Steven Shumway and Dr. Curt J. Derres-Davenport, Technology Education

Research for this project began by contacting three middle schools in the Utah Valley area, American Fork Junior High, Oak Canyon Junior High, and Lehi Junior High. These schools were asked to participate in a research project that would discover the students’ attitudes and concepts of technology at the middle school level. The Principals, Faculty, and students involved, all cooperated well with the survey. Many teachers and principals expressed a strong interest in the findings of this research. Overall, this was a valuable and successful project. Through the use of this survey, some very fascinating information concerning the concepts and attitudes that junior high students have towards technology, has been discovered.

As the information returned, it was a tremendous task going through all of the surveys. It first required that we carefully read all of the surveys and throw out any ones that were invalid. Then many hours were spent on the computer inputting the approximately 800 students’ different responses to the 58 different questions on the survey. Effect sizes were calculated on the total responses to ascertain the magnitude of the different scores between the young men and women involved.

Overall the students were relatively positive about technology education and the use of technology in their lives. The enthusiasm expressed by the students can hopefully be increased by further education of the importance of technology. Due to the short nature of this report, only a few highlights of the findings of the survey will be divulged.

In the area of the survey that dealt with the interest that the students have in technology, the young women mentioned that they were overall much less interested in anything to do with technology than the young men. They especially mentioned that they get much less enjoyment out of repairing things, in comparison with how the young men responded.

One of the most interesting differences is that although the young women expressed a general dislike for technology, they felt that they are just as capable, or even more capable than young men, when it comes to being able to work with and understand technological subjects. In fact, the young womens’ strongest agreement on the survey was found on the question of whether or not they felt a female could become an auto mechanic.

This was very interesting because the young women highly disagreed that they would choose a job in technology and said that generally they would not enjoy a job in this field if they were to take one. The young women have stronger feelings towards the idea that technological jobs are boring or dull.

Some misconceptions that were brought out in the survey were questions dealing with whether or not the students thought that in technologically related jobs, you only work with tools. Many agreed with this assumption. This is unfortunate because technology goes far beyond the simple use of tools. Many students also showed their misunderstanding of technology by disagreeing with the statement that technology is related to science or physics.

Unfortunately, this research shows that many young men, and a larger number of young women will miss out on valuable educations and careers that deal directly with technology, unless we can change their misconceptions of what technology is. The earlier in their educational experience this can be achieved, the better.

These findings alone, say a lot about the changes that we need to make in the field of technology education. As a society, we are not providing enough of the correct information to our students as to the details of what technology consists of. We also are not recruiting enough females into the technologically related classes in schools. We desperately need to teach the importance that technology is having upon our lives right now, and in the years to come. These students, our future leaders, need to be more technologically literate, and technologically capable.