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ANALYSING TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION THROUGH THE CURRICULAR EVOLUTION AND THE INVESTIGATION THEMES

Tags: Middle, Years, PAA on 2008-10-24 -All Annotations (42) -About

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The aim of this paper is to present this

evolution from the French viewpoint with some interest to compare with foreign experiences.
The aim of this paper is to present you some aspects about Technology Education in

the French school.
Secondary school is divided into two

main cycles: middle school (ages eleven to fifteen)
in 1985, that technology

education was introduced in France as a part of science and technology education in

elementary schools, as a new subject for all pupils in middle schools and as an

optional subject in high schools. We can note four stages of organization of

technology education between 1985 and today.
Technology education was conceived of as a new subject and took the place of

MTE (manual and technical education) in terms of hours, classrooms, and teachers.

The curriculum emphasized the industrial environment, leaving little room for home

economics and craftsmanship (COPRET, 1984).
At that time, the middle school became the intermediate cycle where pupils

had to make their own personal plan for school, and technology education was

responsible for indicating possible career choices.
general goals

were broken down into concepts and skills.
curriculum

described the organization of concepts based on four domains of reference:

mechanical construction, electrical construction, and economics management and

computer science.
The main problem in introducing the TE curriculum has been to link the general aims

to the specific fields (Sanders, 1999; Ginestié, 2004).
To link these subjects together, teachers have had to connect

general aims and specific concepts into an overall pedagogical project (Ginestié,

2005).
Many in-service teacher training programs develop this orientation rather than

aiming simply for the acquisition of specific knowledge.
implementation of

technology education has not been reduced to the simple substitution of cooking or

handicraft lessons by lessons in mechanics, but the true construction of a "new

world" (Ginestié, 2003).
The major plan was to combine the pedagogical project with a theoretical industrial

project method (IPM). We can note comparable initiatives in the UK at the same time

(e.g. Hennessy & Murphy 1999).
At the beginning of the Nineties, IPM appeared to be a good solution for

implementing TE in the middle schools.
Add Sticky Note
- Industrial Project Method 92-99
  posted by wndriders1 on 2008-10-24
The main decision to use IPM was published in 1992 by the

French Ministry of Education. This method allows for the simultaneous definition of

content and method for organizing the teaching learning process in TE. Everything

was done so that each TE teacher plans and organizes a new project each year for

each group of pupils.
First, projects were

mainly single production projects without any real progression from one year to the

next.
Three problems arose that reduced the role of the project in TE
Secondly, the teachers' profile evolved considerably during this period, with a

large increase in new graduates from the advanced technological universities.
Thirdly, the union of industrial science and technique, with teachers exerting pressure

to open the curriculum to new technologies and new patterns of labor organization.
For the first three years of middle school, pupils have to

make different modules of the whole project, but they do not have to make all of it.

The teacher's task is to focus the attention of the pupils on specific points.
The Ministry of Education wants

to promote the pupils individual choices about their future and by consequences the

study they have to do.
the general method is not the process of design and technology but

more and more the process of observation and experimentation (as we can find it in

sciences education).
The IPM is still a reference but it is more an object to

study more than a method to use with pupil
These changes are not linked with the

technological evolution but mainly due to the lack of understanding about the place of

TE in the general systems and to the misunderstanding about the aims of this subject

and the knowledge taught.
a strong agreement with two points:

o There is some thing to study in technology education ;

o There would be multiple study conditions, perhaps different.
A majority of opinion is that TE is simply a

kind of mix between handicraft activities and elements to highlight vocational training

choices (Ginestié, 2000; Chatoney, 2003; Brandt-Pomares, 2003)
The articulation between the task and the technique defines a

know-how that expresses the manner to realise a determined task type (Ginestié,

1995).
to give the senses in the typical articulation between tasks and techniques

by elaborating a field of meaning in connection with a technology, perhaps with a

theory. It is this elaboration of meanings on the practice that defines, in the

anthropological perspective, knowledge.
The problem is not

the transposition of praxis but the transposition of praxeological organizations. It is

not difficult to ask to pupils making something, but it is difficult allowing them to

construct the meaningful on what they make. Certainly, the important instability of our

curriculum is based on this difficulty to elaborate this meaningful.
This crossing of analysis rests on the articulation between

task and activity:

o The task is significant to the knowledge put at stake in the elaborated situation

by the teacher in the framework that is fixed (curricular organizations, conditions

of exercises, particular constraints, etc.);

o The activity is significant to the work undertaken by the pupil to progress in the

task that is appointed it by the teacher and representative of the knowledge’s

learning process.
The initial framework, elaborated by these

analyses method, does not prejudge of:

o Knowledge put at stake, their presence or not and their school form;

o Organizations elaborated by the teacher so as to organize conditions of the

study of these knowledge;

o Activities developed by the pupil that are induced by the organization put in

game for this study.
The analysis of the task is therefore significant

how curriculum is implemented, in the particular intimacy of a specific class.
the passage to the real supposes to put in stake an analysis of

