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Teknik i förskolan är inte något nytt, men idag är vi mera medvetna om vad vi kallar teknik: Personalens beskrivningar av teknik som innehållsområde i förskolan
Mälardalen University, School of Education, Culture and Communication, Educational Sciences and Mathematics. (Matematikens, naturvetenskapens och teknikens didaktik)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4559-3500
2016 (Swedish)Licentiate thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This study investigates what preschool staff include in the technology subject in preschool education, what content they view as relevant and how the teaching of this content can be organized. This is motivated by the fact that technology as subject have not been clearly defined, leaving the teachers insecure and unconfident about what to teach and how to teach it. In addition, preschool do not have a tradition of addressing teaching and learning the way they are now obliged to do according to the curriculum and many studies have shown subject teaching to be a challenge in preschool. Thus, the preschool staff’s challenge is twofold regarding the teaching of technology.

The aim is addressed by a mixed methods design, starting with questionnaires and followed by interviews with preschool staff (daycare attendants and preschool teachers). The questionnaire was completed by 102 preschool staff members and interviews were held with seven of these participants.

A key results is that technology in preschool involves building and creating. Emphasized is that children should be offered much and varied materials and that it should be available in the environment and inspire creative activities. Another key result is that every-day use of artifacts is viewed as part of technology education. Children should learn to handle artifacts by using them, e.g. pulling up the zipper to close the jacket or cut with scissors. These are activities preschool have always engaged children in, which the staff now name technology. However, there are variations in the result and there are preschool staff members who express a more conscious teaching where children are able to learn about things like the purpose of technology, what parts an object consist of and how these parts are connected, and about technological systems, e.g. how the water get from the lake to the tap and how it is purified on the way. But there are also examples where technology activities are used as a means for working towards the striving goals of other areas, such as math, science and social behavior.

Implications are that preschool staff need to develop their teaching in order to work in accordance with the curriculum. A relevant first step is to strengthen their content competence in technology, but also, they need tools for how to teach subject matter like technology in a practice characterized by children’s own choice and influence.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Västerås: Mälardalen University , 2016.
Series
Mälardalen University Press Licentiate Theses, ISSN 1651-9256 ; 233
Series
Mälardalen Studies in Educational Sciences ; 24
Keywords [en]
technology, technology education, preschool, preschool staff, early childhood education
Keywords [sv]
teknik, teknikundervisning, förskola, förskolepersonal
National Category
Didactics
Research subject
Didactics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-31383ISBN: 978-91-7485-259-2 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mdh-31383DiVA, id: diva2:917501
Presentation
2016-05-27, Lambda, Mälardalens högskola, Västerås, 09:15 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2016-04-07 Created: 2016-04-06 Last updated: 2019-03-07Bibliographically approved
List of papers
1. Svensk förskolepersonals beskrivningar av teknik
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Svensk förskolepersonals beskrivningar av teknik
2015 (Swedish)In: LUMAT: International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education, E-ISSN 2323-7112, Vol. 3, no 2, p. 237-257Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

With regards to previous research results on how the teacher’s/preschool teacher’s understanding of a subject effects children’s learning and apprehending of the subject combined with the difficulties for the technology subject to take place in preschool this study aims at investigating how preschool staff (including preschool teachers and day care attendants) describe technology. A qualitatively designed questionnaire was sent out to 139 preschool teachers and day care attendants in a Swedish municipality, whereof 102 answered. The open question about what technology is thought to be was analyzed using a conventional content analysis resulting in nine categories, of which six interrelated hierarchically and one contained answers witch could not be categorized. Thus the result shows eight different ways in which technology is described, from a simple and naive description to a more complex description that implicates a deeper understanding of technology. A majority describes technology according to the latter. The result also shows that it is mainly the preschool teachers who describe technology in a more complex way. Many of the respondents have trouble separating technology from science, and quite a few describes technology as technique, which is another meaning for the word in the Swedish language.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
LUMA Centre Finland: , 2015
Keywords
preschool, preschool staff, technology, conventional content analysis, förskola, förskolepersonal, teknik, konventionell innehållsanalys
National Category
Didactics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-28556 (URN)
Conference
NFSUN – Nordic Research Symposium on Science Education, Helsinki, Finland, June 4-6, 2014
Available from: 2015-07-02 Created: 2015-07-02 Last updated: 2022-09-02Bibliographically approved
2. Technology education in preschool: Providing opportunities for children to use artifacts and to create
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Technology education in preschool: Providing opportunities for children to use artifacts and to create
2018 (English)In: International journal of technology and design education, ISSN 0957-7572, E-ISSN 1573-1804, Vol. 28, no 1, p. 29-51Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In recent years, technology has been emphasized as an important area in earlychildhood curricula; however, in many countries preschool does not have the tradition ofteaching specific subjects, and research shows that many preschool staff members areunsure about what teaching technology should include and how it should be taught.Therefore, with the ambition of outlining recommendations for both preschool practice andthe preschool-teacher program, we investigated what elements staff members include ineducating preschool children in technology. We investigated the research question What dopreschool staff members include as elements of technology education in preschool?through open-ended items on a questionnaire completed by 102 preschool teachers anddaycare attendants in Sweden. The answers were analyzed inductively, resulting in a set ofseven categories: Artifacts and systems in children’s environments, Create, Problemsolving, The concept of technology, Experiments, Techniques/Motor skills, and Naturalscience. Some key results emerged. First, artifacts have a central place in preschooltechnology education, and at least three verbs relate to how these artifacts are addressed:use, create, and understand. Second, the content of technology education in governmentregulatory documents is described to varying extents by the participants, and sometimesnot at all. Third, expected elements like play and the important role of the staff are notexpressed in the answers. Possible explanations and implications for the results arediscussed.

