This study investigates, and further develops, a framework for analyzing technological knowledge emanating from school design projects; a framework that has the potential to be used as a tool for teachers when choosing and planning design projects. The study also intends to answer the research question: What technological knowledge, associated to…

Communicating technical concepts in preschool is of vital importance for developing the quality of the technology teaching practice and the development of the children's language skills within the content area. The aim of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers discern technology in relation to everyday situations in preschool. The…

This study aims to investigate affordances of models and modelling in design projects in technology education. To learn more about affordances when working with models and modelling, four Swedish technology teachers were interviewed using a narrative approach. Despite a small number of informants data were rich, containing detailed descriptions of…

The aim of this case study was to explore the nature of technology education in a Sámi school setting and to examine how knowledge about traditional cultural artefacts can contribute to broadening the horizons of technological literacy. The participants (teacher and pupils) in the study were all from the same Sámi primary school in Northern…

Variance in interest and engagement by gender is a complex and long-standing research agenda in the field of technology education. Studies report that girls are more reluctant to participate in technology education, less interested in the subject and more negative towards technology than boys. It is argued that specific attitudes and roles hinder…

University-industry collaboration (UIC) provides not only effective training for students but also knowledge production in universities for industry to contribute to the economy (Bektas & Tayauova, 2013). The paper proposes to analyse reasons for deficiencies in UIC with a comparative analysis of the curriculum of the industrial design (ID)…

In information design education, we strive to find methods that provide students with opportunities to explore different ways of learning and designing. We seek to support development of contextual competences that will be helpful in navigating an unknown future of design in society. A challenge in today's design education is to formulate and use…

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) defines its views on necessary skills for 21st century citizenship and life-long learning, advocating a generic skillset of literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving in technology-rich environments. Other sources also include critical thinking as a vital 21st Century skill.…

Immersed in a technologically complex world, young people make sense of a multi-faceted set of events in everyday life. This article investigates the variation in how Swedish young people experience technological systems and is based on interviews focusing three systems concerning transport, energy and communication--contextualised in relation to…

This paper presents two studies in which an empirical approach was taken to understand and explain form generation and decisions taken in the design process. In particular, the activities addressing aesthetic aspects when exteriorising form ideas in the design process have been the focus of the present study. Diary methods were the starting point…

Widely acknowledged as an archetypal design activity, sketching is typically carried out using little more than pen and paper. Today's designed artifacts however, are often given qualities that are hard to capture with traditional means of sketching. While pen and paper sketching catches the character of a building, it may not equally well capture…

In this article, the author relates his experience in a recent trip to Sweden. He was assigned to supervise a research student who is preparing a very interesting PhD about the role of the many different kinds of knowledge that have relevance to people in technology. His latest tutorial paper included a fascinating account of some examples of…