I am Professor of Technology Education in the research unit TESER, Technology and Science Education Research. My research interests primarily relate to the historical emergence of technology as knowledge content in the school, the epistemology and subject philosophy of technology, various subject content (e.g. technological systems) as well as the attitudes to and knowledge of technology and technology education of students, student teachers and teachers. My research also relates to technology teaching in relation to e.g. design, gender (girls and technology), authentic learning, models and modelling and STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education.
STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—has become important as an educational con... more STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—has become important as an educational construct and phenomenon in recent years. However, it is only just recently that STEM education has begun to be examined from a philosophical point of view. There is therefore a need for further investigation of its philosophical basis, particularly in relation to integrated STEM education (iSTEM). Recent conceptual and empirical studies emphasize the crucial role of design in achieving successful STEM integration, and design thinking has also lately gained traction in such integration. The aim of this study is to investigate an integrated philosophy of STEM education, based on the methodological backbone of design. The research methodology consisted of a critical review of the literature regarding the philosophy of STEM (education), science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and STEM education research, related to the current issues of integrating the various STEM subjects. We thus bas...
Design and technology education : an international journal, Jun 30, 2021
The Impact of Technology Education: International Insights is the third volume of international r... more The Impact of Technology Education: International Insights is the third volume of international research prepared by the Center of Excellence for Technology Education (CETE). There are nine chapters of different research activities that attempt to substantiate the claim that technology education can be a powerful teaching and learning tool in preK–12 schools and postsecondary settings. The researchers assert an urgent need to expose students to technical subjects and realistic problem-solving as early and as often as possible. Although each chapter presents different kinds of research and insights on the impact of technology education, the call for a unified effort to support technology education is the central theme of these chapters. This book informs us of successes achieved in developing technological literacies and reminds us of the work that needs to be continued to demonstrate the value of technology education. What follows is a summary of specific chapters in this book.
In this study Swedish teachers’ views of the technology subject and technology teaching are exami... more In this study Swedish teachers’ views of the technology subject and technology teaching are examined. Investigations made the last few years show that there are deficiencies in the technology teach ...
Teknikens kunskapshistoria ar for manga en historia om svenska uppfinnare, tillampad naturvetensk... more Teknikens kunskapshistoria ar for manga en historia om svenska uppfinnare, tillampad naturvetenskap och ingenjorsutbildning. I den har antologin riktas istallet blicken mot de bredare lagren av sam ...
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice... more In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice and teachers do not have a well-defined subject tradition to lean on when assessing students. The aim of this study is to explore Swedish secondary technology teachers’ cognitive beliefs about assessing students’ learning of technological systems, in relation to the assessment tools they use. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire which was completed by 511 Swedish technology teachers in lower secondary education (grades 7–9). The data were analysed statistically in three main steps. Exploratory factor analysis revealed underlying dimensions in teachers’ cognitive beliefs, which was followed by correlation analysis to discern associations between dimensions of cognitive beliefs. Finally, comparisons were made between groups of teachers to discern how teachers’ cognitive beliefs are influenced by their experience and educational background. The results show that additi...
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice... more In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice and teachers do not have a well-defined subject tradition to lean on when assessing students. The aim of this study is to explore Swedish secondary technology teachers’ cognitive beliefs about assessing students’ learning of technological systems, in relation to the assessment tools they use. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire which was completed by 511 Swedish technology teachers in lower secondary education (grades 7–9). The data were analysed statistically in three main steps. Exploratory factor analysis revealed underlying dimensions in teachers’ cognitive beliefs, which was followed by correlation analysis to discern associations between dimensions of cognitive beliefs. Finally, comparisons were made between groups of teachers to discern how teachers’ cognitive beliefs are influenced by their experience and educational background. The results show that additi...
