Enhancing technology education at surf science: A collaborative, problem-oriented approach to learning design, materials and manufacturing of surfboards

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study on the influence of blackboard assistance and lecturer's initiative on student's achievements (measured via quality of individualised surfboards). In addition it looks at student attitudes to project related issues in technology education, derived from the pre-test and post-test experiments and surveys. The researcher employed a 2-group design with two pre-tests and one post-test experimental scenario. The results were analysed for homogeneity of variances and means by using Fisher test and t-test, respectively. It was found that the students from pre-test (blackboard-oriented) group achieved the 17% lower score and the 70% greater variations in score variances compared to the data obtained from the post-test (supervisor guided and video-enhanced) group. Furthermore, the students from the latter group believed they were better prepared for solving technically oriented problems in design and production. They also appreciated help from experienced supervisors and video-links, and reported more satisfaction with their individually designed surfboards. Copyright © 2007 by Moment.