ERIC Number: EJ1461473
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0957 7572
EISSN: EISSN-1573-1804
Available Date: 2024-05-04
You Just Have to Take a Big Leap! Authentic Teaching and Learning in the Technology Program at an Upper Secondary School
Susanne Engström1; Helena Lennholm1
International Journal of Technology and Design Education, v35 n1 p151-170 2025
In literature, teaching for an authentic learning experience is seen as rewarding and interesting, promoting better understanding of for example sustainable development and fostering students' independence. Some upper secondary schools emphasise authentic teaching and learning on their websites, showcasing how students engage in authentic tasks. We are interested in examining how authentic teaching is implemented in practice and what enables it. Therefore, we investigate a specific practice where authentic teaching occurs, and we follow students and teachers. We want to understand what may be required to implement authentic teaching. The research questions were: What characterises authentic teaching and learning when students on the technology program work on their design projects and individual pieces of work? How is authentic teaching and learning facilitated? Students in Year 3 of the technology program engaged in a project where they studied residential apartments' resource use and climate impact using sensors. They visited the energy research team, learned about the technology and data collection, and completed own upper secondary school projects related to sensor technology, programming, and data analysis. These were meant to be characterised by authenticity according to the school's procedures. Data was collected through interviews, observations, and analysis of video material, sound recordings, and field notes. The analysis revealed that the teaching exhibited characteristics of authentic learning, facilitated by early exposure, teacher empowerment, and strong support from management and resources. The results thus show both the characteristics of how the teaching is organized and how teachers handle students' learning, as well as the organizational factors at the specific school that enable it.
Descriptors: Secondary School Students, Authentic Learning, Student Attitudes, Technology Education, Teacher Attitudes, Secondary School Teachers, Teaching Methods, Critical Thinking, Relevance (Education), Thinking Skills, Inquiry, Problem Solving, Foreign Countries, Specialization, College Preparation, Engineering Education, STEM Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden