'Technology Fair'

In recent years, schools have an increasing focus on technology education. Mettas and Constantinou (2006) describe the ‘Technology Fair’: primary school children formulating a technological problem, collecting information and developing an appropriate solution. The children are guided by pre-service teachers. At the end, the school organizes a public event where each child displays a poster describing their learning proces and the outcome. The children and the pre-service teachers must also develop some interactive activities.

The purpose of the research of Mettas and Constantinou (2006) was to investigate the effectivenes of the Technology Fair in developing pre-service teachers’problem solving skills and their pedagogical content knowledge about technological problem solving. One of the results was that the Technology Fair has a significant influence in improving pre-service teachers’ understanding and application of problem solving strategies within the area of design and technology education.

The article attracted me because of the term ‘Technology Fair’. I wondered what was meant by that term. In my view, a ‘Technology Fair’ is a very good initiative! The children must solve a technological problem and they do this by using a problem based learning approach. By using this approach, the children are actively involved and learn in the context in which knowledge is to be used. The pre-service teachers learn to interact with the children and help the children to develop problem-solving skills. They develop also their own problem-solving skills within the area of technology education. That could be very handy for their furture career.

On this website you can download the article:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/x4w1r8706668m653/

Reference:

Mettas, A.C. & Constantinou, C.C. (2006). The Technology Fair: a project-based learning approach for enhancing problem solving skills and interest in design and technology education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 18(1), 79-100