the activity of the pupil. His perusal of the task, the manner he has to organize its

activity and to orient its actions, what it takes in consideration and what it does not

see even, allow characterising his learning process.
er have a

direct influence on the work of the pupil and on the result of this work. Concerning the

technology education (but it is not specific for these subject), it is important to specify

and to define what is waited from the pupil, recourses he disposes to get there, the

manner whose he gets there.
The nature of knowledge that he exhibits,

o The display of the result expected at the end of the sequence,

o The spatial and temporal organization type that he puts in act,

o The strategies that he gives to orchestrate the activity of pupils,

o The different levels of evaluation on which he counts to lean (evaluation his

activity, the progress of his sequence, the activity of pupils, the breach of

results),

o The devices of mediation and remediation that he envisages,

o etc.

Others indicators allow to notice explicit or implicit models that he uses for the

organization of this production:

o model of the logic of pupil learning organized around acquisition of competence

noticed to the breadth of significant observable behaviours versus a

constructivist approach based on the elaboration of knowledge;

o Model of the activity of pupils according to a logic of smooth away difficulties

versus a logic of confrontation to obstacles;

o Model of the teaching organisation according to a logic of guidance of the action

of the pupil versus a logic of problem-solving;

o Model of the organization of knowledge references that one can caricature in a

binary alternative: in technology education, there is nothing to know versus there

is only knowledge.
Retained indicators refer directly to

theories of the apprenticeship, notably through:

o The strategy they adopt,

o The manner to organize their actions,

o The manner to notice and to anticipate difficulties and to overcome them or to

avoid them,

o The manner to notice or not constraints imposed by the situation and to take into

account them or no,

o etc.

Analysing the activity of pupils is a powerful too
It concerns, on the one hand, to give

indicators of efficiency of a device concerning learning and, on the other hand,

indicators on the manner to conceive plan. To adopt a criterion of efficiency of plan

put in place by teachers is not easy. That supposes to place the question of the

acquisition of knowledge by pupils to the heart of the educational act, what is not

without consequences in TE.
Many countries know a

decrease period with disaffection for TE: decrease of budget, reduction of school

time devoted to the subject. At the same time, more and more teams develop

investigation in TE.

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Technology in Canadian schools

Developments in Technology Education In Canada

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n spite of this, similar curriculum offerings evolved in Canadian schools and by the mid

1960s all Provinces offered similar industrial arts and/or craft type programs.
were the technology education views of the Canadian

pioneer of technology education, Henry Ziel,
Ontario adapted a British style design-technology program and the American based

“Material and Manufacturing” style of technology education became the focus for

inclusion in New Brunswick middle schools.
Computers, and their allied

components, were introduced into school subjects and quickly became perceived as the

type of technology most needed, largely underpinned by their rapid growth in all

segments of the Canadian economy (Milton, 2005).
Throughout the 1980s the only consensus that prevailed among Technology Education

professionals on how to view this curriculum existed only within Provinces by

proponents of Technology Education.
views that promoted Technology Education as founded in skill

attainment, career selection, problem solving with the use of tools and acquire familiarity

with technological processes.
They reported that schools based technological literacy was

evident, empowering and rooted in essential skill development needed by any advancing

economy.
the base for any technology program was not

unrelated to technological literacy, and provided a strong rationale for replacing the

Page 4

traditional Industrial Arts programs with modern Technology Education
also noted a “low priority in retraining of teachers for new technology”
trend

risked “… overemphasizing the use of computer technology in the curriculum, …”
In another article Hill described a view of constructivism as a vital

element for emerging Technology Education programs (1997).
A review of the information contained in the above show that crafts, industrial art,

industrial arts combined with technological education, technological education (design

technology), computer technology education, science and technology, technology

integration in a host of curricular areas, technology and vocational education hybrid, and

vocational type education with technological enhancement continue to exist in Canadian

schools.
Also evident in the above information is indication of a movement to establish

commonality for a Technology Education offering that could be applied in eastern

Page 7

Canadian Provinces, defying the long standing practice of maintaining non-similarity

(Atlantic Canada Education Foundation, 2005).
Accessing these will provide ample evidence of the manner that technological

information is entering Canadian schools
Add Sticky Note
- Review the provided links on the document
  posted by wndriders1 on 2008-10-24
After a review of some of the above links one can easily see that an ability to find,

collect, review, and contextualize the information has become the main challenge for

teachers who integrate technology in their teaching.
In writing this article, this author recognized that what might constitute a legitimate

description of Technology Education in Canada is arguable at best, as it has taken on a

number of interpretations and directions in recent years in Canada.
Older crafts and industrial arts programs are still sustained in communities

where the is a perceived need to feature such program while programs that have industry

as their central theme thrive in centers in locations where industry dominates the regional

economy.
In accepting diversity and change they continue to

provide more opportunity, for more folks, to do more technological things, in any number

of different settings than had previously been the case.

