| 1. |
- Buckley, Jeffrey, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
A comparison of swedish and Irish secondary students conceptions of engineers and engineering using the draw-an-engineer test
- 2019
-
Ingår i: ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. - : American Society for Engineering Education.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Women are significantly underrepresented in engineering and engineering related disciplines. One area where this is clearly illustrated is in the percentage of females enrolled in higher education engineering courses. The 2016 data on enrolment by field from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that the maximum percentage of female enrolment in “engineering and engineering trades” education at Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral level in OECD countries is 28.33% in Sweden. As this form of education is likely to lead to a career in an engineering related field, there is a clear need to understand the factors which influence female students' decisions to enroll in higher education engineering courses. There are many influences on students' choices to pursue specific career paths. For example, how students conceive a particular discipline or career will influence this decision, as what they believe it to involve will likely affect their interest in engaging with it. In engineering, students often have misconceptions regarding what it means to be an engineer and the Draw-an-Engineer Test (DAET) has frequently been used to investigate these misconceptions. Studies using DAET have found that young students typically conceive engineers to be male, with the majority of male students typically representing engineers as male, but, with female students drawing more frequent but still relatively small proportions of female engineers. However, at least with the original “Draw a” instrument, the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST), children's drawings of scientists have been found to be becoming more gender diverse over time. In this study, the DAET is used in a comparative study between Sweden and Ireland. These countries were selected as according to the 2016 OECD data on higher education enrolment, Sweden has the highest representation of female engagement with engineering in higher level education (28.33%), while Ireland has one of the lowest (14.13%). The study cohort (ntotal = 513; nIreland = 302; nSweden = 211) in the context of both countries includes students who are approximately 15 years old. This age is of cultural significance in both countries as students are at a juncture in second level education where they must make a choice on what they will study at upper secondary level, which will consequently have an impact on their decision on what to study should they choose to progress to higher level education. Results are presented in relation to participants engineering stereotypes in terms of gender and the nature of engineering activities, and also in terms of their level of interest in engineering. Importantly, the results indicate that in order to understanding engineering stereotypes and young people's interest in becoming an engineer, the complex relationship between a student's gender, cultural context, and conception of engineering must be considered.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Buckley, Jeffrey, 1992-
(författare)
-
Investigating the role of spatial ability as a factor of human intelligence in technology education : Towards a causal theory of the relationship between spatial ability and STEM education
- 2018
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Education is a particularly complex discipline due to the numerous variables which impact on teaching and learning. Due to the large effect of human intelligence on the variance in student educational achievement, there is a substantial need to further contemporary understandings of its role in education. Multiple paradigms exist regarding the study of human intelligence. One in particular, the psychometric tradition, has offered many critical findings which have had a substantial impact on STEM education. One of the most significant offerings of this approach is the wealth of empirical evidence which demonstrates the importance of spatial ability in STEM education. However, while categorically identified as important, a causal relationship between spatial ability and STEM is yet to be confirmedAs there is insufficient evidence to support a causal investigation, this thesis aims to develop an empirically based causal theory to make this possible. Five studies were conducted to achieve this aim and are described in the appended papers. As the research explores spatial ability in technology education, Paper I examines the epistemological position of technology education within STEM education. Based on the evidence showing spatial ability is important in Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Paper II explores its relevance to Technology. Paper III offers an empirically based definition for spatial ability through a synthesis of contemporary research and illustrates empirically where it has been observed as important to STEM learning. Paper IV examines the perceived importance of spatial ability relative to intelligence in STEM education from the perspective of technology education. Finally, Paper V examines the psychometric relationship between spatial ability and fluid intelligence (Gf) based on a hypothesis generated throughout the preceding papers.The main results of this thesis illustrate the predictive capacity of visualization (Vz), memory span (MS), and inductive reasoning (I) on fluid intelligence (Gf) which is posited to offer a causal explanation based on the creative, innovative, and applied nature of STEM. Additional findings include the observation that learners use problem solving strategies which align with their cognitive strengths, that external representations of problems can scaffold the use of spatial ability or alleviate the need for it, that the variability of knowledge types across STEM sub-disciplines may affect the nature of reasoning within disciplines, and that for technology education specifically, acquiring an explicit knowledge base is not perceived to denote intelligence while the capacity to reason abstractly to solve novel problems is. This epistemological fluidity and focus on reasoning highlights the unique way in which technology education can provide insight into intelligence in STEM education. The implications of these results are discussed with specific focus on their theoretical validity and potential application in applied educational contexts.
|
|
| 5. |
- Buckley, Jeffrey, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
On intelligence in technology education : Towards redefining technological capability
- 2018
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Technology subject in general post-primary education is unique based on its conception and treatment of knowledge. The task specific utility of knowledge is emphasised and at the same time, in reflection of the breadth of technology in society, the variance in the context of learning tasks can be quite large. The subject is considered to have a fluid epistemology which directly affects how capability is contextually defined. The concept of technological capability has been ascribed multiple definitions however the more commonly aligned with model suggests it refers to a synthesis of knowledge, skills, values and problem solving in a technological context. However the combination of knowledge, skills, values and problem solving neglects to acknowledge intelligence in the form of domain general abilities which have been observed to have a significant effect on student performance. Therefore this paper argues for the integration of contextually relevant domain general abilities with current conceptions of technological capability.