Keywords
Technology education Preschool; Early childhood education; Preschool teacher; Preschool staff; Conventional content analysis
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-31423 (URN)10.1007/s10798-016-9375-y (DOI)000425323800002 ()2-s2.0-84978829410 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2016-04-14 Created: 2016-04-14 Last updated: 2018-11-05Bibliographically approved
3. The Purpose of Technology Education in Preschool: Swedish Preschool Staff’s Descriptions
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The Purpose of Technology Education in Preschool: Swedish Preschool Staff’s Descriptions
2015 (English)In: Plurality and Complementarity of Approaches in Design and Technology Education: PATT29 conference proceedings / [ed] Marjolaine Chatoney, Marseille: École supérieure du professorat et de l’éducation, Aix-Marseille Université , 2015, p. 390-396Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

In 2010 technology became emphasized as a subject in the revised curriculum for the Swedish preschool. Two yearslater 42 preschools were scrutinized by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. The resulting report revealed that thepreschool staff lacked knowledge about technology in general and felt insecure regarding the subject’s application inthe preschool practice. There is relatively little research on the area, but even so some studies have shown the sametendency. To increase the knowledge of the existing situation in the preschool the aim of this study was to investigatehow preschool staff describe the purpose of technology education in preschool. Data was collected through an openendedquestionnaire. A stratified sample of 10 % of all the preschools in the investigated municipality resulted in thequestionnaire being sent out to 139 preschool teachers and day care attendants. The return rate was 73 %. The datawas analyzed using a conventional content analysis to create categories from data. Five categories were formed todescribe the preschool staff’s descriptions of the purpose of technology education: 1) to develop children’s interestin technology, 2) to make children aware of the technology around them and through that making the technologyavailable for them, 3) to give children an awareness about how technology works, 4) for children to develop abilitiesand knowledge to be able to create, invent and solve problems using technology, 5) to prepare children for futurelearning. All together these categories cover all aims but one for sustainable development stated in the steeringdocuments for the preschool and it seems that these respondents have a more developed understanding oftechnology in preschool than the ones the Swedish Schools Inspectorate reported in 2012.

Abstract [fr]