Techne serien - Forskning i slöjdpedagogik och slöjdvetenskap, Apr 28, 2021
Feedback mechanisms make control of systems automatic and are thus inherent features of many tech... more Feedback mechanisms make control of systems automatic and are thus inherent features of many technologies that surround us in our daily lives. Feedback is thus considered important to learn in technology education, although it is regarded as difficult and often not introduced to students until upper secondary level. Given the central role of feedback in technology and engineering it is surprising that there is virtually no research on how students of any age conceive of and/or learn about feedback in the technology and engineering education literature. The aim of this paper is to report on and evaluate an intervention to improve Swedish secondary pre-service technology student teachers’ conceptions of feedback in technological systems. Five student teachers took part in the intervention, taking a pre-test prior to, and a post-test after, this intervention. Although this is a small sample, the findings indicate that the student group as a whole performed better in the post-test than in the pre-test. The findings also suggest that some teachers understood the systemic, macro aspects of feedback mechanisms better after the intervention. On the other hand, no student reached an expanded understanding, and most conceptions were rather vague. Furthermore, there was a general lack of atomistic conceptions, relating to a micro understanding, for example, sensors and how they work in a control system. This study thus confirms previous research about the lack of essential device knowledge among student teachers. Some implications for the continuation of the study are suggested based on these findings
International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 2021
When studying attitudes toward technology education, the affective attitudinal component has prim... more When studying attitudes toward technology education, the affective attitudinal component has primarily been the focus. This study focuses on how the affective, cognitive and behavioral attitudinal components of technology education can be incorporated using a two-step survey: the traditional PATT-questionnaire (PATT-SQSE) and the recently developed Mitcham Score questionnaire. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship among the cognitive, affective and potential behavioural components of students’ attitudes toward technology in a Swedish context, using the PATT-SQ-SE instrument including the Mitcham score open items. Results of the analyses show that relationships among the attitudinal components are observable. The results also imply that relationships among the attitudinal components are different for girls than boys. A key factor for the participating students’ attitudinal relations was interest (affective component) in technology education. An individual interest in t...
Design and technology education : an international journal, 2017
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) defines its views on nece... more The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) defines its views on necessary skills for 21st century citizenship and life-long learning, advocating a generic skill set of ...
STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – has become ubiquitous in education. Ho... more STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – has become ubiquitous in education. How STEM and STEM education are to be defined is still a matter of debate, however, and it is only jus ...
Forskningsfaltet teknikens didaktik ar ungt i Sverige, men aven internationellt gar det bara till... more Forskningsfaltet teknikens didaktik ar ungt i Sverige, men aven internationellt gar det bara tillbaka nagra artionden. Syftet med detta kapitel ar att beskriva de teman som finns i den svenska tekn ...
Denna bok ar en antologi om forskning kring teknikdidaktik, utgiven i samarbete mellan Nationellt... more Denna bok ar en antologi om forskning kring teknikdidaktik, utgiven i samarbete mellan Nationellt centrum for naturvetenskapernas och teknikens didaktik (NATDID), forskningsmiljon Teknik, naturvete ...
The concept of 21st century skills has several definitions. Sweden, as well as other countries, a... more The concept of 21st century skills has several definitions. Sweden, as well as other countries, address 21st century skills under various labels in technology education, especially in terms of comp ...
STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—has become important as an educational con... more STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—has become important as an educational construct and phenomenon in recent years. However, it is only just recently that STEM education has begun to be examined from a philosophical point of view. There is therefore a need for further investigation of its philosophical basis, particularly in relation to integrated STEM education (iSTEM). Recent conceptual and empirical studies emphasize the crucial role of design in achieving successful STEM integration, and design thinking has also lately gained traction in such integration. The aim of this study is to investigate an integrated philosophy of STEM education, based on the methodological backbone of design. The research methodology consisted of a critical review of the literature regarding the philosophy of STEM (education), science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and STEM education research, related to the current issues of integrating the various STEM subjects. We thus bas...
Design and technology education : an international journal, Jun 30, 2021
The Impact of Technology Education: International Insights is the third volume of international r... more The Impact of Technology Education: International Insights is the third volume of international research prepared by the Center of Excellence for Technology Education (CETE). There are nine chapters of different research activities that attempt to substantiate the claim that technology education can be a powerful teaching and learning tool in preK–12 schools and postsecondary settings. The researchers assert an urgent need to expose students to technical subjects and realistic problem-solving as early and as often as possible. Although each chapter presents different kinds of research and insights on the impact of technology education, the call for a unified effort to support technology education is the central theme of these chapters. This book informs us of successes achieved in developing technological literacies and reminds us of the work that needs to be continued to demonstrate the value of technology education. What follows is a summary of specific chapters in this book.
In this study Swedish teachers’ views of the technology subject and technology teaching are exami... more In this study Swedish teachers’ views of the technology subject and technology teaching are examined. Investigations made the last few years show that there are deficiencies in the technology teach ...
Teknikens kunskapshistoria ar for manga en historia om svenska uppfinnare, tillampad naturvetensk... more Teknikens kunskapshistoria ar for manga en historia om svenska uppfinnare, tillampad naturvetenskap och ingenjorsutbildning. I den har antologin riktas istallet blicken mot de bredare lagren av sam ...