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
- de Vries, Marc, et al.
(författare)
-
Pre-university Education : An introduction
- 2016. - 1st
-
Ingår i: Pre-university Engineering Education. - Sense Publisher : Springer. - 9789463006194 ; , s. 1-12
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
|
|
| 8. |
- Doyle, Andrew, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Operationalising pedagogical content knowledge research in technology education: Considerations for methodological approaches to exploring enacted practice
- 2019
-
Ingår i: British Educational Research Journal. - : Wiley. - 0141-1926 .- 1469-3518.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Like many areas of curricula internationally, technology education has encountered difficulties in achieving continuity between the rhetoric of prevailing policy and the reality of enacted practices. In technology education, the conceptually oriented nature of curricular goals is theorised to play a significant part in influencing this relationship. One way in which investigations of this relationship have been approached is considering the application of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) frameworks as a mechanism to understand the interaction of teachers’ knowledge and enacted practices. However, understanding from the philosophy of technology, and the technology education literature, suggests that technology education treats knowledge differently to many other disciplines. As a result of this, the interactions between teachers’ beliefs and knowledge are theorised to play a more significant role in influencing enacted practice in technology education. Building on this perspective, this article considers the need to investigate the roles of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, and the interactions between these, in the investigation of enacted practice. Further to this, the article problematises the potential for a dominance of exploratory research, though acknowledging the need for research within different paradigms; a common frame of reference is advocated. In advocating a more holistic approach to investigating enacted practice, and the factors which may influence teachers’ enactment of teaching practice, it is envisioned that this article takes a step towards methodological coherence regarding the study of enacted practice in technology education.
|
|
| 9. |
- Doyle, Andrew, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Reconceptualising PCK research in D&T education:proposing a methodological framework to investigateenacted practice
- 2018
-
Ingår i: International journal of technology and design education. - : Springer. - 0957-7572 .- 1573-1804.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since first conceived, the concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) hasattracted much attention. Despite being lauded by educationalists as the unique knowledgebase of teachers, research on the concept over the past 30 years has yet to result in a universallyaccepted definition being presented. Much of the contentions surrounding the lack ofan agreed upon conception appear to have stemmed from difficulties in understanding therelationship between PCK, other areas of teacher knowledge, teacher beliefs, and enactedpractice. This paper considers the application of PCK frameworks to design and technology(D&T) education, through an analysis of the nature of the discipline from an ontologicaland epistemological perspective and contemporary perspectives on the construct of PCK.It is theorised that the volition afforded to teachers in D&T through weakly framed subjectboundaries negates the effective application of PCK frameworks, as teachers’ beliefs have agreater impact on enacted practices. In an attempt to better understanding enacted practicein D&T education, the paper proposes a methodological framework centred on the interactionsbetween teachers’ beliefs and knowledge in the discipline, through synthesising theconcept of amplifiers and filters of practice with the nature of D&T education. The proposedframework outlines the need to recognise individual teachers’ conception of capabilityas a critical influence on enacted practice.
|
|
| 10. |
- Doyle, Andrew, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Theorising the role of engineering education for society : Technological activity in context?
- 2019
-
Ingår i: ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. - : American Society for Engineering Education.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper establishes a theoretical position from which to analyse and reason about the difficulties associated with closing the gap between the provision of engineering education in universities and the needs of society. Broadly speaking, the disparity between societal expectations and university graduate profiles highlights that despite achieving success in university; recently graduated engineers are often under-prepared for their initial years in the workplace. Continuing reports of this disparity suggest that current efforts have not succeeded in sufficiently closing this gap. As an antecedent to reforming engineering education policy or advocating a new pedagogical approach, we first theorise the role of engineering education for society. In adopting lessons from the philosophy of technology and how this has influenced the discourse surrounding K-12 technology education, the relationship between technological activity and technological knowledge is considered as a vessel though which to articulate engineering education. Through situating engineering disciplines as different contexts for technology, the need for engineering students to develop an ontological position towards engineering as technological activity, emerges as important. In this view, we hold that a fluid epistemological boundary for engineering disciplines necessitates perspectives on how to enact engineering, as doing engineering in authentic contexts is advocated to support the well-established practices around learning about discipline specific declarative knowledge. The foregrounding of an understanding of engineering as technological activity, founded on (but not limited to) well-established discipline specific knowledge is framed as an 'ontology-based curriculum'. We conclude the paper with a discussion of some of the prevailing challenges to operationalising this conception of engineering education for society.
|
|
