Integrating digital technologies into the New Zealand curriculum: Future-focused and technological ways of thinking

Abstract

The Australasian Journal of TechnologyEducation is a peer refereed journal, and provides a forum for scholarly discussion on topics relating to technology education. Submissions are welcomed relating to the primary, secondary and higher education sectors, initial teacher education and continuous professional development, and general research about Technology Education. Contributions to the ongoing research debate are encouraged from any country. The expectation is that the Journal will publish articles at the leading edge of development of the subject area. The Journal seeks to publish • reports of research, • articles based on action research by practitioners, • literature reviews, and • book reviews. Abstract The ability to function in a technologically mediated world is a global priority. In New Zealand, there has been a recent curriculum revision, which emphasises the role of Digital Technology, and there is an assumption that this will equate to the use of digital technologies for learning. This change highlights a need for students to develop their digital fluency but also engage with learning that encourages them to become creators of digital outcomes. To enable this process, students need to be encouraged to develop their technological and technical ways of thinking. This article reports on qualitative research to describe how one secondary school teacher enacted digital technology aspects of the technology curriculum. Data were collected through observational and self-report methods. The findings indicate that technological ways of thinking are suited to the enactment of technology education, when situated within authentic, personally meaningful, or problem-based contexts for learning.