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice... more In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice and teachers do not have a well-defined subject tradition to lean on when assessing students. The aim of this study is to explore Swedish secondary technology teachers’ cognitive beliefs about assessing students’ learning of technological systems, in relation to the assessment tools they use. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire which was completed by 511 Swedish technology teachers in lower secondary education (grades 7–9). The data were analysed statistically in three main steps. Exploratory factor analysis revealed underlying dimensions in teachers’ cognitive beliefs, which was followed by correlation analysis to discern associations between dimensions of cognitive beliefs. Finally, comparisons were made between groups of teachers to discern how teachers’ cognitive beliefs are influenced by their experience and educational background. The results show that additi...
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice... more In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice and teachers do not have a well-defined subject tradition to lean on when assessing students. The aim of this study is to explore Swedish secondary technology teachers’ cognitive beliefs about assessing students’ learning of technological systems, in relation to the assessment tools they use. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire which was completed by 511 Swedish technology teachers in lower secondary education (grades 7–9). The data were analysed statistically in three main steps. Exploratory factor analysis revealed underlying dimensions in teachers’ cognitive beliefs, which was followed by correlation analysis to discern associations between dimensions of cognitive beliefs. Finally, comparisons were made between groups of teachers to discern how teachers’ cognitive beliefs are influenced by their experience and educational background. The results show that additi...
Techne serien - Forskning i slöjdpedagogik och slöjdvetenskap, Apr 28, 2021
Feedback mechanisms make control of systems automatic and are thus inherent features of many tech... more Feedback mechanisms make control of systems automatic and are thus inherent features of many technologies that surround us in our daily lives. Feedback is thus considered important to learn in technology education, although it is regarded as difficult and often not introduced to students until upper secondary level. Given the central role of feedback in technology and engineering it is surprising that there is virtually no research on how students of any age conceive of and/or learn about feedback in the technology and engineering education literature. The aim of this paper is to report on and evaluate an intervention to improve Swedish secondary pre-service technology student teachers’ conceptions of feedback in technological systems. Five student teachers took part in the intervention, taking a pre-test prior to, and a post-test after, this intervention. Although this is a small sample, the findings indicate that the student group as a whole performed better in the post-test than in the pre-test. The findings also suggest that some teachers understood the systemic, macro aspects of feedback mechanisms better after the intervention. On the other hand, no student reached an expanded understanding, and most conceptions were rather vague. Furthermore, there was a general lack of atomistic conceptions, relating to a micro understanding, for example, sensors and how they work in a control system. This study thus confirms previous research about the lack of essential device knowledge among student teachers. Some implications for the continuation of the study are suggested based on these findings
International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 2021
When studying attitudes toward technology education, the affective attitudinal component has prim... more When studying attitudes toward technology education, the affective attitudinal component has primarily been the focus. This study focuses on how the affective, cognitive and behavioral attitudinal components of technology education can be incorporated using a two-step survey: the traditional PATT-questionnaire (PATT-SQSE) and the recently developed Mitcham Score questionnaire. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship among the cognitive, affective and potential behavioural components of students’ attitudes toward technology in a Swedish context, using the PATT-SQ-SE instrument including the Mitcham score open items. Results of the analyses show that relationships among the attitudinal components are observable. The results also imply that relationships among the attitudinal components are different for girls than boys. A key factor for the participating students’ attitudinal relations was interest (affective component) in technology education. An individual interest in t...
Design and technology education : an international journal, 2017
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) defines its views on nece... more The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) defines its views on necessary skills for 21st century citizenship and life-long learning, advocating a generic skill set of ...
STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – has become ubiquitous in education. Ho... more STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – has become ubiquitous in education. How STEM and STEM education are to be defined is still a matter of debate, however, and it is only jus ...
Forskningsfaltet teknikens didaktik ar ungt i Sverige, men aven internationellt gar det bara till... more Forskningsfaltet teknikens didaktik ar ungt i Sverige, men aven internationellt gar det bara tillbaka nagra artionden. Syftet med detta kapitel ar att beskriva de teman som finns i den svenska tekn ...
Denna bok ar en antologi om forskning kring teknikdidaktik, utgiven i samarbete mellan Nationellt... more Denna bok ar en antologi om forskning kring teknikdidaktik, utgiven i samarbete mellan Nationellt centrum for naturvetenskapernas och teknikens didaktik (NATDID), forskningsmiljon Teknik, naturvete ...
The concept of 21st century skills has several definitions. Sweden, as well as other countries, a... more The concept of 21st century skills has several definitions. Sweden, as well as other countries, address 21st century skills under various labels in technology education, especially in terms of comp ...
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