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ERIC Number: EJ830669
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Mar
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 46
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8326
Rethinking the Notion of Technology in Education: Techno-Epistemology as a Feature Inherent to Human Praxis
Van Eijck, Michiel; Claxton, Nicholas Xumthoult
Science Education, v93 n2 p218-232 Mar 2009
Educators repeatedly underscore the intimate relationship between science and technology. This is problematic because technology, far from being "applied science," presupposes a unique epistemology (techno-epistemology). A focus on the role of science in technology overshadows this unique way of knowing and hence limits technology education and privileges a scientific worldview in education. To appropriately frame the unique epistemology of technology in education, we propose a cognitive framework developed to understand the use and development of tools in human activity, namely, Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). Drawing on a case study of technology that is not rooted in a (Eurocentric) scientific tradition, the SXOLE (Reef Net) fishing technology of the WSANEC (Saanich) people, we show how technology can be understood as inherent to human praxis, which presupposes a dialectically related and unique epistemology that is incommensurable and irreducible to a scientific worldview. The implications of this framework for science and technology education are discussed.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Subscription Department, 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774. Tel: 800-825-7550; Tel: 201-748-6645; Fax: 201-748-6021; e-mail: subinfo@wiley.com; Web site: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/browse/?type=JOURNAL
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: Netherlands