The Pedagogy for Technology Education

In Search of a Rigorous Theoretical Framework

Abstract

The literature on the teaching of technology often refers to constructs like constructivism (including cognitive, radical and social constructivism), experiential, cooperative, inquiry- and discovery-based learning. It also supports problem-; project-; and design-based learning and teaching in authentic contexts. However, the said pedagogical constructs are dealt with in an arbitrary way without contextualising them within a rigorous theoretical framework. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to develop a rigorous theoretical framework for a pedagogy for technology education. The research questions are: What are the components of a theoretical framework for technology education pedagogy, and how do these components relate to one another? For over three decades, the research methodology has employed systematic literature reviews and qualitative meta-syntheses to explore the theoretical foundations of technology education pedagogy. Throughout my career, in collaboration with colleagues and postgraduate students, we have worked to develop and refine technology education pedagogy (or subject didactics) as a relatively new field by deriving it from general learning and teaching theory. By considering the philosophy of technology, we have reviewed relevant learning theories, perspectives on and sub-approaches to constructivism, and congruent teaching approaches or strategies. With the general theory of learning and teaching as a point of departure, we have deducted specific pedagogy for technology education, which has served as a fundamental aspect of our teaching programmes. The findings outline that the design-based teaching strategy is specifically relevant to technology education. It builds on problem- and project-based teaching strategies which are rooted in experiential, cooperative, inquiry and discovery learning as sub-approaches to constructivist learning and teaching approaches. Furthermore, design-based teaching strategies relate to the social constructivist perspective when students learn cooperatively, and to the cognitive and radical constructivist perspective when students learn individually.