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Authenticity in integrated STEM education – boon or fantasy? Observing upper secondary technology classroom practice
Full text linkEngineering design and technological modelling have been argued as valid premises from which to increase authenticity, relevance and create bridges between the STEM disciplines while maintaining subject integrity. Previous research indicates that projects which emulate how engineers work has the potential of both integrating STEM disciplines and being authentic. At the same time, earlier research also cautions that few integrated STEM projects consider students’ interests and their everyday contexts. The aim of this study is to investigate the implementation of an integrated STEM project in the Technology Programme at a Swedish upper secondary school. The studied STEM project involves students’ designs for improving their physical school environment in terms of well-being, feasibility, and sustainability. Data collection consisted of participatory observations, as well as teacher and student interviews. The results are presented in terms of three themes, namely (1) cooperation and real-life application are fundamental for authentic learning; (2) using models and modelling for communicating design ideas are central to authentic technology and engineering; and (3) integration of STEM content and methods do not draw on all four disciplines. It is concluded that there might be easily accessible pathways to promote integrated STEM and authenticity, such as utilizing the school environment as a starting point. However, formally implementing authentic practices remain a challenge even though a majority of teachers are enthusiastic about real-world relevance in design projects. Integrated STEM in the design project mostly included technology and engineering content, and aspects of science and mathematics albeit to a lower degree, which made simultaneous integration of all STEM disciplines a challenging task
To See Reason: Technology Teachers’ Interventions and Students’ Reasoning in the Design Process
No full textIn this study, the aim has been to explore teacher interventions in relation to students\u27 reasoning in the design process. It is important that technology education develops students’ reasoning in design so that the students can learn to draw conscious conclusions and to make the thought process behind these conclusions explicit. The teacher’s support is pivotal to this learning. However, research on teacher practice when students reason within technology education is limited. Nonetheless, gaining knowledge about this would support further insights in how to develop students’ reasoning in design. Data has been collected through two classroom observations of lessons in technology education in Swedish secondary schools. Video and audio were recorded using two cameras and teacher-mounted and student group microphones. Transcribed video and audio data were analyzed through thematic analysis. In the results, the teacher interventions have been described and presented in relation to the important reasoning types in design; means-end reasoning and cause-effect reasoning. Findings indicate that the students’ reasoning is more visible when the teacher asks counter questions or questions to check-up or to challenge the student’s actions. The results of this study will be beneficial to propel further research about teaching in relation to students’ reasoning in design
Teaching Food Technology through the Narrative of Food
Full text linkThis paper takes the position that food technology may be taught in secondary schools (learners aged 11 – 16 years) by a consideration of the narrative of food in the world. This narrative starts with food production mainly through agriculture and moves on to include storage, preservation and processing, sales, and distribution at different levels of scale, complexity, and sophistication dependant on context and concludes with food preparation and consumption. The place of food in society is dependent on the way in which various technologies are deployed throughout this narrative and how these may or may not help in our responses to the two great challenges confronting humanity today: social justice for all and the stewardship of Planet Earth in the face of climate change. It is important that young people learn about this in school in the light of both sustainable food production and nutrition. This paper will discuss how knowledge and understanding of this narrative, the embedded technologies and these challenges might be taught as the basis for a secondary school food technology course
The Initial findings of the Healthy Lifestyles Project:: A practical design and technology cooking and nutrition programme for primary schools
Full text linkChildhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in developed countries, with those who live in lower socio-economic groups twice as likely to be obese (Davies, 2019). This paper will report the findings and analysis of the first 4 years of a six-year longitudinal study into the impact of the Healthy Lifestyles Project (HLSP), which is currently being piloted as part of the D&T curriculum in a school in an area of high deprivation. The HLSP aims to develop children\u27s practical cooking and nutrition skills, knowledge and understanding, enabling them to choose, prepare and cook healthy ingredients to feed themselves and their families, helping to change their attitudes and perceptions towards choosing a healthier lifestyle. By drawing on the experience of head chef at the Adopt a School Trust, the HLSP has been designed to provide a programme for staff, children and parents which aims to make a positive contribution to tackling children’s health in the UK and beyond.
