P. John Williams

Promoting pedagogical content knowledge development for early career secondary teachers in science and technology using content representations

Background: This research addressed the key area of early career teacher education and aimed to explore the use of a ‘content representation’ (CoRe) as a mediational tool to develop early career secondary teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study was situated in the subject areas of science and technology, where sound teacher knowledge is particularly important to student engagement. Purpose: The study was designed to examine whether such a tool (a CoRe), co-designed by an early career secondary teacher with expert content and pedagogy specialists, can enhance the PCK of early career teachers. The research questions were: How can experts in content and pedagogy work together with early career teachers to develop one science topic CoRe and one technology topic CoRe to support the development of PCK for early career secondary teachers? How does the use of a collaboratively designed CoRe affect the planning of an early career secondary teacher in science or technology? How has engagement in the development and use of an expert-informed CoRe developed an early career teacher’s PCK? Sample: The research design incorporated a unique partnership between two expert classroom teachers, two content experts, four early career teachers, and four researchers experienced in science and technology education. Design: This study employed an interpretivist-based methodology and an action research approach within a four-case study design. Data were gathered using qualitative research methods focused on semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Results: The study indicated that CoRes, developed through this collaborative process, helped the early career teachers focus on the big picture of the topic, emphasize particularly relevant areas of content and consider alternative ways of planning for their teaching. Conclusions: This paper presents an analysis of the process of CoRe development by the teacher–expert partnerships and the effect that had on the early career teachers’ PCK. In addition, as the same tools and methodology were applied to both a science and a technology teaching context, differences between the two learning areas are discussed.

Strategies to improve engineering retention

Victoria University of Wellington in partnership with the regional polytechnic, WelTec, undertook a major exercise to identify, and where possible, resolve, barriers to recruitment and retention in the “digital” engineering specializations. This paper focuses on the retention aspects of this research. Informed by student surveys, focus groups and secondary school academic achievement data, we identified contributing issues of academic preparation, student expectation and cultural influencers. In response we developed an engineering preparation course, a mathematics based diagnostic tool, Peer-Assisted learning support, engineering cultural activities, and redeveloped our core first year engineering course. Although in the early stages of delivery, these initiatives have been well received by the students. We are closely monitoring the results of these initiatives with the expectation that fewer students will abandon their studies and a greater portion of the marginal students will attain passing grades.

Discovering Grade 8 Technology Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Tshwane District of Gauteng Province

Abstract This paper reports on a study conducted to inquire into Grade 8 Technology teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the Tshwane District of the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The research question addressed was: What is Grade 8 Technology teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in the Tshwane District of the Gauteng Province? The need to address the research question was triggered by the researchers’ awareness that teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge is an important and under-researched area of Technology Education. PCK embodies the notion that the knowledge held by expert teachers represents a unique integration of their pedagogical techniques and their understanding of Technology subject content. To pursue this investigation, the researchers conducted interviews, observed teachers as they taught and reviewed the textbooks that the teachers used. Interestingly, the findings revealed significant diversity in the teachers’ PCK – specifically in their understanding of Technology Education, the Technology Education curriculum, the pedagogy of Technology Education, assessment, resources, and indigenous technology. Finally, the researchers provide relevant recommendations.

Dispositions as Explicit Learning Goals for Engineering and Technology Education

Researchers and practitioners in engineering and technology education have called for a range of capabilities to be developed through education as a means of preparing students for life after school in the third millennium. There is nothing new about this; technology education has always addressed personal and professional goals, although at times in quite an instrumental kind of way. Both career awareness and skill development have been justified as providing the basis for a productive and satisfying role in society. More recently, the recognition that the practical environment of engineering, design and technology education is conducive to the development of a range of cognitive skills (as well as manipulative skills) has broadened its goals.

Critique as a Disposition

The appeal of perceiving critique as a disposition lies in its essentiality of action; the ability to critique is an important prerequisite, but when an individual is disposed to act as a result of cognitive critique, then the outcome has effect. This notion aligns well with concepts of technological literacy as the goal of design and technology education. It has been argued that this form of literacy must have a capability element to it, and if the critique element of this capability is dispositional, then technological literate students will be active in their relationships with technology.

The Implementation of e-Networks to Support Inquiry Learning in Science

The successful implementation of an e-networked and information and communication technology (ICT)-supported science inquiry learning approach in secondary classrooms is dependent on a range of factors within the milieu of teacher, school and students. The teacher must have a clear understanding of the goals of the activity, the school leadership must provide effective technological infrastructure and sympathetic curriculum parameters, and the students need to be carefully scaffolded to the point of engaging with the inquiry process.

Vocational and General Technology Education

This chapter explores the interactions between vocational and general approaches to Technology Education, proposing that the vocational–general divide is not always clear. Often, this reflects the tension between training for specific skills competencies, and educating for more generic core competencies. With schools increasingly being held accountable for the performance of their graduates, and rising unemployment, Technology Education as strictly general education is being questioned and vocational education is being infused with liberal arts characteristics. Globalisation, rapid changes in technologies and work places, and growing understanding of the nature of learning and transfer of learning will all influence the future Technology Education curriculum. While integration of vocational and general approaches is problematic at the level of single classes, at the programme level it may provide meaningful education pathways.

Much Remains to Be Done

Much has been accomplished over the last three decades or so in terms of technology education becoming established as a distinct discipline both in school and research communities. However, on-going innovation is needed if effective technology education practice is to reach its potential as a key vehicle for equipping students to make responsible contributions in the global society of the knowledge age. This book introduces several frameworks that can be used to guide decision-making in the on-going development of technology education, and will, we hope, contribute usefully to the debate.

The More Things Change, the More (Some) Things Stay the Same

Introducing the book, this chapter takes as its starting point five key variables driving the technology education that students experience in schools: curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, how the nature of technology is interpreted, and how students’ cultural ways of knowing and acting (their cultural capital) are understood—and that it is the interactions between these that become important in the provision of a meaningful form of technology education. Politics—at both national and school levels—can act to balance (as well as distort) these interactions. Readers are invited to use this framework to consider how technology education might develop as a learning area for the knowledge age.

Foster interaction by the integration of ICT with sociocultural and constructivist learning principles

Research shows that it is challenging to introduce an interactive way of teaching and learning into Asian classrooms where Confucian philosophy has considerable influence. This study was conducted within the context of an ASEAN undergraduate physics course. A goal of the study was to use information communication technology (ICT) to integrate sociocultural and constructivist learning principles to foster interaction within the learning environment. Ninety-three students, a lecturer and a teaching assistant participated in the study. The study employed a mixed method approach, using a questionnaire and interviews with students, the lecturer and the teaching assistant to collect the data, to triangulate, complement and explain the findings. Data was also collected from different groups of people in order to investigate, compare and synthesize perspectives from each group (i.e. students, lecturer, and teaching assistant). SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data from the questionnaire, and NVivo was used t...