Search

Explores primary teachers' views about technology in England. Effect of the diversity of meanings of technology; Effects of the confusion between everyday and educational interpretations of technology; Relationship between science and technology; Teachers' experiences of teaching technology; Need for in-service training.

Compares the perceptions about technology held by elementary school children in England and Australia. Measurement of children's perceptions; Children's interest in technology; History of technology education in England and Australia.

Describes the evaluation of three curriculum models to teach technology as a design process. Appropriateness and understandability of the technology modules; Compatibility of the approach with likely resources available and with teaching schedules; Gender-inclusiveness of curriculum materials; Changes in pupils' attitudes and perceptions about technology.

The recent explicit inclusion of technology into the science component of the school curriculum in Western Australia necessitates changes in both curriculum materials and the nature of classroom teaching. This paper reports an investigation of the perceptions of technology of senior teachers who are heads of the science department in their schools, and relates these perceptions with those of a sample of 13‐year‐old pupils in this state. The investigation reveals that many teachers have a restricted view of technology which may be interpreted as a view that technology is dependent upon science. Such a view may neglect the historical aspects and societal influences on science and technology. Further, the available evidence indicates that local pupils have a low level of awareness of technology. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for curriculum change and suggests a starting point for achieving a successful balance in the teaching of technology, science and society issues in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Use of a combination of quantitative and qualitative data led to complementary views of the learning environment in classes taught by two high school science teachers. Quantified student perceptions of the learning environments are interpretable in terms of the metaphors, beliefs and knowledge of teachers, which were inferred from qualitative data. Between‐teacher differences in quantitative measures of the learning environment were enriched by qualitative observations of classrooms. In addition, different students perceived the classroom environment in significantly different ways. These differences are related to the teacher's expectations of and attitudes towards individuals in the same classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports data from observations conducted in Year 5 classrooms, during lessons in which the students were working on an electricity topic. Twenty classes participated in the study. The 20 teachers involved were selected as ten pairs, matched for sex, educational background and teaching experience. All the teachers received special help to increase their skills and confidence in teaching about electricity. Half the teachers (the ‘experimental group') were also alerted to the possibilities of sexism in the physical sciences. For science activities the students worked in small groups of two or three. In the classes of the ‘experimental group’ teachers, the same pattern of activity was found for boys and girls in mixed‐sex and single‐sex groups. This pattern was also found in single‐sex groups in the ‘control group’ classes. Mixed‐sex groups in the ‘control group’ classes however, were characterised by a different pattern of activity involving lower participation rates for girls than for boys. The results of this study indicate that single‐sex grouping may be beneficial to girls’ science education in cases where teachers have a low level of awareness and skills in relation to creating and maintaining a non‐sexist learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the work and effects of gender reform in schools through the use of feminist post-structuralist theory. Focusing on the discourses designed to enhance girls' post-school options, it examines the ways in which teachers and students, particularly girls, write, read and rewrite these discourses and on the basis of this suggests some new directions for researching, theorising and practicing gender reform in schools. In particular, it raises questions about the ways in which feminist pedagogies in schools deal with the female body, difference, pleasure and pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Australia is unique for the level of state intervention and the extent of school‐based activity by feminist teachers in gender reform policy initiatives, the implementation of gender reforms has been partial, fragmented, and generally ‘addon’. By contrast, this is a case study of the integration of gender reform as a whole‐school approach. The study shows that assumptions about the nature of policy developments are as important as the substantive nature of policy, as are the ways in which feminist teachers grapple with dilemmas emerging out of their professional and personal lives. We present a feminist poststructural reading of the policy process as an alternative (and we believe better) way of understanding what happens to policy in schools‐‐how, why, and with what effect. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper attends to some of the issues surrounding the controversial topic of the education of boys in Australian schools. It particularly focuses upon two questions: ‘Are boys victims of feminism in schools?’ and ‘Are boys victims of their emotions?’ In answering both questions, the authors draw from empirical studies that enquire into gender reform in schools and girls’ and boys’ responses to it. Generally, the paper makes the case for a pedagogy of the emotions in the context of gender education in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]