"Methods" as a tool to think technology education curriculum
HDR
Joël LEBEAUME, 15 janvier 1999

Abstract :
A model of technology education curriculum is proposed with three major components : purposes, references and tasks. 

About curriculum designing and its implementation, there are some foundamental problems about structure of school matter, choice and organization of contents, nature and characteristics of students’s tasks… 

I. TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AS A CURRICULUM
a) oriented curriculum-subject 
A curriculum-subject deals with teaching-learning within its temporal implementation during pupils’ school attendance. In this didactical meaning, curriculum-subject specifies scholar and educational relationships between subject and pupils. It is the itinerary that pupils have to follow in order to discover or to understand unknown fields. However, the trend of this way doesn’t mean that it has to be subject oriented in its terms and conditions of its achievement, its struturation and its development.

In France, technology education within compulsory school attendance is joint for example at different labels which indicate so many school matters with teachers who are generalists at primary school then specialists at junior high school.

Figure 1 : School matters along scholar attendance

Building of this oriented curriculum-subject reveals questions about ruptures and continuities, levels of knowledges or competencies and following studies, learning and extension. It also reveals questions about designing of elementary and progressive contents.

b) “ methods ”
In the organisation of this oriented curriculum-subject, each of its successive forms can be characterized by sets of prototypical teaching-learning situations as "methods". These are made up of tasks proposed to pupils whom consistancy is given by their orientation and their signification. Thus, a “ method ” is built by the reciprocal relationships between tasks, purposes and references. These three major components enable to put in concrete form subject with its structure (Lebeaume, 2000).

Figure 2 : Representation of “ method ”

It's necessary to distinguish pedagogical and didactical meanings of “ methods ”. It doesn't mean relationships between purposes and means as actives methods for instance. In didactical meaning, “ method ” is general methodology of school subject like "Methodik" in german language. This distinction is also used in didactics of languages in order to focus on intervention about foundamental contents in this methods.

Technology education curriculum in the past times in France has been organised with a succession of methods with special features. 

	Method	Tasks	References	Purposes	
	of logical elements	technical analysis of devices	mecanics	understanding of world of machines	
	of technical project	designing and making of technical objects	domestics and small-scale production	learning how to do	
	of quality elements	using tools of analysis value	analysis value	understanding of optimization	
	of scenarios	implementation of technical products	contemporary firms	understanding technical practices
using computers	

Figure 3 : “ Methods ” in history of technology education in France

II. TO THINK TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION CURRICULUM

The building of technology education curriculum within compulsory school implies two main and dependant questions :
	- how to think an elementary curriculum ?
	- how to design a progressively curriculum ?
	
a) for an elementary curriculum
One of these problems is about defining contents for this school matter compulsory and general, in particular about their elementary and progressively characteristics. It is possible to question the purposes and to define technology education with general competencies or specific skills. The technical world may be past or current, here or distant… Tasks may also be with different approachs such as projects, process, making, designing, using…

Thus technology education could be focus on applied sciences, arts and crafts, design process, problem solving…

b) for a progressively curriculum
Progressiveness is not planification or programmation because it focuses on progress of pupils. There are five main principles of progressivity. The first one is repetition-accumumation in order to acquire skills to train oneself to do something. Learning to use computer is an example as others tools or instrumental learning with perspective of mastery.

The second principle is extension-diversification. For example, curriculum is built from an elementary method with only one area of technical practices. These first experiences may be extended in others areas.

The third one is based on the simple to the complicated. Pupils have tasks more and more opened. Technology education oriented by problem solving may be organised with this principle, particulary with less and less complete resources. 

The fourth one is with differenciation-comparison. From different activities, analysis enables to compare these experiences and to elaborate a model that reveals unity of tasks and of process. But it needs a background of technical activities.

Figure 4 : Differenciation and comparison of different technical activities

The fifth one is not really about learning process but about conditions from the familiar world to the unknown technical world. For technology education, it is the classical answer with the choice from home, school world… to firms.

c) for an elementary and progressively curriculum
The defining of technology education structure depends above all about choices concerning nature of tasks, principles of progressiveness and elementariveness. The temporal organisation consists on defining the steps with continuity and discontinuity or ruptures.

d) the current choice in France
Within general and compulsory education, technology education can not be a vocational training. The first aim is to discover and to understand the socio-technical environment in which pupils live. Indeed, technology education have to give priority to preparing the individuals to behave themselves in the world : it will help them to understand and practical control of the comporary world, which is deeply imbued with technology. Technological activities have to contribute to this understanding of objects, products, technics, and process by elaborating an intellectual framework of technical world. The second aim is about abilities and skills to act with materials, tools, machines and computers. But to handdle artifacts, the practical familiarization does not only consist on using these things but is also a reflexive practice. Within junior high school, technology education also contributes to carrers information in order to prepare the choice of scholar orientation. Thus, technology education must not be only a speech about technic or a presentation of technical areas.

In order to understand technological world and to act in it, to identify relationships between products and human needs and to know how solutions are chosen at the different steps of design, production or sale within technical, human and economic constraints. Technology education focuses on realization activities which give pupils practical experiences and conceptual framework to describe and analize the real technical and economical. These realization activities on projects are progressively compared and developed by pupils themselves  (Lebeaume et Martinand, 1999).

Then it is possible to propose different forms for this curriculum in defining its structure as an elementary and progressively school matter. It is also necessary to considere human, material and institutionnal conditions and constrainst in its operationnel aspects. Which sociotechnical practices choose as reference of technical activities at school, for the beginners in first class, for the olders in following stages ? Then which firms or products are discovered and in the same time which technical world is not shown ? How to define unity amongst diversity of technical practices ? Is it necessary to differentiate these references with an economical point of view about product and production (single project, job shop, mass produces, continue production) or about goods and services (production of material devices or production of service) ? Is it pertinent to juxtapose or to integrate technical and economical constraints ? Which is the technical world available for pupils along scholar attendance ? Which principle of progressiveness to choose about these references ? How to begin, to graduate and to progress in interpretation of technical environment ? Which notions and knowledges to define at each grade in order to be able to analyze it, to understand it and to criticize it ? Which issue of technology at junior high school to define in order to follow school attendance at high school without technology, with industrial or economical teaching, or with vocational training ? Is it useful to live at school technical experiences or is it suffisant to study some examples of technical realization ? Which is the nature of scholar tasks for technology education ? Is it pertinent to design, to make, to produce, to sell…  to have different experiences of project process ? How to organize during the time these tasks without repeating the same process indefinitily ? Which are main stakes of these activities for pupils ? 

“ Method ”, with its three components - tasks, references, purposes - and their relationships is a tool which is a way thinking decisions about the curriculum in the specific contexts of each country.

References
LEBEAUME, J. & MARTINAND, J.-L. (1999). "Technology education in France : A school suject" in W. Theuerkauf and M. Dyrenfurth (Eds). International Perpsectives on Technological Education : Outcomes and Futures. Braunschweig/Ames. 175-182.
LEBEAUME, J. (2000). L'Éducation technologique - Histoires et Méthodes. Paris, F : ESF. (Technological education - Histories and Methods)