Abstract
High achievements in the cognitive domain are the ultimate goal of any education, within it is important to understand the role of the teaching context. In this regard, the purpose of this research was to determine how teachers perceive the role of the teaching context on the pupils’ achievements in the cognitive domain in general technology education. For this purpose, a survey of teachers’ perception towards the influence of isolated elements of the teaching context, specific to technology education, on the achievements of learning objectives was conducted. The study was conducted as a survey on a stratified sample of technology education teachers (N = 194) from Croatia. ANOVA repeated measurements statistical procedure was used to process the research results. The analysis of the results showed that teachers give preference to certain contextual elements over others. These are activities with technological artifacts, models and simulations, service-learning activities, field trips, work in an appropriate space and the student’s presentation of their own results. These elements can be considered as a contextual basis for the cognitive development of pupils in general technology education. Teachers’ perception of the influence of other elements of the teaching context is not negligible, but obviously there is no priority over these elements, which is why further research is needed.
Highlights
Contextual learning has been considered a successful way of achieving teaching goals, especially in science and technology education
Analysis of the teaching context, which can be relevant to the learning process, is often the only “path” of research, and teachers are often the only “litmus” to determine which elements of teaching context can influence student achievements in the cognitive domain
For each level of achievement in the cognitive domain, teachers highly rate the importance of student activities with models and simulations, service-learning activities, and the implementation of all activities in a space appropriate for technology education
Summary
Contextual learning has been considered a successful way of achieving teaching goals, especially in science and technology education. The structural and functional aspects together should give the student the sense and meaning of the learning subject matter, and should ensure the student’s understanding of the content they are learning, which is a priority of the teaching process. Students should be clear about what they need to achieve and should lead to the opportunity for different, performative behaviors, which is only possible in scenarios that include that content (Gardner, 1993; Biggs, 1996; Biggs et al, 2001) The existence of such a context can facilitate and secure the contextual learning process. The teaching context should allow students to understand the content through contextual learning, while contextual approaches should provide appropriate teaching activities that support such learning
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