Australasian Journal of Technology Education
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Computational thinking: Visible in the classroom but invisible in the curriculum
No full textIn our technology-intensive world, computing and programmed technological solutions have gained in importance, and their influence on curriculum, teaching, and learning has been substantial worldwide. Sweden, along with many countries, has integrated programming into the compulsory school curriculum as an integrated part of the teaching of Mathematics and Technology. In addition to a focus on programming, the new curricula also place significant emphasis on digital skills and on enhancing awareness of how the digitalisation of society affects us. Programming is described as a digital competence and computational thinking (CT) as important knowledge through which to facilitate learning and understanding of programming. Thus, it seems that CT, as seen in the Swedishcontext, should relate to both programming and digital competence. In this article, the aim is to examine the presence of CT in Swedish research literature and as a part of the discourse around the development of the Swedish curriculum. A content analysis of the curriculum and a thematic analysis of research publications show that CT is not well integrated into Sweden’s educational system. However, CTrelated activities are found in several subjects and research about CT, and programming is thriving. Requirements for the design of complex systems where understandings of humans and technology are equally important put new demands on education. Meeting these demands in education can be a challenge, but one subject in the Swedish curriculum seems to be suitable for the task, the technology subject. We conclude that the subject technology should be revised to include a greater focus on creativity regarding CT and the construction of computational technological artefacts
A Delphi study on the future of technology education
No full textIn 2020 an article about American experts’ opinions on the future of technology education was published. Several concerns were expressed by the experts in the Delphi study that had been conducted, such as a shortage of teachers and funding. From the start of the study in the USA, the idea was to conduct similar studies in other countries. It is interesting to see to what extent the outcomes are USA-specific or more broadly valid. To find that out a similar study was done in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) and the Netherlands. In our Delphi study, consent was found among the experts in three rounds. It became clear that there are similarities between the USA outcomes but also differences. Most of those differences can be explained by taking into account the local developments in the different countries
Participatory teacher-child interaction in advancing teaching coding and robotics in pre-primary education
No full textTeacher-child interaction (TCI) and children’s participation has been propounded as a factor in enhancing children’s learning in formal learning settings, especially in pre-primary education. Consequently, learning basic skills in coding and robotics at an early age is necessary for constructing a knowledge base applicable in later studies. In the current study, TCI and children’s participation is seen advancing young learners’ (children of six years old) technology education. The theoretical framework applied in this study is the participatory teacher-child interaction model which is based on earlier research. The model consists of three domains: emotional support, classroom organisation, and participatory instructional support. These domains are further divided into specific dimensions. The focus of the study is to recognise which domains and dimensions of TCI are recognised in teaching coding and robotics. Secondarily, the study focuses on which characteristics of participatory teacher-child interaction are implemented when teaching coding and robotics. The qualitative video data were collected from six pre-primary education groups. Participants in the data (N=84) included 10 pre-primary education teachers and 74 young learners. Data were analysed with the content analysis. The results indicate classroom management as the main domain in TCI. The results also show that within classroom organisation, the dimensions of dealing with disruption and clarity of the programme of action are emphasised the most by teachers. As a result, putting effort into classroom organisation decreases participatory TCI in teaching coding and robotics. On the contrary, the teachers who support participatory TCI place more emphasis on emotional support and participatory instructional support, and act as more competent in teaching coding and robotics. Further research is needed to increase participatory TCI when teaching coding and robotics and to further add value to technology education
Innovations in technology education toward technological literacy – A study of two high schools in South Africa
No full textOver the past two decades, South Africa has emphasised the need for school learners to be technologically literate by the end of high school. Specifically, South Africa’s Department of Education (2007) and the Department of Basic Education (2019) stated that it was critical for high school learners to be technologically literate by the end of their schooling. The inclusion of Technology as a subject within the South African education policy framework was considered an important innovation, an attempt at making the curriculum compatible with the skills needed of a globalised economy (Ankiewicz, 2020). Given this context, the goal for teaching Technology as a school subject should enable both learners and teachers to acquire skills, values, knowledge, and attitudes to become critical and creative thinkers and developers. There is a need to continuously explore ways to promote the effective teaching and learning of Technology at high school level.
