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There is a recognised lack of women participating in engineering and STEM in most western countries. However, it is desirable for engineering cohorts to have a broad diversity. Hence, girls need to be encouraged into all engineering fields, but especially those traditionally dominated by men such as civil, mechanical and software engineering. A number of factors influence students' critical career decisions. In particular, teachers influence their students in a number of different ways, some overt and others subliminal, including influencing students' self-image and belief in capability. Students between the ages of 11-13 years often develop images of themselves that can exclude them from careers in technology related careers such as engineering. This study conducted structured interviews with 20 initial teacher education students and two of their lecturers. The interviews considered the students experiences in their own career selection, the reasons one may encourage someone to consider engineering, and the participants of engineering and engineering practice. Interpretation of interview transcriptions indicated that most final year teacher-education students held either limited or stereotypical views of engineering. Participants thought of engineers as mainly for men or "country-type" girls who were good at maths and science. Most recognised the practical nature of engineering, some the academic nature. There was little recognition of the social and empathetic characteristics required. These outcomes imply a gap in understanding that may cause teachers to rely on their gender prejudice, rather than the skills beneficial in the career when providing career advice to potential engineers.

Teachers and students' interactions in the classroom include a large number of questions, some of which are a key part of formative assessment. Questions can lead to an extended dialogue between the teacher and the student, potentially facilitating a better understanding of the students' conceptions and providing teachers with information to guide student learning. Technology Observation and Conversation Framework (TOCF) was identified as a framework of questions specially designed for a technology classroom. In this qualitative, design-based research, the TOCF was modified for alignment with the New Zealand curriculum and provided to two primary teachers teaching ages 9-10. The version of TOCF reported in this article was developed through an iterative process in an authentic environment. The teachers were interviewed periodically, and modifications were made to the format of the framework. The findings in this paper focus on the outputs of the iterative process and the feedback given by the teachers on the TOCF. While teachers in the study found the questions crucial to deepen student thinking in technology, they faced some constraints in using the TOCF in the classroom. The findings suggest that any introduction of a new resource should proceed slowly in the classroom and time needs to be given for increasing familiarity with the new resource. It is also possible that inexperienced teachers could find adoption of questioning practice quite tricky and would need to be supported extensively to change their practice.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations offering work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities were no longer able to support student placements, resulting in many institutions searching for a range of innovative solutions. Many have redesigned their conventional placement-based WIL activities or programs to enable students to meet graduate profile criteria through alternative means such as virtual or simulated WIL experiences. The literature shows there are many models of WIL beyond conventional work placements. Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted of these WIL models, to provide a complied synthesis of existing practice from within the WIL field specifically focused on two books, the "International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning," and three national WIL association conference publications. The trends and qualities that emerge from the meta-analysis of existing practice can inform the redevelopment across the different modes of conventional, remote, virtual, and simulated WIL experiences.

Technology is ubiquitous and culturally situated, influencing and impacting lives every second of every day. As humanity emerged, so did technological development. Diverse cultural groups developed technologies, related knowledge, and processes, to meet emerging needs or realise opportunities--such as trade. There is little doubt that some technological processes and knowledge travelled with people as they explored the world. Other technological development is likely to have evolved in parallel, in response to cultural needs and situations. Some technological knowledge and processes became unique to specific cultural groups, with others crossing boundaries. A boundary is defined here as something that indicates confines or limits. Boundaries are represented in diverse ways in this paper, such as in ethnic, cultural, and geographical bounds. As humans evolved from apes they became bipedal, thus freeing their hands for other tasks. This evolution, coupled with the emergence of the thumb, enabled significant manipulation of the environment and materials, leading in turn to the development of technological outcomes and processes. As humans became distributed around the world, so did their technological know-how. Survival across a range of geological locations and climates meant the modification of existing technologies and processes, and emergence of others. The authors use their professional experience as technology educators to situate their arguments, and apply food preservation processes to illustrate similarities across technologies, which resulted from geological, cultural, and time boundaries. In some cases, these responses were a result of food supply issues, during times of short supply in droughts, winter, busy times, or travel. The article identifies two key ideas pertinent to a developing understanding of the nature of technology as defined in the New Zealand Curriculum; that technology has always been transformative, that technological development is not linear, but at times occurs in parallel--across geographical and cultural boundaries.

This article is the reflection of an emerging researcher who has experienced different nudges from the beginning of accessing the research field to the final stage of collating data in rural Nepal. My experiences and reflections may provide provocations to researchers to consider before they undertake field research. Areas that researchers should be aware of before entering the field include strategies of approaching the resources, socio-cultural and language diversities, topography and travel complication. The article offers those considering field research in remote areas, such as rural Nepal, an opportunity for rethinking a case study research approach, choosing appropriate methodological tools, sampling strategies and accessing resources.

