ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Epistemological Differences between a Teacher and Researcher: A Personal Journey Illustrating Second Order Action Research
Author: Nicholl, Bill
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Epistemology,Teacher Researchers,Action Research,Educational Research,Design,Technology Education,Parent Attitudes,Surveys,Validity,Focus Groups,Interviews,Students,Literature Reviews,Data Analysis,Creativity,Preservice Teacher Education

This keynote address tells the personal journey of a former teacher who is now involved in educational research. Educational research is topical at the moment in Design and Technology (D&T) Education, as many initial teacher training (ITE) courses make the transition to masters level accreditation, something endorsed by the teacher training and development agency (TDA) as a means of enhancing the status of the teaching profession. The implication being that ITE courses will develop a significant research component to their courses. This paper argues against relying on experience only, or anecdotal accounts as a means for understanding or explaining the nature of the phenomena being studied. The case for conducting educational research that is "systematically, sceptically and ethically" (Robson, 2002) conducted, is seen as a means understanding human behaviour, in a way that leads to conclusions that are credible (Cohen, 2007). The author draws on his experience as both a teacher in school, and as a Principal Investigator of a large, Gatsby funded research project, which looked at creativity in design and technology which is influencing policy and practice both nationally and internationally. (Contains 3 tables, 7 figures and 6 footnotes.)
Seeing Technology through Five Phases: A Theoretical Framing to Articulate Holism, Ethics and Critique in, and for, Technological Literacy
Author: Keirl, Steve
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Technological Literacy,Ethics,Criticism,Design,Technology Education,Models

This article presents a tentative framing that has emerged out of one person's theorised and reflective professional practice with pre-service primary and secondary Design and Technology teachers as well as with practising teachers, school leadership teams and curriculum policy designers and writers. Over many years, several curricular and pedagogical challenges have presented themselves and, in part, the framing is an attempt to address such challenges. However, the framing principally engages with the major challenge of helping "make the invisible visible". That is, given the pervasiveness and complexity of the phenomenon of Technology (big "T"), is there a way of helping "see" it more easily? It is hoped that this theoretical framing might be a valid contribution the development of ethical technological literacy. Critical commentary is sought. (Contains 1 figure.)
A Study Exploring the Strategies Utilised by Indian Middle-School Students in Identifying Unfamiliar Artefacts
Author: Ara, Farhat
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Students,Identification,Novelty (Stimulus Dimension),Group Activities,Design,Cognitive Processes,Questionnaires,Foreign Countries

This paper presents the strategies employed by Indian middle-school students working in groups to identify three unfamiliar artefacts. The activity described in this paper was aimed at sensitising students to the close link between form and function and to bring a certain amount of uncertainty in the tasks before the actual design task. It was part of a larger study (Ara et al 2009) that explored students' ideas about design and designers before and after they engaged in design related activities. Twenty two students of class 7 worked in six groups of three or four members and the entire exchange was video-recorded. The verbatim transcription of the conversation within the groups and the actions and gestures executed by students were categorised. Groups came up with various accidental functions for the three artefacts and only three groups were successful in identifying the intended functions of all three artefacts. All groups utilised similar strategies while trying to identify the artefacts however they differed in the frequency of use of these strategies. &quot;Cognitive strategies&quot; included active discussions within the group and &quot;handling strategies&quot; involved manipulation of the artefacts by the group members. Groups which were less interactive, less critical of others ideas and less defensive of their own ideas were unsuccessful in identifying the intended functions of the artefacts. (Contains 5 tables and 5 figures.)
Justification of the Dual-Phase Project-Based Pedagogical Approach in a Primary School Technology Unit
Author: Drain, Michael
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Projects,Active Learning,Technology Education,Units of Study,Teaching Methods,Elementary School Students,Case Studies,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries

This research paper describes the use of the Cognitive Apprenticeship (CA) framework to analyse the practices of teacher and students observed during a technology unit. Twenty three children aged 9-10 years were involved in the research and they were taught in a standard classroom. The analysis provides evidence that a two-phase project-based approach was an effective way to implement a technology unit with this primary school class. (Contains 1 table.)
Back to the Future: Where next in a World of Cross-Curricular Primary Education?
Author: Parkinson, Eric
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Design,Technology Education,Elementary Schools,Curriculum Development,Elementary School Curriculum,Student Teachers,Elementary School Teachers,Partnerships in Education,Learning,Teacher Attitudes,Student Teacher Attitudes,Foreign Countries

