Technology Comprehension
We account for the first research results from a government initiatedexperiment that scales Making to a national discipline.The Ministry of Education, in Denmark, has introducedTechnology Comprehension as a new discipline for lowersecondary education. Technology Comprehension is first experimentedas an elective subject in 13 schools. The disciplinecombines elements from computing, design, and the societalaspect of technology and, thus, resonates with the existingFabLearn and Making initiatives in Scandinavia. We reportthe identified opportunities and challenges based on interviews,surveys, and a theme discussion with experiencedteachers from the 13 schools. The main takeaways are: First,the…
Technology Comprehension — Combining computing, design, and societal reflection as a national subject
This article considers the implementation of a new learning subject ”Technology Comprehension” into lower secondary schools in Denmark, as part of an initiative by the Danish Ministry of Education. The subject consists of learning objectives related to computing, design, and societal reflection and was first introduced as an elective course in 13 schools to investigate how it could be integrated into the Danish education system. We present four key findings based on school visits, interviews, an electronical survey, two questionnaires, and workshops including theme discussions: (1) teachers did not perceive Technology Comprehension as a distinct subject, but rather as a set of skills that c…