The relationship between technology and science: Some historical and philosophical reflections. Part I

Gardner, Paul L.

doi:10.1007/bf01204544

Cited by 34 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Teachers in Northern Ireland largely agree that there is no agreement as to what exactly Technology and Design is all about. The label 'Technology and Design' can mean several things to different people (Gardner 1994(Gardner , 1995Naughton 1995;Eggleston 1995;Owen-Jackson 2000). This lack of a universally accepted understanding of what Technology and Design is, and is about, is responsible for many of the difficulties that the subject experiences.…”

Section: Subject Definitionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Firstly, key issues emerged from the national and international research literature (Gardner 1994(Gardner , 1995Evans 1998;Yeomans 1998;Barlex 2000;Owen-Jackson 2002b;Sayers 2002;McCormick 2004) which focused upon such issues as subject definition, perceptions of the subject and its associated content within the school curricula, subject status and value, the relationship between technology and science, technology and ability, technology and gender, and teacher professional development. These issues were considered important when addressing the research gap in relation to Technology and Design in Northern Ireland.…”

Section: Questionnaire Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As indicated by McCormick, ''the nature of technology is not easy to pin down, and the definitions that exist do not give us much guidance as to what activities it includes' ' (1990, p. 45) and by Medway ''the term technology itself is unhelpfully fluid' ' (1989, p. 3). According to Gardner (1994Gardner ( , 1995, the determination of a definition for the word 'technology' is complex because of the variations in meaning that exist within the English language to explain it. Indeed, Hansen and Froelich (1994) argue that the German word 'Technik' provides a better understanding, an idea highlighted by, for example, Ropohl (1997) and Norman (1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technology and Design, at Key Stage 3, within the Northern Ireland curriculum: teachers’ perceptions

Gibson

2007

Int J Technol Des Educ

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Technology and Design was introduced at Key Stage 3 for all pupils in Northern Ireland, as a result of the Education Reform (NI) Order in 1989. Central to the process of introducing this new and compulsory subject, the government spent in excess of £167M to make provision for the subject in all post-primary schools. This paper explores the perceptions of teachers of Technology and Design (known as Design and Technology in GB) in post-primary schools throughout Northern Ireland to the introduction and implementation of the subject. The methods involved a questionnaire survey to all teachers of Technology and Design throughout Northern Ireland (n = 587) and one-to-one interviews with 24. Findings suggest that teachers consider Technology and Design to be a worthwhile subject and believe that it adds much to the educational experience of the pupils involved. Nonetheless, there is general acceptance that difficulties surround the whole issue of subject definition and content delineation. As a consequence, significant demands are placed upon these teachers as they work to ensure that all pupils are given a worthwhile and valuable learning experience. These findings are discussed in terms of teachers' perceptions of subject definition, delineation of subject content, the nature of the work involved and issues related to academic ability.

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Section: Subject Definitionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Questionnaire Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technology and Design, at Key Stage 3, within the Northern Ireland curriculum: teachers’ perceptions

Gibson

2007

Int J Technol Des Educ

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“…Faltering design strategies and poor technical skills often result in the disappointing collapse young children's early efforts. An analysis of the relationship between Technology and Science highlighted the atheoretic trial-and-error methods as characteristic of applied science and technology (Gardner, 1995). Gardener gives many examples such as the famous one of Thomas Edison plucking the hair from a neighbour's beard in his search for a suitable material for the filament of his new electric light.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology in the elementary school: Blind variation and selective retention

Solomon

1998

Research in Science Education

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Teaching technology without reference to the human need which calls for it, not only gives students the wrong idea about the nature of technology, it also hides the importance of the testing of artifacts for operation in the relevant environment. The research reported in this paper began with the trialing of stories designed to show the social need which triggered new invention, in the appropriate period of history, through the eyes of contemporary children of our pupils' age. The pupils were asked to design their working models through drawings, to construct them, and then to test and evaluate them. The model used to understand the interplay between the ideas in the minds of pupils, and the selection process which decided on their worthiness, is one drawn from evolutionary epistemology. Data shows that some elementary school children do recognise the mental nature of the design activity as the combination of parts of remembered mechanisms, and the grounds for selection as fimess for the job in the chosen environment. This approach goes some way towards distinguishing aspects of technological education from scientific education, including the high value accorded to creativity and personal invention in technology. Technology in the British Elementary SchoolThis research arose out of the teaching and informal evaluation of a new course in Design and Technology (D&T) taught to British elementary school pupils. Since its introduction 1989, the first ever National D&T Curriculum in England and Wales has been a compulsory subject through education from age 5 to 16 (now 14), and may be continued in an optional mode until 18. There had been an attempt during the 1980s on the part of the secondary science teaching force to hi-jack technology so that science-and-technology could become one subject. However this did not work. In secondary schools there was a well entrenched craft teaching force, who changed their name to Craft, Design, Technology (CDT) and succeeded in defending their territory, both metaphorically and literally (the latter including well equipped workshops).In elementary schools CDT, and the workshop tradition, did not exist. Instead what Technology there was had mostly been involved in the making of decorative objects (like totem poles, or masks) or flimsy toys sometimes including cardboard puppets which could be operated by pulling a string. The latter were considered very "technological" because they had moving parts, and all were welcomed by Head teachers, especially for open days when they made colourful displays on the school walls which caught parents' attention and admiration. The new D&T project being taught in the present action research project was partly designed to remedy this misappropriation of technology by the decorative arts which was unfortunate for two reasons.The first of these was that it obscured the human need aspect of the technological artefact being produced. Young children who are asked "What is Technology?" give different answers depending, to a large extent, on their s...

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“…Numerous writers have examined the relationship between science and technology, and the implications of that relationship for curriculum (Fensham, 1991;Fensham & Gardner, 1994;Gardner, 1994Gardner, , 1995). There appears to be a general agreement that the purpose of science education is largely explanatory: to provide the pupil with an understanding of the way the natural world operates and the contribution this understanding makes to the world in which we live.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

The golem at large: What you should know about technology

Barlex

2001

Science Education

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The relationship between technology and science: Some historical and philosophical reflections. Part I

Cited by 34 publications

References 47 publications

Technology and Design, at Key Stage 3, within the Northern Ireland curriculum: teachers’ perceptions

Technology and Design, at Key Stage 3, within the Northern Ireland curriculum: teachers’ perceptions

Technology in the elementary school: Blind variation and selective retention

The golem at large: What you should know about technology

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