This article is an interim report on a research project concerning the place of Design and Technology in selected primary schools at a time of curriculum change. There is a particular focus on the influence of the processes surrounding acts of designing as they may impact on the wider curriculum. The process of design may have wider applications in a future curriculum which will embrace features such as &quot;creativity&quot; on a more intensive scale than hitherto. It may also become diluted as subject focal points become less obvious. This study is focused on student teachers and serving teachers in what are termed &quot;Partnership&quot; schools. Partnership is an arrangement by which Canterbury Christ Church University establishes secure training platforms with schools. Teacher education students may thus undertake their placements in appropriate and controlled surroundings in order to develop and practise their teaching skills and become rounded and successful teachers. Partnership schools receive a succession of primary education student teachers throughout the school year. Generally the placements become longer as the student teachers progress through their studies. It is the case that many of the schools within the &quot;partnership&quot; arrangement with the Faculty of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University are moving towards cross-curricular approaches to learning and teaching. For research purposes, they are an accessible stock of schools within which trends in the shifting curriculum can be identified and have been treated as an opportunity sample for research purposes. (Contains 8 figures.)
The Role of Conversation in Technology Education
Author: Fox-Turnbull, Wendy
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Constructivism (Learning),Intention,Program Effectiveness,Technology Education,Interpersonal Communication,Classroom Communication,Teaching Methods,Teacher Student Relationship,Peer Relationship,Interaction,Language Usage

This article investigates recent literature in the area of classroom conversation and dialogue with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the role that classroom conversation and dialogue plays in learning. It also investigates literature on the constructivist, collaborative nature of technology education and suggests that to enhance our understanding of how children learn in technology it is necessary to understand the impact that clearly focused conversations of children, amongst themselves and between children and their teachers while undertaking technological practice, has on advancing thinking and understanding. It also suggests that by understanding the full impact of classroom conversation and facilitating its use in the classroom, teachers can greatly enhance learning in technology education. Conversation with and between students allows teachers insight into the impacts of previous and specifically targeted learning experiences on learning in technology. Classroom dialogue can also enhance understanding of how learning occurs in technology and how interaction with peers and teachers advances thinking around technological concepts and components of practice. A related study currently being undertaken investigates the nature of conversation in the primary technology classroom with the aim of facilitating and developing teachers' understanding to better enhance learning for children in technology education. It is the author's intention to submit the results of this study to this publication in the future.
Technology Education in New Zealand: The Connected Curriculum
Author: O'Sullivan, Gary
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Curriculum Development,Ideology,Foreign Countries,Professional Development,Technology Education,Educational Policy,Entrepreneurship,Partnerships in Education,Information Technology,School Community Relationship,Theories,Elementary Schools

This paper aims to identify what actually takes place when policy directives bring together Technology Education, Enterprise Education, and the wider Community Partnerships. Since the introduction of a national technology curriculum to New Zealand schools in 1999  there has been little critique as to the intentions of the curriculum. In late 2005 a Ministry of Education two-year Education for Enterprise (E4E) project was contracted to run a professional development programme with a group of 16 schools, to examine ways in which teachers' capability to include education for enterprise can be developed. Specific focus was to be on technology education and the fostering of links with the wider community. This paper will introduce research carried out to analyse the professional development programme and look at the impact it has had on classroom practice with consideration given to the ideologies behind the initiatives. Models of implementation will be identified and exemplars of real practice in the primary classroom will be highlighted. Attempts to align technology and enterprise education will be explored and an argument for technology education making a real difference will be put forward. The paper highlights these key factors: (1) The nature of a creative connected curriculum; (2) Practice in primary technology education; (3) Tensions between reality and ideology; and (4) Fourth generation evaluation. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)
A Circular Model of Thinking Processes as a Basis of Technical Understanding
Author: Menger, Julia
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cognitive Processes,Technology Education,Science Education,Elementary School Students,Learning Experience,Experiential Learning,Equipment,Models,Foreign Countries