L’année 2010, la technologie s’est accentuée comme l’objet d’un programme d’enseignement révisé pour l’école maternelle en Suède. Deux ans plus tard, 42 écoles maternelles ont été inspectées par la Direction Nationale Suédoise des Etablissements Scolaires. Leur rapport a révélé que les effectifs des écoles maternelles manquaient la connaissance des technologies en général et se sentaient incertains par rapport à l’implication de l’objet au sein des activités des écoles maternelles. Le domaine ne dispose pas de beaucoup de données, mais même quelques enquêtes ont montré les mêmes tendances que les inspections. Pour améliorer la connaissance de la situation existante dans les écoles maternelles, le but de l’enquête était d’investiguer comment les effectifs décrivent le but d’enseignement des technologies dans les écoles maternelles. Des donnes étaient collectées par une enquête à questions ouvertes. Un échantillon stratifié comprenant 10 % de toutes les écoles maternelles inspectées dans cette municipalité a amené à l’expédition de l’enquête vers 139 institutrices d’écoles maternelles et assistantes maternelles. Le taux de réponse s’élevait à 73 %. La question ouverte utilisée dans cette enquête a été analysée à l’aide d’une analyse de contenu conventionnelle pour créer des catégories sur base des données. Cinq catégories ont été créées pour décrire les descriptions des effectifs concernant le but d’enseignement des technologies : 1) pour développer l’intérêt de l’enfant pour la technologie, 2) pour rendre les enfants conscients de la technologie dans leur environnement et par rendre cette technologie accessible à eux, 3) pour donner les enfants une conscience sur comment la technologie fonctionne, des connaissances concernant la technologie, 4) pour que les enfants puissent développer des compétences et connaissances pour être capable de créer, inventer et résoudre des problèmes à l’aide de technologie, des connaissance dans la technologie, 5) pour préparer les enfants aux études futures. En somme, ces catégories couvrent quasiment les buts mentionnés dans les documents dirigeants pour les écoles maternelles et il semble que les pensées des répondants concernant la technologie dans les écoles maternelles sont plus élaborées que celles rapportées par la Direction Nationale Suédoise des Etablissements Scolaires en 2012.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Marseille: École supérieure du professorat et de l’éducation, Aix-Marseille Université, 2015
Keywords
technology education, preschool, preschool staff, early childhood
National Category
Didactics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-28316 (URN)978-2-85399-994-6 (ISBN)
Conference
Conference PATT 29: Plurality and complementarity of approaches in design and technology education, 7-10 april 2015, Palais du Pharo, Marseille, France
Available from: 2015-06-15 Created: 2015-06-15 Last updated: 2016-04-14Bibliographically approved
4. Technology teaching in preschool: A glimpse from the practice
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Technology teaching in preschool: A glimpse from the practice
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-31424 (URN)
Available from: 2016-04-14 Created: 2016-04-14 Last updated: 2016-04-14Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Förskolans teknikundervisning: vad och hur?
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Förskolans teknikundervisning: vad och hur?
2019 (Swedish)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The aim of this study was to provide a description of the subject area of tech­nology and the teaching of it in preschool. Three research questions were ad­dressed: 1) What is the content of the subject area of technology in preschool? 2) How do the participants in the study teach technology in preschool? and 3) What aspects of technology does the preschool staff enable the children to learn? The motivation behind the study is the fact that technology is a rela­tively new teaching area in preschool. Research on the topic is scarce and does not provide preschool staff with an adequate scientific basis on which to build their teaching. Data were generated in three phases. First, a questionnaire was sent to 10 % of preschools in one municipality, asking staff what they include in the subject area of technology and how they view the teaching of tech­nology in preschool. Secondly, seven preschool staff who had responded to the ques­tionnaire were interviewed with the aim of providing a more detailed descrip­tion of how technology is taught in their respective preschools. Thirdly, an ethnographically inspired perspective was employed with the participation of two preschool units. I visited them during a six-week period, carried out ob­servations and interviewed staff. The outcome of the research is presented in the form of five individual studies, which collectively provided answers to the research questions. The results showed that preschool staff vary in their de­scriptions of the content of the technology area and how it is taught, with a range spanning from content that does not belong in technology as a knowledge area to relatively complex technological content. Examples of the former were content such as natural science, non-technological skills and tech­niques and the use of technology as a means of learning in other subject areas. Examples of the latter were content such as how a specific technology works, for instance what parts an object is made of and how they are joined together, as well as knowledge of technological systems. The descriptions revealed var­ying levels of competence in the teaching of technology to preschool children, with some staff showing adequate knowledge and confidence and others showing a lower level of knowledge as well as insecurity. It also becomes clear that the intended equality in preschool education had not been achieved in respect of technology education. From the part of this study that was based on an ethnographically inspired perspective it is clear that when preschool staff have the interest and the knowledge needed to teach technology to chil­dren, such teaching can be meaningful to the children and contribute to their learning in accordance with the stated mission of the preschool. The study has relevance for preschool practice as well as for the research community.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Västerås: Mälardalen University, 2019
Series
Mälardalen University Press Dissertations, ISSN 1651-4238 ; 287Mälardalen Studies in Educational Sciences ; 42
National Category
Educational Sciences
Research subject
Didactics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-42880 (URN)978-91-7485-423-7 (ISBN)
Public defence
2019-04-26, Kappa, Mälardalens högskola, Västerås, 13:15 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2019-03-07 Created: 2019-03-07 Last updated: 2019-03-19Bibliographically approved

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