasis from engaging society members primarily as producers to engaging society members primarily as consumers; (2) The colonisation of the cognitive and moral spheres of human life by the aesthetic sphere; (3) The integration of people into the technological world and (4) The shift from the Welfare state to the Competition state. These processes have been identified on the basis of their potential influences on the development of technology education and, as a consequence, the students who study it. These processes are in tension which creates even greater challenges to technology education. Several implications of the above analysis in terms of conceptualizing technology education are discussed. It is suggested that social change can be addressed through technology education if the educational goals of it are ‘to broaden minds and develop all pupils in the creation of a better society’. For technology education classrooms, these specifically mean the involvement of students in democratic debates on the future outlines of technological development; development of their social and ecological sensitivities; avoiding orienting their solutions exclusively to the standard of business efficiency and profitability criteria; helping them to distinguish real needs from desires; discussing the role of designed objects in the life of contemporary society; putting more emphasis on other than the aesthetic aspects of life that can provide existential meaning for people; challenging the way people are manipulated through advertising and cultivation of their desires; developing an active/creative attitude towards problems (not re-active); teaching students to formulate problems (not only being involved in problem solving); challenging consumer-oriented design; looking at design as one source of inspiration, not as a source of economic utility; and developing social responsibility     

The technological knowledge used by technology education students in capability tasks

Since technology education is, compared to subjects such as mathematics and science, still a fairly new subject both nationally and internationally, it does not have an established subject philosophy. In the absence of an established subject philosophy for technology education, one can draw on other disciplines in the field, such as engineering and design practice, for insights into technological knowledge. The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of an epistemological conceptual framework chiefly derived from engineering, to be able to describe the nature of technological knowledge, in an attempt to contribute towards the understanding of this relatively new learning area. The conceptual framework was derived mainly from Vincenti’s (What engineers know and how they know it. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990) categories of knowledge based on his research into historical aeronautic engineering cases. Quantitative research was used to provide insight into the categories of knowledge used by students at the University of Pretoria during capability tasks and included an analysis of a questionnaire administered to these students. Findings suggest that the conceptual framework used here is useful in technology education and that the categories of technological knowledge apply to all the content areas, i.e. structures, systems and control, and processing, in technology education. The study recommends that researchers and educators deepen their understanding of the nature of technological knowledge by considering the categories of technological knowledge presented in the conceptual framework.     

The Nature of Technology for Design

This paper reviews ideas from design and technology and science education and discusses knowledge, values and skills as aspects of technology in order to demonstrate that technology for design cannot be simply associated with a knowledge component of technology. The paper highlights the linguistic challenges in expressing issues in this area and the philosophical difficulty that the nature of cognitive modelling means that some aspects may be impossible to express using language. Values and a designerly way of knowing and the nature of technological skills are discussed in order to establish their relationship to technology for design. Prior studies concerning technology and designing have focused on engineering and science-based design areas. A research agenda in relation to the proposed broader interpretation of technology for design is discussed, which demonstrates that such research must ultimately be interdisciplinary. Nevertheless, initial steps which could be taken by design researchers are suggested.     

Understanding modelling in technology and science: the potential of stories from the field

This paper tells the story of how two biotechnologists used models, one working as a technologist and the other as a scientist. These stories were collected during the development of the key ideas about the nature of technology and technological knowledge during the latest curriculum development in New Zealand. Their stories of how and why they used models provided insight into the different role of modelling in technology and science. This difference can be linked to the fundamental difference between technology as a discipline that attempts to intervene in the world and create something other, and science as a discipline that attempts to explain the world. The stories illustrate the differences in the purpose, outcome and the underpinning reasoning across technology and science. We suggest that using such stories supports learning about the nature of technology and the nature of science and provides an opportunity to add a critical dimension to the development of technological literacy and scientific literacy.     

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.     

How to analyze technology lifecycle from the perspective of patent characteristics? the cases of DVDs and hard drives

This study aims to analyze the technology lifecycle from the perspective of the dynamics of patent characteristics; the dynamics of patent characteristics are proposed as an approach for characterizing technology lifecycle in this study. DVD and hard drive technologies, which have already experienced their complete technology lifecycles, were selected for analyzing their patent characteristics as a function of the different stages of their technology lifecycles to thus obtain the objective of this research. The results obtained in this study provide a channel to assess the nature of firms’ innovation strategies along technology lifecycles. It can be observed that (1) patents attempt to cite more prior patent or non-patent references at the latter stages to find more technological or scientific sources that can contribute to technological innovation, (2) most litigated patents are granted in the Growth stage, so it is expected that patents in the Growth stage should be more important and, thus, more relevant to dominant design than the patents granted in other stages.     

