Implementation of Design and Making, Interdisciplinary Integration, and Creativity in Technology Education Curriculum Kuang-Chao Yu, Kuen-Yi Lin Department of Industrial Technology Education National Taiwan Normal University

Introduction Technology education in Taiwan is called Living Technology and was combined with Science as a new learning field called “Science and Living Technology.”

Introduction (Cont.) The mission of Science and Living Technology is to develop students’ competency in: the process of skill the cognition of science and technology the nature of science the development of technology the attitude of science the intelligence of thinking the application of science design and making

New Directions in Living Technology Design and Making Interdisciplinary Integration Creativity

Design and Making The exemplar of Design and Making

Interdisciplinary Integration Science and Living Technology were separated subject before 2000, but now were in an integrated learning subject. Science/Technology/Society (STS) and Mathematics/Science/Technology (MST) approaches become the two most often used within the professionals.

Interdisciplinary Integration (Cont.) The authors have developed a web-based MST learning system which contains four learning sections: Principles of MST learning area Simulations of MST learning area Hands-on learning area Multimedia assessment area

Web page showing MST learning map Students can learn “the structure of airplane,” “the concept of technology,” “the principle of science,” and “the principle of mathematics” in this area.

Simulations of MST learning area Students can change three different variables of “the material of glider,” “the ratio of airfoil to airframe,” “the form of airfoil,” and finally examine the result from simulation.

Hands-on learning area Steps of teaching students how to make a glider.

Creativity Technology is a kind of expression of human creativity (Michael, 2001). Peterson (2002) thinks that creativity is related to technology closely; that is, many technological products are under the impression of qualifying with creativity in our daily life.

The Technology Competition in Taiwan History of Technology Competition The origin of Technology Competition came from “Industrial Arts Product Exhibition” in 1976. The “Industrial Arts Competition” for the junior high school was formally held in 1981.

The Technology Competition in Taiwan (Cont.) With the paradigm shift from Industrial Arts to Technology Education paradigm, the Industrial Arts Competition was renamed to “Technology Competition.” The purpose in this Technology Competition is to guide our students to make the link between “design and making” activity and the term “technology”, because many of them think that technology concerns only modern hi-tech electrical devices.

The Technology Competition in Taiwan (Cont.) 2003 Taipei Technology Competition in Taiwan The topic for the 2003 Taipei Technology Competition is “Creative design in classification.” Students work in teams of three. Each team has to use the materials provided by the convention to design and make a device that can divide the plastic beads (with two different weights and size) into two receivers on the base of two planks within a certain time. The device was tested and evaluated under three items: portfolio (20%), creativity (40%), and function (40%).

The Technology Competition in Taiwan (Cont.) Competition device

The Technology Competition in Taiwan (Cont.) The First Prize Work in 2003

Conclusions Students like to generate ideas Hands-on project is the core of technology education Design process is important Need to develop student’s creativity

Thanks for your attention! Kuang-Chao Yu: kcyu@ntnu.edu.tw Kuen-Yi Lin: 89171001@ntnu.edu.tw