1. funded by:

2. The project - Update stands for Understanding and Providing a Developmental Approach to Technology Education - aim of the programme is to improve science and technology teaching in Europe in order to appeal young people to technology, especially girls - new learning material and methods for three-age groups: early, Childhood, elementary school and general education shall result from the project

3. Fragmentation of technology education BoysGirls Professional Education Comprehensive School, Lower Grades 1-6 Gymnasium Comprehensive School, Higher Grades 7-9 Preschool education, kindergardens

4. Advancements to the State of the Art Professional Education: EXPERTISE Gymnasium, ages 16-18: DEEPER UNDERSTANDING, KNOW-HOW Comprehensive School, Higher Grads, 7-9: BASIC UNDERSTANDING Comprehensive School, Lower Grads, 1-6: INTEREST, BASIC SKILLS (encouragement, problem solving) Early Childhood Education: CURIOSITY (introducing, experimenting with materials)

5. Innovative Aspects - strong focus on early childhood and primary education - most attitudes are shaped at these ages - focus on girls, disseminate best practice examples Girls’Day at a car centre in SoestGirls’Day at a car centre in Soest Girls’Day at a car centre in Soest, Germany Girls‘Day – Future Prospects for Girls: Technology professions and crafts are presented to girls from ten years and upward

6. Aims of the project - to examine why girls drop out from technology education at different stages of their education - to create new ways and educational methods to make the image of technology and technological careers more attractive for both boys and girls - to promote, encourage and mobilise especially girls and young women for engineering and technology both as a career and as active users of modern technology

7. Early Childhood Education (ECE) - experiences for younger children focus on play, discovery and exploration - older children enjoy a focus on more formal and complex experiences (science experiments, construction, design projects: planning, problem solving, applications of learned principles) Tiny Tots Science Corner

8. Early Childhood Education (ECE) - it is important - to encourage children to observe and experience their environment - to stimulate children’s curiosity, creativity and playfulness - to enhance the development of self-confidence of children in their ability to think up and carry out experiments and projects

9. Gender and Technology Education - existing role models and attitudes of people around (toy marketing, children’s books and films etc. media, family members, neighborhood, teachers, peers) - connections with the wider community (working places) - self-image and identity - barriers (glass-ceilings) – visible and invisible - segregation by gender in learning situations / teaching

10. UPDATE Website - a web-based collaborative environment - collaborative working space for the online editing and compilation of questionnaires and texts - a blog for supporting partner communication and dissemination activities, also participations of schools and children - work package spaces - mailing list - Update portfolio for workpackages 2-4 - public part for diverse audiences - http://update.jyu.fi/index.php/

11. Multinational Project Consortium - 16 partners from 11 different countries participate - the research project is funded by the European Comission for the next three years - UPDATE will be part of the Sixth Framework Programme of the EC

12. UPDATE Project Partners and Contact Persons - University of Jyväskylä - University of Glasgow - IUFM University Institute for Teacher Training of Aix-Marseille - "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi - Ovidius University Constanta - University of Tallinn - Dortmund University of Applied Sciences - University of Koblenz

13. UPDATE Project Partners - FCRI Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation - Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Chances - Institute of Philosophy at the Bratislava Slovak Academy of Sciences - State College of Education in Vienna - Regional Institute for Educational Research Marche - Aristotle University - University Complutense de Madrid - IDEC S.A