Children often experience the influence of technology around them, but there is little emphasis placed on technology within a scientific education in Grundschule (primary schools) in Germany. One of the reasons for this could be a lack of research projects that ascertain young learners' conceptions of technical issues. So there is no basis for creating learning environments that enable and motivate children to actively and purposefully work on questions of technical procedures. An investigation into the previous knowledge held by nine to ten year old children of simple machines has demonstrated children's reasoning. It shows that experiences handling materials can lead to children's understanding of technological processes. Starting from the &quot;intuitive level&quot; of understanding, the children can attain the &quot;factual level&quot; and finally the level of &quot;technical awareness&quot; in a circular model. This model of thinking processes provides a basis for creating teaching modules that extend current technological education in German schools. (Contains 7 figures.)
What's Going on with Young People Today? The Long and Twisting Path to Adulthood
Author: Settersten, Richard A., Jr.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Military Service,Young Adults,Adolescents,Adolescent Development,Social Influences,United States History,Economic Factors,Family Relationship,College Role,Racial Differences,Gender Differences,Independent Living,Age Differences,Postsecondary Education,Dropouts,High School Students,Marriage,Marital Status,Child Rearing,High School Graduates,College Graduates,Income,Community Colleges,Service Learning

Richard Settersten and Barbara Ray examine the lengthening transition to adulthood over the past several decades, as well as the challenges the new schedule poses for young people, families, and society. The authors begin with a brief history of becoming an adult, noting that the schedule that youth follow to arrive at adulthood changes to meet the social realities of each era. For youth to leave home at an early age during the 1950s, for example, was "normal" because opportunities for work were plentiful and social expectations of the time reinforced the need to do so. But the prosperity that made it possible for young adults of that era to move quickly into adult roles did not last. The economic and employment uncertainties that arose during the 1970s complicated enormously the decisions that young adults had to make about living arrangements, educational investments, and family formation. The authors next take a closer look at changes in the core timing shifts in the new transition--the lengthening time it now takes youth to leave home, complete school, enter the workforce, marry, and have children. They stress that today's new schedule for attaining independence leaves many families overburdened as they support their children for an extended period. The continued need to rely on families for financial assistance, the authors say, exacerbates the plight of young people from a variety of vulnerable backgrounds. It also raises complex questions about who is responsible for the welfare of young people and whether the risks and costs newly associated with the early adult years should be absorbed by markets, by families, or by governments. Settersten and Ray stress that the longer transition to adulthood strains not only families but also the institutions that have traditionally supported young Americans in making that transition--such as residential colleges and universities, community colleges, military service, and national service programs. They emphasize the need to strengthen existing social institutions and create new ones to reflect more accurately the realities of a longer and more complex passage into adult life. (Contains 8 figures, 2 tables, and 57 endnotes.)
Immigration and Adult Transitions
Author: Rumbaut, Ruben G.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Ethnic Groups,Young Adults,Social Mobility,Immigration,Labor Force,Immigrants,Demography,Social Change,Social Adjustment,Age Differences,Socioeconomic Status,Undocumented Immigrants,Public Policy,Racial Differences,Education Work Relationship

Almost 30 percent of the more than 68 million young adults aged eighteen to thirty-four in the United States today are either foreign born or of foreign parentage. As these newcomers make their transitions to adulthood, say Ruben Rumbaut and Golnaz Komaie, they differ significantly not only from one another but also from their native-parentage counterparts, including blacks and whites. The authors document the demographic changes in the United States over the past forty years and describe the ways in which generation and national origin shape the experiences of these newcomers as they become adults. Rumbaut and Komaie point out that immigrant groups experience gaps in social, economic, and legal status that are even greater than the gaps between native whites and blacks. By far the most-educated (Indians) &quot;and&quot; the least-educated (Mexicans) groups in the United States today are first-generation immigrants, as are the groups with the lowest poverty rate (Filipinos) &quot;and&quot; the highest poverty rate (Dominicans). These social and economic divides reflect three very different ways immigrants enter the country: through regular immigration channels, without legal authorization, or as state-sponsored refugees. For many ethnic groups, significant progress takes place from the first to the second generation. But, say the authors, for millions of young immigrants, a lack of legal permanent residency status blocks their prospects for social mobility. Having an undocumented status has become all the more consequential with the failure of Congress to pass comprehensive federal immigration reforms. In the coming two decades, as the U.S. native-parentage labor force continues to shrink, immigrants and their children are expected to account for most of the growth of the nation's labor force, with the fastest-growing occupations requiring college degrees. Rumbaut and Komaie stress that one key to the nation's future will be how it incorporates young adults of immigrant origin in its economy, polity, and society, especially how it enables these young adults to have access to, and to attain, postsecondary education and its manifold payoffs. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables, and 37 endnotes.)
On a New Schedule: Transitions to Adulthood and Family Change
Author: Furstenberg, Frank F., Jr.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Family Life,Young Adults,Parent Role,Family Financial Resources,Family Income,Family Planning,Family Size,Population Growth,Maturity (Individuals),Adolescent Development,Public Policy,Social Change,Social Adjustment,Social Influences,Education Work Relationship