The Place of Authenticity in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum

In 1999 Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum became mandatory. It was developed over a period of approximately four years from conception to publication, with wide consultation. It was first published in October 1995. During the three years between publication and gazetting many teachers were involved in professional development. During this time it became obvious that there was confusion amongst teachers about the meaning of `authenticity' in relation to technology programmes. Do technological problems need to be authentic to the students themselves or to the nature of technological practice? Many learning theories have informed the development of this document. Those selected here indicate quite clearly the meaning and context of authenticity with regard to technology education. By involving our students in activity that is authentic to technological practice or real world technology, teachers are able to provide stimulating and relevant learning for students. This was also the indication in recent communication from the Ministry of Education in New Zealand during the 1999 Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ) conference. By giving academic value to technology and developing our teachers in the fields of technological practice we hope our students will influence the economic status of our country in the future.     

The determinants of best-practice technology

This study examines the mechanism underlying the advances in the forefront of technical knowledge. A case study of the growth in the maximum capacity of turbogenerators is presented. Two main determinants of technological change emerge in the light of available evidence. One is the accumulated experience of a practical nature. The other is the scale of the larger system for the use of technology. The role of these twin processes of learning and scaling is shown to be of a fundamental nature. In particular, they account for a remarkably simple law of an otherwise complex system of technological innovation in electric power industry: the ratio of maximum unit capacity to total installed capacity remains relatively constant over long periods of time. The study has further implications for the national technology strategy. They are discussed.     

Technological Diversification, Coherence, and Performance of Firms

Technological diversification at the firm level (i.e., the expansion of a firm's technology base into a wide range of technology fields) is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions,—the United States, Europe, and Japan—prompting the term multitechnology corporation. Whereas previous studies have provided insights into the composition of technology portfolios of multitechnology firms, little is known about the relationship between technological diversification and firms' technological performance. Against a backdrop of the technology and innovation management literature, the present article investigates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance, taking into account the moderating role of technological coherence in firms' technology portfolios. Hereby, technological coherence is defined as the degree to which technologies in a technology portfolio are technologically related. To measure the technological coherence of portfolios, a measure of technological relatedness of technology fields is constructed based on patent citation patterns found in 450,000 European Patent Office (EPO) patent grants. Two hypotheses are presented here: (1) Technological diversification has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with technological performance; and (2) technological coherence moderates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance positively. These hypotheses are tested empirically using a panel data set (1995–2003) on patent portfolios pertaining to 184 U.S., European, and Japanese firms. The firms selected are the largest research and development (R&D) actors in five industries: pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; chemicals; engineering and general machinery; information technology (IT) hardware (i.e., computers and communication equipment); and electronics and electrical machinery. Empirical results, obtained by fixed‐effects negative binomial regressions, support both hypotheses in the present article. Technological diversification has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with technological performance. Technological diversification offers opportunities for cross‐fertilization and technology fusion, but high levels of diversification may yield few marginal benefits as firms risk lacking sufficient levels of scale to benefit from wide‐ranging technological diversification, and firms may encounter high levels of coordination and integration costs. Further, the results show that the net benefits of technological diversification are higher in technologically coherent technology portfolios. If firms build up a technologically coherent diversified portfolio, the presence of sufficient levels of scale is ensured and coordination costs are limited. At the same time, technologically coherent diversification puts firms in a better position to benefit form cross‐fertilization between technologies. The present article clearly identifies the important role of technological coherence in technology diversification strategies of firms.     

A path model of factors affecting secondary school students’ technological literacy

Technological literacy defines a competitive vision for technology education. Working together with competitive supremacy, technological literacy shapes the actions of technology educators. Rationalised by the dictates of industry, technological literacy was constructed as a product of the marketplace. There are many models that visualise different dimensions of technological literacy, but clear empirical evidence on how these interact is still lacking. A measurement method that comprehensively evaluates technological literacy is missing. Insights into the stem structure and interaction of technological literacy dimensions could be useful for technology education curriculum design and its implementation. In this study, the multifaceted nature of technological literacy was measured using a new assessment method, and dimensions of secondary school students’ technological literacy were empirically investigated. A total of 403 students participated in the quasi-experimental research design. The treatment group consisted of 121 students taught optional subjects relating to technology education. The control group consisted of 282 students. Results from variance analysis showed that optional technology subjects enhance technological literacy, especially students’ technological capacity where a large effect size (η ²  = 0.14) was noted. Results from a path analysis revealed critical thinking and decision-making as the most important dimensions of technological literacy while the predictor of active participation in out-of-school technical activities and technology homework was a key independent influencing factor. A large effect size (R ²  = 0.4) for career path orientation predictors was detected. Technological capacity was revealed as a decisive predictor for a career path in vocational education and technical high school.     

The role of process plant contractors in transferring technology

Process plant contractors implement and bring to fruition the capital investment programmes in such sectors as chemicals and metals. In undertaking a contract they perform all or a number of the following: plant design and engineering, supply of process technology, procurement of equipment, supervision of construction, plant commissioning, and the arrangement of project finance. Specific characteristics of the industry are the variety of functions undertaken by the contractor and operation on a worldwide basis.
The nature and extent of contractor involvement in transferring technology is determined by a complex interaction of a number of economic and technological factors. The source of technology may be 'in-house', a long term licence agreement, or some specific arrangement to meet a particular enquiry. The paper illustrates the various means for technology transfer drawing on examples from the experience of one contractor.     

