Swedish technology teachers’ views on assessing student understandings of technological systems

Abstract

Technology education is a new school subject in comparison with other subjects within the Swedish compulsory school system. Research in technology education shows that technology teachers lack experience of and support for assessment in comparison with the long-term experiences that other teachers use in their subjects. This becomes especially apparent when technology teachers assess students’ knowledge in and about technological systems. This study thematically analysed the assessment views of eleven technology teachers in a Swedish context. Through the use of in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, their elaborated thoughts on assessing knowledge about technological systems within the technology subject (for ages 13–16) were analysed. The aim was to describe the teachers’ assessment views in terms of types of knowledge, and essential knowledge in relation to a progression from basic to advanced understanding of technological systems. The results showed three main themes that the interviewed teachers said they consider when performing their assessment of technological systems; understanding (a) a system’s structure, (b) its relations outside the system boundary and (c) its historical context and technological change. Each theme included several underlying items that the teachers said they use in a progressive manner when they assess their students’ basic, intermediate and advanced level of understanding technological systems. In conclusion, the results suggest that the analysed themes can provide a basis for further discussion about defining a progression for assessing students’ understanding about technological systems. However, the findings also need to be examined critically as the interviewed teachers’ views on required assessment levels showed an imbalance; few students were said to reach beyond the basic level, but at the same time most assessment items lay on the intermediate and advanced levels

Elementary pre-service teachers’ conscious lack of knowledge about technical artefacts

“…The student teachers put an important focus on Kroes' (2002) context of design when generating unknowns about these familiar technical artefacts compared to their knowledge about the artefacts. This interest is consistent with the findings of Schooner et al (2018) about technology teachers' views on the assessment of technological systems. The historical context and the development of technological systems was one of the three main themes, together with the systems' structure and the systems relations outside the system's boundary, on which Swedish technology teachers judged that they had to focus their assessment.…”

An Educational Model for Teaching About Technological Systems

“…Research about technological systems shows that concepts that seem to have significance for learning and understanding of systems are related to components within the structural aspect (see, e.g., Schooner et al, 2018). Components are often described on a general level as physical parts of systems.…”

“…Teaching about technological systems is nowadays mandated in many school curricula and standards around the world (e.g., ACARA, 2017;ITEA, 2007), but it is still a challenge for technology teachers. Previous research in Sweden shows that the learning demands on students from some teachers was low and not at the level required by the curriculum, which presumably has to do with an insufficient understanding of systems even among teachers (e.g., Schooner et al, 2018). This may stem not only from the inherent complexity of technological knowledge but also from the short history of technology education and the less developed teaching practices.…”

Teknik, systemgräns och människa: Tekniklärares uppfattningar om vad tekniska system är<br/>Technology, system boundary, and human: Technology teachers' conceptions of what technological systems are

“…Deltagarna i denna studie var 11 undervisande tekniklärare som ingått i en tidigare studie om deras synsätt på kunskapsbedömning inom teknikämnet gällande kunskapsområdet "tekniska system" (Schooner et al, 2018). Urvalet av informanter gjordes för att återspegla den fördelning av behörigheter som finns inom den svenska grundskolan där en del undervisande tekniklärare saknar ämnesbehörighet (SiRiS, 2016).…”

“…Tidigare studier har visat att det är den tekniska kärnan, framför allt komponenter, som i första hand uppmärksammas av elever på grundskolenivå (Klasander, 2010;Koski & de Vries, 2013;Svensson, 2011). Några svenska studier (Klasander, 2010;Schooner, Klasander, & Hallström, 2018) har visat att tekniklärares arbete med undervisningsområdet tekniska system också tenderar att rikta fokus mot systemets komponenter och materiella egenskaper, men också mot linjära processbeskrivningar. Detta har troligtvis sin grund i att lärarstudenter och lärare i teknik har relativt vaga uppfattningar om vad tekniska system är, och fokus på de synliga, materiella komponenterna gör att man ofta missar sociala dimensioner av och informationsflöden i system (Hallström & Klasander, 2017).…”