Developing teaching knowledge in primary technology

Abstract

How might a teacher set about teaching five-year olds how to design successfully? What could a teacher do when their students are unable to resolve construction problems? How do teachers teach technological concepts in a subject that is very practical? The InSiTE project (Cowie, Moreland, Jones, & Otrel-Cass, 2008)1 aimed to investigate these kinds of questions; that is, those related to teachers teaching technology education in primary schools. Over three years we explored teacher knowledge, its sources and development, and the ways it was used by primary teachers so that their students had worthwhile learning experiences in both technology and science education. In this article we discuss the implications for teaching of a subject-specific planning framework.