Frank Furstenberg examines how the newly extended timetable for entering adulthood is affecting, and being affected by, the institution of the Western, particularly the American, family. He reviews a growing body of research on the family life of young adults and their parents and draws out important policy implications of the new schedule for the passage to adulthood. Today, says Furstenberg, home-leaving, marriage, and the onset of childbearing take place much later in the life span than they did during the period after World War II. After the disappearance of America's well-paying unskilled and semi-skilled manufacturing jobs during the 1960s, youth from all economic strata began remaining in school longer and marrying and starting their own families later. Increasing numbers of lower-income women did not marry at all but chose, instead, non-marital parenthood--often turning to their natal families for economic and social support, rather than to their partners. As the period of young adults' dependence on their families grew longer, the financial and emotional burden of parenthood grew heavier. Today, regardless of their income level, U.S. parents provide roughly the same proportion of their earnings to support their young adult children. Unlike many nations in Europe, the United States, with its relatively underdeveloped welfare system, does not invest heavily in education, health care, and job benefits for young adults. It relies, instead, on families' investments in their own adult children. But as the transition to adulthood becomes more protracted, the increasing family burden may prove costly to society as a whole. Young adults themselves may begin to regard childbearing as more onerous and less rewarding. The need to provide greater support for children for longer periods may discourage couples from having additional children or having children at all. Such decisions could lead to lower total fertility, ultimately reduce the workforce, and further aggravate the problem of providing both for increasing numbers of the elderly and for the young. U.S. policy makers must realize the importance of reinforcing the family nest and helping reduce the large and competing demands that are being placed on today's parents. (Contains 4 figures and 73 endnotes.)
Programs and Policies to Assist High School Dropouts in the Transition to Adulthood
Author: Bloom, Dan
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Attainment,Labor Market,Job Training,Young Adults,Education Work Relationship,Work Experience,Dropout Prevention,Dropout Programs,Transitional Programs,Program Effectiveness,Program Descriptions,Dropout Research,Change Strategies,Dropouts,High School Equivalency Programs

Dan Bloom of MDRC examines policies and programs designed to help high school dropouts improve their educational attainment and labor market outcomes. So called "second-chance" programs, he says, have long provided some combination of education, training, employment, counseling, and social services. But the research record on their effectiveness is fairly thin, he says, and the results are mixed. Bloom describes eleven employment- or education-focused programs serving high school dropouts that have been rigorously evaluated over the past thirty years. Some relied heavily on paid work experience, while others focused more on job training or education. Some programs, especially those that offered paid work opportunities, generated significant increases in employment or earnings in the short term, but none of the studies that followed participants for more than a couple of years found lasting improvements in economic outcomes. Nevertheless, the findings provide an important foundation on which to build. Because of the high individual and social costs of ignoring high school dropouts, the argument for investing more public funds in services, systems, and research for these young people is strong. The paucity of conclusive evidence, however, makes it hard to know how to direct resources and magnifies the importance of ensuring that all new initiatives provide for rigorous evaluation of their impacts. Bloom concludes with recommendations for policy and research aimed at building on current efforts to expand and improve effective programs for dropouts while simultaneously developing and testing new approaches that might be more effective and strengthening local systems to support vulnerable young people. He stresses the importance of identifying and disseminating strategies to engage young people who are more seriously disconnected and unlikely to join programs. A recurring theme is that providing young people with opportunities for paid work may be useful both as an engagement tool and as a strategy for improving long-term labor market outcomes. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables and 39 endnotes.)