Design of a Mini Experimental Curriculum to Help Greek Primary School Students Learn about Daily-Life Technologies

By Athanassios Tassios and Christina Solomonidou.

Published by The Learning Collection

Format	Price
Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

The word ‘technology’ is used to represent a
variety of means, materials, actions, processes, methods
and systems, and often symbolizes the progress in various
domains. Technology education as a part of the general
education curriculum has different goals and aims within
each country, which depends on economic, political, social
or epistemological considerations. But it is widely
accepted that today technology education programs should
provide students with experience and concepts through
authentic activities within collaborative and
constructivist learning environments. The present paper
describes the design and implementation of a mini-
experimental curriculum within the frame of social
constructivism, in a view of introducing the study of
technology in Greek primary school. This mini-curriculum
was designed on the basis of an initial research on
students’ ideas concerning everyday life technologies and
their effects on humans’ lives, health, and environment.
Main directions of this mini curriculum are: the study of
past and actual technological forms, technological change,
use of technological means at individual or social level,
and critical - ethical issues concerning the wide use of
technology, as well as their impacts on human lives and the
natural and built environment.

Keywords:	Teaching and Learning Technology, Daily-life Technologies, Primary Education, Students’ Ideas, Social Constructivism

The International Journal of Learning, Volume 16, Issue 7, pp.49-58. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.262MB).

Athanassios Tassios

PhD, Educator, Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Thessaly, Greece

Athanassios Tassios is a primary teachers’ councellor who obtained his PhD diploma on Technology Education from the University of Thessaly. He has published a number of papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings about learning and teaching technology, especially in primary school.

Prof. Christina Solomonidou

Professor, Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Thessaly, Greece

Christina Solomonidou is a Professor at the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education of the University of Thessaly. She graduated in Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). She made post-graduate studies in Science and Technology Education at the University of Paris 7 (France), where she got a MEd and a PhD diploma. She has collaborated with other researchers within several research programs aiming at the development of quality educational software, learning science and technology, and the implementation and use of ICT in teaching and learning especially in primary school. She has published four books on Educational Technology, and has an important number of publications in scientific journals and conference proceedings. Her research interests focus on students’ learning science and technology concepts, the design and the evaluation of appropriate teaching sequences to remedy students’ alternative conceptions, and teaching and learning with the help of ICT.

Reviews:

There are currently no reviews of this product.

Write a Review