Old technology meets new technology: complementarities,similarities, and alliance formation

Alliance formation is commonplace in many high‐technology industries experiencing radical technological change, where established firms use alliances with new entrants to adapt to technological change, while new entrants benefit from the ability of established players to commercialize the new technology. Despite the prevalence of these alliances, we know little about how these firms choose to ally with specific firms given the range of possible partners they may choose from. This study explores factors that lead to alliance formation between pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. We focus on the alliance tie as the unit of analysis and argue that dyadic complementarities and similarities directly influence alliance formation. We then introduce a contingency model in which the positive effect of complementarities and similarities on alliance formation is moderated by the age of the new technology firm. We draw theoretical attention to the intersection between levels of analysis, in particular, the intersection between dyadic and firm‐level constructs. We find that a pharmaceutical and a biotechnology firm are more likely to enter an alliance based on complementarities when the biotechnology firm is younger. Another noteworthy finding is that proxies for broad capabilities appear to be at least as effective, if not more so, in predicting alliance formation compared to fine‐grained science and technology‐related indicators, like patent cross‐citations or patent common citations. We conclude by suggesting that future studies on alliance formation need to take into account interactions across levels; for example, how dyadic capabilities interact with firm‐level factors, and the advantages and disadvantages of more or less fine‐grained measures of organizational capabilities. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The evolution of a cellular manufacturing system – a longitudinal case study

This paper describes the evolution of a cellular manufacturing system in a medium-sized company over a 13-year period. The objective of this paper is to analyze the arguments that gave rise to the nearly continuous readjustment of the design of the cellular manufacturing system of this company and the direction in which these adjustments took place. The study indicates that two interrelated factors played an important role in the decision to change the system: the market and manufacturing technology. Analysis of these factors offers important insights into the aspects that need to be taken into account in cell formation. It is argued that a cellular system should reflect market characteristics. New technology, furthermore, demands specialized cells, producing in a multi-shift situation. These two developments point in the direction of market-oriented, reasonably sized, functionally organized manufacturing units. It is argued that market developments, new manufacturing technology and modern production control systems will probably constrain the application area of cellular manufacturing.     

全球视角下分布式创新的形成因素分析

20世纪90年代以后,随着经济全球化及先进信息技术的广泛应用,分布式创新应运而生。其产生根源是知识和技术已超过自然资源、资本和劳动力成为最重要的生产要素,并且具有技术领导者主宰国际知识分散创新的特点。文章认为有多种因素促成了分布式创新形成,包括全球化创新和跨国公司发展,发展中国家技术能力不断提升,全球技术标准和主导设计,创新快速响应客户需求,ICT技术广泛应用,日益加深的劳动分工和供应商协同等。为适应全球化创新环境要求,企业特别是技术密集型企业必须调整其创新模式。     

Developing Technological Knowledge

It is argued in this paper that various approaches are available in designing teaching and learning experiences for technology education. However, many approaches are based on inappropriate assumptions about transfer, the ways in which meaning is represented by individuals and relationships among different kinds of experiences. It is advanced that the development of technology knowledge in school should aim at developing a rich inter-connectedness among the ways in which technological meanings can be understood by learners, so that learners experience transformations in relation to themselves, technological practice and their knowledge. Cultural-historical activity theory is suggested as a useful basis for designing instruction aimed at the various purposes of technology education.     

Some Implications of the Philosophy of Technology for Science, Technology and Society (STS) Studies

Technology is frequently considered in terms of its impact on entities outside its essential nature: as the impact of technology on the environment and society, but also the impact of human values and needs on technology. By taking particular social implications of technology into account, the Science–Technology relationship can be extended to the field of Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies. STS studies are grounded in socio-technological understanding, that is, systematic knowledge of the mutual relationship between technical objects, the natural environment and social practice. Because technology is a key element of STS, it is expected that the philosophy of technology will have implications for STS studies. The dynamic nature of technology as such leaves its own philosophy in a tentative or flexible state. However, the implications of the philosophy of technology, being in a development phase at the moment with changes in emphasis occuring, for STS studies ought to be determined continuously. The aim of the article is to identify and discuss possible implications of the the philosophy of technology for STS. In order to deduce these implications, the relevant theoretical framework underpinning the article will be discussed in broad outlines. Seeing that the philosophy of technology is such a wide field a delineation of the field needs to be done. Mitcham’s proposed preliminary framework is taken as point of departure for the article. Technology as knowledge (epistemology/theory of knowledge) and technology as activity (design methodology) will be discussed as two key aspects of the modern philosophy of technology which could provide implications for STS. A theory of knowledge usually includes methodology, but seeing that Mitcham classified methodology as one of the modes in which technology is manifested, it is dealt with separately. The epistemology and methodology of technology will each be discussed from a philosophical, historical and practice-based methodological perspective. Some implications of the philosophy for STS are identified and discussed.