In the context of recent debates on technological literacy, a renewed research effort has focused on the nature of technologies. The aim of this work, which considers 'epistemological knowledge' as viewpoints which spring into gear in a given situation, is to use questionnaires and interviews to identify the opinions of teachers in a training institute for master technicians in Tunisia on technologies. The objective was to try and define how these teachers perceive the relations between sciences, technologies and societies and how social and cultural aspects affect their discourse on technologies. The results of the questionnaires and the analysis of their discourses indicate that teachers essentially perceive technology as an applied science for which the ultimate purpose is progress and consumption. The relations identified by teachers between technologies, sciences and societies, reveal dichotomies between science and technology both with respect to the status teachers attribute to knowledge and to their views on its teaching.
La nature des technologies, les finalités de l'éducation technologique et les caractéristiques des pratiques d'enseignement technologique font l'objet de controverses. Notre recherche consisteà cerner la rhétorique courante en classe dans l'enseignement supérieur technologique et ses possibilités pour favoriser une compréhension des objets de l'étude, ici le filtrageélectrique. Elle s'inscrit dans un cadre plus large portant sur les connaissances en technologies et sur les technologiesélaborées en classe dans les Instituts Supérieurs desÉtudes Technologiques en Tunisie. Dans cet article, nous présentons une analyse de pratiques effectives d'enseignement. La posture analytique qui sous-tend notre format d'investigation empirique est inspirée des approches ethnométhodologiques. Selon une perspective pragmatique du langage, une analyse des pratiques sociolangagières a permis de cerner que ce qui compte comme enseignement du filtrageélectrique consisteà mettre en oeuvre des procédures mathématiques, plutôt que d'engager un dialogue sur la signification des concepts technologiques.
Abstract:The nature of technology, the objectives of technology education and the characteristics of teaching practices in technology are controversial. Our research involves determining the standard in-class language used in higher technology education and its ability to foster comprehension of the subject matter, which in this case is electric filtration. This research is part of a larger body of work that focuses on technological knowledge and technology developed in-class at the Higher Institutes of Technological Studies in Tunisia. In this article, we present an analysis of effective teaching practices. Our method of empirical study is underpinned by an analytical position derived from ethnomethodological approaches. From a pragmatic language perspective, an analysis of socio-linguistic practices has enabled us to determine that in the teaching of electric filtration, it is more important to implement mathematical procedures than to discuss the meaning of technological concepts.
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