The flipped classroom is an emerging strategy for the delivery of technical threshold content within tertiary engineering programs. In this study, we measure the effect that the approach has on the immediate and ongoing academic success of four cohorts of engineering dynamics students in New Zealand. Two cohorts (N = 865) received traditional lectures and two cohorts (N = 123) received a flipped classroom delivery. Both the Wilcoxon ranksum and the Kolmogorov--Smirnov tests noted a lack of significant contrasts across the performance in the first year dynamics class due to the teaching approach used (p > 0.05). In a follow-on dynamics class, N = 303 students previously undertook traditional lectures and N = 35 previously undertook flipped classrooms. When follow-on marks were compared across groups, there were no statistically significant differences observed across those that took the foundational class via traditional or flipped teaching approaches. This outcome implies that the flipped approach has a negligible effect on student academic achievement. However, these outcomes must be considered in context of the qualitative benefits of the flipped classroom approach.

Policy by the government of Nepal emphasises the need to develop ICT competencies and suggests the use of ICT will transform traditional models of teaching to ones that are student-centred. This article reports a study of primary teachers' experiences of using digital technologies in rural primary schools in Nepal, and investigates their perceptions of how the availability and use of ICT in their schools has transformed traditional teaching models. It further examines the resources they can access and the training they received. Teachers' accounts of their experiences indicated that the integration of available digital technologies in instructional activities changed their role in the classroom to some extent, created a learner-friendly learning environment and improved aspects of their teaching. The study also found that there was often insufficient access to ICT in and outside the school premises, and that pre-service teacher education, as well as government-provided in-service training, does not cover the use of ICT in instructional activities. Rather provision of infrastructures and training in the use of digital devices is carried out by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The article argues that for policy to be realised in practice, more sustainable and comprehensive systems need to be developed to train teachers in ICT use and to provide them with necessary facilities.

This article describes a study undertaken in New Zealand, England and Sweden and is based on the use of a tool developed by the researcher as a professional development and teaching tool in technology education for teachers of students between four and six years of age. The aim of the research was to investigate teachers' views of the effectiveness of the tool designed to deepening their understandings of technology content and pedagogical content knowledge. The tool, technology observations and conversation framework (TOCF) was designed to guide teachers' interactions with and observations of young children when learning technology with the aim of developing teacher insight into their own understanding of technology and how students learn technology. The tool was developed using the building of learning power theory to facilitate the identification of key dispositions and attitudes within four aspects of learning and across five pre-determined behaviours relevant to technology education. Qualitative research methods were used to investigate teachers' interaction with the TOCF by observing their use of it, and interviewing them about their perceived developed understanding of technology content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The initial purpose of the framework, presented to the teachers prior to teaching, was to guide interactions with students to assist this development and subsequently assist their ability to teach technology effectively and give specific feedback to students in technology education. The study found that teachers felt that they gained a deeper understanding of technology education and their understanding of students' learning in technology also developed. This article presents the final framework and teachers' views on how they were assisted by the framework. The study offers an international perspective on ways to broaden and deepen students' understanding in technological literacy through the development of teacher content knowledge and PCK and contributes significantly to the field of formative assessment in technology education.

This article describes a study of early childhood teachers' understanding of teaching and learning in children 4 and 5 years of age in technology education. The research aimed at assisting teachers' understanding of learning in technology using a developed framework. This study investigated the development of dispositions and attitudes including the building of children's confidence and self-belief in their capabilities, within four aspects of learning and across five predetermined behaviours relevant to technology education. The study employed qualitative research methods to assist teachers with the use of an observation and conversation framework aimed to improve their ability to assess formatively their children and their own ability to give specific feedback. Observations and interviews were used to gauge teachers' developed understandings of children's learning in technology. The study shows that the framework used benefitted teachers and children. It allowed for insight into understanding how and what children learn in technology and teachers' understanding of technology.

This paper reviews literature on constructivist learning theories relevant to and evident in teacher education in a New Zealand university. These theories are illustrated within an authentic technology education context which involves students from a primary teacher-education degree programme. It investigates how a practical activity, based on constructivist principles, successfully leads to the development of student teachers' understandings of technology education and technological practice within an initial teacher education programme. The paper describes the practical activity undertaken by final year students where a collaborative "company approach" strategy is used. The data shows that while undertaking a constructivist based activity, students gain a rich understanding of theory related to technological practice and relevant links to learning in the classroom. Examples are presented of the higher level thinking obtained by the students as they participate in this collaborative and cooperative exercise and reflect on their learning. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

This article investigates recent literature in the area of classroom conversation and dialogue with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the role that classroom conversation and dialogue plays in learning. It also investigates literature on the constructivist, collaborative nature of technology education and suggests that to enhance our understanding of how children learn in technology it is necessary to understand the impact that clearly focused conversations of children, amongst themselves and between children and their teachers while undertaking technological practice, has on advancing thinking and understanding. It also suggests that by understanding the full impact of classroom conversation and facilitating its use in the classroom, teachers can greatly enhance learning in technology education. Conversation with and between students allows teachers insight into the impacts of previous and specifically targeted learning experiences on learning in technology. Classroom dialogue can also enhance understanding of how learning occurs in technology and how interaction with peers and teachers advances thinking around technological concepts and components of practice. A related study currently being undertaken investigates the nature of conversation in the primary technology classroom with the aim of facilitating and developing teachers' understanding to better enhance learning for children in technology education. It is the author's intention to submit the results of this study to this publication in the future.