The systemic approach to technological education: effects of transferred learning in resolving a physics problem

The purpose of this study is to verify whether pupils (15–16 years old) who have received technology education on a systemic approach of industrial systems, are better than other pupils (of the same age but from other academic domains such as literary ones or ones that are economics-based) at solving physical science problems which involve systemic reasoning. The results show that there is a positive transfer effect of the systems approach applied to industrial automatisms on systems of another nature (hydrodynamic and electrical problems). However, this effect is less important for the pupils who study engineering sciences initiation for just 1?year (ISI) than for those who continue this education (SI) for a further year.