This study explores the teachers’ adoption of ICT into the teaching of the school subject Technology in two Cape Town high schools. The theoretical framework drawn on in this study is the RAT model (Hughes et al., 2006), which helps in the understanding of an individual learners’ and teachers’ personal experiences of teaching, and understanding technology’s role in teaching, learning, and curricular practices. The study explores the presence or absence of ICT adoption and utilisation in the teaching of Technology, as well as techniques that were applied within pedagogical practices.
The research design was a multiple case study at the two schools in the Province of the Western Cape. A qualitative approach was used to collect and analyse the data. Semi-structured interviews with both the Grade 9 learners and teachers were conducted. Focus group discussions were conducted with the learners at the selected high schools, herein referred to as School A and School B. Based on the findings, recommendations will be disseminated to the Department of Basic Education in raising the learners’ levels of technological literacy through innovative teaching and learning strategies
Challenges and opportunities in the indigenisation of the Marautanga Hangarau (the Māori-medium technology curriculum): Indigenous knowledge and an emerging philosophy of Hangarau
No full textThis article examines the challenges and opportunities in the indigenisation of the technology curriculum to support Māori-medium schooling. Since the emergence of indigenous curriculum design in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) in the 1990s in response to the emerging Māori-medium schooling movement, English-medium education and its philosophies, beliefs, and needs have prevailed. These Eurocentric beliefs and ideologies are often opposed to the key goals of Māori-medium education, including the aim of self-determination through the revitalisation of Māori language and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).
Māori-medium is the collective term used by the New Zealand Ministry of Education to identify learning programmes where 51–100% of instruction is in Māori (Ministry of Education, 2022). These schools are officially required to implement the core national curriculum national framework for Māori-medium contexts including Hangarau (Technology).
This article shares initial findings about the development of Hangarau curriculum to date by drawing on primary data from a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with three mātanga Hangarau (Hangarau curriculum developers). The mātanga were involved as curriculum designers, in the authoring of curriculum support materials, and design of professional learning for teachers.
Beyond the Aotearoa-NZ context, this study has wider implications for the decolonisation of technology education in general, which involves balancing and negotiating the tensions between indigenous and western, commercial and environmental, and general and local indigenous knowledge. As the sociocultural political landscape changes, and spaces for indigenous knowledges are being claimed, we need to remember what is important to our communities. We want to be working at the micro level, that of whānau and hapū (wider family) daily practices, reclaiming and reframing place-based knowledge as we identify its significance for the Hangarau curriculum
Technology education in elementary school using the example of learning robots - development and evaluation of an in-service teacher training concept
No full textThe context of the study is the increasing digitalisation of the living environment of primary school students, which is to be introduced into primary schools according to theoretical and educational policy guidelines. In this regard, further teachertraining on digital media in classrooms are particularly relevant, on the one hand to promote teachers’ digital-related pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge (DPaCK). On the other hand, studies also reveal positive correlations among teacher training, teaching activities, and students’ learning outcomes. In-service teacher training courses with adaptive support by a trainer in particular haveproven to be effective. Against the background of various research studies on professional development of teachers, a corresponding model of tripartite learning outcomes has been established and serves as a broad theoretical framework. However, the specific relationship between in-service teacher training with adaptive support, DPaCK, and computational thinking of primary school students in the context of the German primary school subject Sachunterricht has not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, the following research questions can be derived: (1) To what extent does training with adaptive support on the topic of learning robots contribute to the development of teachers’ DPaCK? (2) Which effects can be ascertained on the students’ computational thinking in technology-related Sachunterricht? To investigate this relationship, an intervention study in a pre-post design with an experimental group, a control group, and a baseline is appropriate. As results are not yet available at this point, the present paper focuses on the presentation of the theoretical background and empirical approaches
