Effects of a transdisciplinary educational approach on students’ technological literacy

Abstract

Technological progress, globali-zation and demographic changes have brought about transformations that have increased economic and social inequalities. A structural transformation in education could support economic growth and sustainability and could also be associated with common actions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, together with social sciences, to mitigate the impact of these megatrends on inequalities. This research explores the effects of a technologically conceptualized transdisciplinary educational approach. A sample of 242 lower secondary school students was selected and a pre-and post-test research design was used to ascertain whether a two-level transdisciplinary educational approach used by technology teachers affected the development of students’ technological literacy (TL). The task design included several real-life technological contexts and concepts wherein knowledge of other disciplines was needed to solve problems, create new knowledge and acquire higher-order skills while developing positive attitudes towards sustainable technology. A two-way analysis of variance indicated several significant effects of transdisciplinary education on the development of students’ TL. These findings provide valuable insights into the nature of TL acquisition as a basis for curriculum design and the implementation of transdisciplinary technology education in the lower secondary school.