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Nontraditional Career Programs

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Journal of Technology Studies: Volume XXIV, Number 1, Winter/Springl 1998 - Sadato Yamazaki, Ernest Savage

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The impact of discoveries, inventions,
and creative developments in science, mathematics, and technology is apparent in
practically all spheres of life, but these fundamental
fields of human inquiry and action often play an ambiguous role in education (Black &
Atkin, 1996)
paper reviews curricula in
technology education in four regions of the United
Kingdom (U.K.), Alberta and British Columbia
(B.C.) in Canada, and Japan.
no technology/industrial arts
education related subject in elementary schools.
A school hour at this level is defined as a class period of 50
minutes. Industrial arts and homemaking is one of
nine required subjects. Requirements for first and second grades in industrial arts is 70
hours (6.7%) and third grade is 70 to 105 hours
(6.7 to 10%).
11 areas.
six areas of the
industrial arts strand are woodworking,
electricity, metalworking, machine, cultivation, and
fundamentals of information.
METAL WORKING
Objective: Students will understand
the properties of metal material and design and produce sample metal goods reflecting
form and function.
MACHINE

Objective: Students will understand
mechanisms, machine operation and maintenance, and energy conversion. They will design
and build a simple machine model.
CULTIVATION
Objective: Students will understand
the conditions of crop growth and cultivation techniques, and develop the ability to
raise crops systematically.
A new national
curriculum in England and Wales was introduced in 1995 (Department for Education, 1995)
and supported the need for students to learn life skills and problem solving using the
designing and making approach.
The five main areas of the Scottish
school curriculum are:
Language:
Mathematics.
Environmental studies: a broad area
with three main aspects: scientific studies and applications, including health
education; social studies, including history and
geography; and technological activities and applications, including information technology.
Expressive arts: a broad area with
four main aspects: art and design, music, physical education, and drama.
Religious and moral education.
British Columbia, Canada,
"applied skills," similar to
the practical arts in the 1970s in the United
States includes studies in technology education,
business education, and home economics
communication technology, production,
control/energy and power, and self and society (O'Riley, 1996).
· Build daily living skills.
· Investigate career options.
· Use technology (managing, processes,
tools) effectively and efficiently.
· Prepare for entry into the workplace
and/or related postsecondary programs.
150 (10.5%)
Career technology studies
many countries have
systematically introduced technology education as
a subject or part of an integrated science, technology, and society education program
from kindergarten to senior high school.
In Northern Ireland, science and
technology as an integrated subject is offered
from ages 5 to 11.
Alberta, Canada, elementary
science includes technology education.
CTS still has a vocational
education color in comparison to the U.K. and the British Columbia (B.C.) technology
education programs.
technology education is
currently an ordinary subject only at the junior
high school level. Unfortunately, there is no
articulation of technology education subject
matter and process from elementary to the upper secondary level.

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Academic Skills at Work

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workplace competencies, such as
interpersonal skills, familiarity with technology, or ability to manage
resources; and foundation skills, including the basic skills of reading,
writing, arithmetic, and mathematics.
Educators and school reformers are
updating curriculum or redesigning school programs as a way to ensure that
young people have opportunities to learn work-related competencies in
addition to academics. Despite the interest in supporting students'
development of work-related skills and attitudes, the traditional academic
curriculum remains the mainstay of high school education, and many school
reforms emphasize improvement in academic subjects.
The base premise of our approach is that skills are most appropriately
viewed as multivariate. In the popular literature, a multivariate view of
skills is perhaps best encapsulated in Howard Gardner's (1993) writing
about multiple intelligences
Overall, our review of the literature reveals much tension and underlying
controversy that shapes the debate about skills, and several important
themes and issues.
The
positivist perspective conceives of skills as unitary, measurable traits of
individuals and holds strong assumptions about a person's ability to
transfer skills from one context to another.
Educators grapple with changing skill needs in various ways. The literature
indicates that curriculum in academic disciplines is becoming more
interdisciplinary and is placing more emphasis on the application of
academic knowledge to solve real problems.
In general, employers seem less concerned about academic skills. They want
employees who are literate and numerate, of course, but in making hiring
decisions they tend to value more highly an applicant's work-related
attitudes, communication skills, and previous work experience over
school-related factors (e.g., grades, degree, or certification).
The second strand of the study examines academic skills in the context of
seven, sub-baccalaureate technical jobs in four industries
The third strand of the study explored relationships between academic
skills, non-academic skills, and labor market performance from the
positivist perspective.
The analysis revealed a negative association between hours of
part-time work in high school and academics, and, to a lesser extent,
between hours of part-time work and extracurricular activities.
Previous work experience, however, is important: Students who
worked more during high school earn marginally more once they enter the
labor market after high school. If this preliminary work holds up, it
suggests that work-based learning experiences may be especially important
for students not immediately bound for college.
Technology education should make
explicit connections to academic skills and, above all, promote an
understanding of why a particular technology application works

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Mapping Reform in Scotland's Technology Education Curriculum: Change and Curriculum Policy in the Compulsory Sector

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