Finding The T and E In STEAM: A lesson taught and learned
No full textWe have seen students struggling with understanding and defining technology during years of educating pre-service teachers. This study describes lessons with pre-service technology teachers as we try, for us, a new way of scaffolding their understandings. By teaching technology through STEAM, we aimed to get our students thinking about technology and exploring what technology is for them. We chose aesthetic learning processes as a tool to reach this aim. The concept of aesthetic learning processes has been developed within Scandinavian educational research and is often used in our specific teaching environment within higher education. Students were introduced to the stop-motion movie technique and asked to express what technology meant to them. We analysed the student's movies through inductive analysis. Even though it was the aim of the students' task, we discovered that little technology content knowledge did transfer to the stop motion movies. On the other hand, from an aesthetic perspective, they were great. The movie gave us something to consider as teachers. It taught us what could be made better when trying to understand technology this way. We learned that in a STEAM setting, we lost the T and E and discuss the implications of interdisciplinary teaching
Coding and mathematics: How did coding and collaboration facilitate thinking?
No full textThis paper reports on teachers’ perceptions of their students’ learning as part of a project examining the learning that took place when the students used ScratchMaths in their classroom programme. The project used design-based methodology, which incorporated video-recorded classroom excerpts, teacher interviews and teacher analysis and review of their practice. The teachers identified the students’ problem solving, use of unplugged activities and collaborating using explicit mathematical and coding language as ways to facilitate thinking. They also recognised that their own practice evolved into a more faciliatory role, while their understanding of coding processes grew through learning beside, and through, their students
Innovative professional development for teachers of technology in New Zealand: The Mātanga Project
No full textThe Mātanga (Māori term for expert) project aimed to engage teachers with needs-based professional development with a particular focus on the teacher participants’ perspectives of their developing understandings. This article also explores the subsequent impact on teachers’ students as a result of their engagement with professional learning and development (PLD) in New Zealand. The PLD programme, funded by the Ministry of Education’s Network of Expertise Initiative and delivered by Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ), was designed to foster teachers’ engagement with the technology education curriculum. It also aimed to develop teachers’ specialist identity by focusing on notions of technological and technical thinking, by matching teachers with Mātanga experts.
Research findings indicate that teacher professional development was significant. Participants developed a deeper understanding of the benefits of authentic technological practice, as well as the technology curriculum. Some participants also obtained a deeper understanding of the nature of responsive pedagogies, and the role of reflection in professional practice. The programme motivated technology teachers, which translated into a more positive learning environment for their students.
Feedback was also sought on the Mātanga Project’s professional development model. Participants identified a number of key benefits gained through their participation. Specialist participants gained an appreciation for the theoretical and historical perspectives of technology, while generalist participants valued their increased curriculum knowledge. Participants found the year-long approach beneficial, particularly because they had access to experts in their area of technology. Participants also identified some limitations for the first iteration of the PLD and suggested improvements for the future.
Technology education goal defining framework
No full textThe purpose of this article is to develop theoretical framework for defining technology education (TE) goals. First, approaches to technocratic determinism, the determinism of nature, voluntarism and aestheticism of technology have been considered within the same framework. Second, four alternative definitions for technology (Freenberg, 2007) have been applied within these approaches. Instrumentalism emphasises learners’ creative product production. The critical theory of technology emphasises cultural impact of learners’ product using and learning design knowledge. Determinism emphasises learner technology understanding and substantivism learner technology appraising. Third, analysing by the approaches, a sample of the TE goals of Finnish craft student teachers (n=100) wanted to develop for junior- and high school teaching and learning is described. The goals and the corresponding learning materials showed that they were evenly distributed across all the approaches. The framework provides comprehensive thinking ways for defining TE goals and curriculum