There are four key features of the HLSP:
regular termly cooking and nutrition lessons
termly support for parents
opportunities for children to plant, grow and eat their own fruit and vegetables in the school grounds
teaching resources for before, during and after the practical food sessions
Theory and research suggest that when looking at changing behaviour, interventions that have several aims and approaches are more successful. Therefore, when designing the HLSP, a multi-pronged approach was required to address attitudes and behaviours by tackling some of the physiological, environmental and social issues behind childhood obesity. One theoretical framework that the HLSP aligns to closely is Social-Ecological Model (SEM), based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model. Preliminary evaluations on the impact the project have been made across the five aspects of the SEM theoretical framework: individual, inter-personal, organisational, community and policies, laws & other cultures
Using the Mirror as a Working Tool in Handicraft Education
Full text linkIn interaction between students and vocational teachers, technical artefacts constitute an essential part for the development of vocational students’ future professional knowledge. Although vocational learning has been an under-researched area, there has been an increased interest within the vocational education research to examine the teaching and learning processes that take place when vocational students and teachers interact in vocational school settings. The presence of physical objects such as tools, machines and material in the teaching and learning processes within vocational education, which encompass a central aspect of a vocational subjects’ specific characteristics, is a dimension which is often overlooked. In the Handicraft programme (specialization hair- and makeup stylist) at Swedish upper secondary vocational education, a large part of the practical work that students are engaged in is to view their work through the mirror. Therefore, the focus in this study is what learning content is made relevant when teacher and student(s) are interacting in front of the mirror. The data for the study consists of video recorded lessons from the Handicraft Programme, and the study is based on CAVTA (Conversation Analysis and Variation Theory). Based on CAVTA, the process of learning includes what is being learned and how learning is done in interaction between the teacher and student(s) in the authentic and enacted teaching session. At the conference, we will present results from detailed analysis of sequences when the teacher and the students interact in front of the mirror and what vocational knowledge is made possible to learn in these interactions
Technology Education Is Important for Achieving Sustainable Development
Full text linkIn 2015 all 193 United Nations Member States agreed on 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the purpose to end poverty, ensure prosperity, and protect the planet. Technology and sustainable development are intertwined. The term "double-edged sword" has often been used to describe technology, as it can be both helpful and harmful. But to what extent is technology significant for sustainable development and what content can technology education have in relation to sustainable development? This study examines what technology content can be discerned in the sustainable development goals, SDGs, in order to detect possible content for technology education.
The 17 SDGs include 169 targets since every SDG are defined with "Outcome targets" and "means of implementation targets". All 169 SDGs targets were analyzed through content analysis. A category system was developed from the definition of technology by Rossouw et.al (2010) and DiGironimos’s (2011) to discern technology content in the SDGs. The results show that the achievement of each and every 17 Sustainable Development Goals in one way or another relies on our use of technology and our development of technology. Teaching with a sustainability perspective creates meaningful content for technology education, where current news and topics can be a starting point. Such teaching can provide students with necessary knowledge towards making well-grounded decisions based on facts, as both consumers and global citizens
Tackling food poverty: The role and importance of food education in United Kingdom schools
Full text linkGifted students’ needs in technology education
Full text linkStudents who are gifted and students with high abilities can have special educational needs. Teaching should be challenging and stimulating and teachers and educators in inclusive settings have a variety of needs to consider, included the gifted students’ needs. However, when it comes to secondary technology education, little is known about gifted students’ needs. The aim of this ongoing study is to describe and synthesize knowledge about gifted students’ needs in technology education through a systematic research literature review and a thematic analysis. The tentative results are four themes describing gifted students’ needs in technology education as Complexity, Autonomy, Support, and Authenticity. The themes can be used by teachers and guide them in their efforts to plan and implement diverse and differentiated technology teaching as a proactive response to the gifted students’ needs in inclusive settings
Impact of a Creative Design Course on Undergraduate Learners’ Creative Confidence
No full textThis study was conducted as part of an effort to critically analyze and assess student outcomes in Creative Design, an undergraduate course at [Institution]. Topics covered in the course include, but are not limited to: the design process, technical drawing, working with tools and materials, modeling a product or design, and design elements and principles. While some students (e.g. Technology and Engineering Education majors) are required to take this course, it is also open to students across campus, and is a Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts liberal learning course option. There are typically several sections of the course offered each semester, and it is taught by a variety of instructors. The research aimed to investigate how Creative Design impacted undergraduate students’ creative thinking, creative self-efficacy, and spatial thinking skills. Students were asked to complete instruments to assess each of these areas, both at the beginning and end of a semester in which they were enrolled in the course. Students also completed a demographics survey, which allowed outcomes to be explored further, for example, by major (STEM/non-STEM). The focus of this manuscript is creative self-efficacy, measured by the Short Scale of Creative Self (Karwowski, 2011). Results indicate that Creative Design may raise female students’ creative confidence, resulting in female students feeling nearly as creatively confident as male students by the culmination of the course. While the results of this study are specific to Creative Design, further research could explore the effects of other design, creativity, and technology courses on undergraduate student outcomes
Effective professional development to enhance the teaching of Design and Technology: an on-going small-scale research study
Full text linkHigh-quality Design and Technology (D&T) education is essential for pupils in primary schools. Professional development (PD) is a crucial tool that offers primary school teachers the ability to maintain high-quality teaching in order to improve pupil outcomes. The National Curriculum in England and Wales requires children in KS1 and KS2 to be hands-on and creative through the designing and making of products within their D&T learning. Currently, a local authority (LA) in an outer London borough, works with teacher facilitators to run PD virtual networks. Teachers who coordinate and lead on specific subjects within a school are invited by the LA; however, through summative feedback, conversations around designing, delivering and assessing D&T have been viewed as challenging when undertaking PD networks online. Initial research has shown that teachers within the borough lack confidence and feel their skills and knowledge required to teach D&T effectively are limited.
This paper reports on research-led guidance reports to support the designing and evaluating of effective PD. This ongoing mixed method research study will involve the participants’ initial feedback with regards to current PD practices. Subsequently, participants will give feedback on two bespoke face-to-face PD classes led by the University. The continuation of virtual PD sessions, run by the LA, will run alongside. The data collection method will be through questionnaires that are designed around current research in effective PD. From this study, the research acquired will assist the University and LA in developing/refining effective D&T PD while also helping D&T teachers to cultivate sustained lifelong learning goals. 
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PATT40 (LJMU)Biomolecular Research Reports (BRR) (LJM...Design and Technology Education (LJMU)BLResearchDay (LJMU)Journal of Living Labs (LJMU)Journal of Natural Products Discovery (L...Journal of Social Media for Learning (LJ...Student Law Journal (LJMU)PRISM (LJMU)Public Health Institute Journal (LJMU)SPARK (LJMU)Student Experience Proceedings (LJMU)Transformation in Education (LJMU)Innovations in Practice (LJMU)Links to Health and Social Care (LJMU)
PATT40 (LJMU)Biomolecular Research Reports (BRR) (LJM...Design and Technology Education (LJMU)BLResearchDay (LJMU)Journal of Living Labs (LJMU)Journal of Natural Products Discovery (L...Journal of Social Media for Learning (LJ...Student Law Journal (LJMU)PRISM (LJMU)Public Health Institute Journal (LJMU)SPARK (LJMU)Student Experience Proceedings (LJMU)Transformation in Education (LJMU)Innovations in Practice (LJMU)Links to Health and Social Care (LJMU)Access Repository Dashboard
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