Technological Experiments in Technology Education

In processes of engineering design and innovation, technological experiments are commonly conducted. The methods used are similar to those in the natural sciences, but the objectives are different. Technological experiments commonly deal with context-dependent problems related to function, rather than the uncovering or falsification of general laws. Furthermore, they often include value-laden concepts such as safety and ergonomics which are not part of the natural sciences. In school, experimentation is largely seen as part of the domain of the natural sciences, and the experimental parts of technological work gets little attention. This study is based on findings from a professional development course for teachers in years 7 to 9 in compulsory school in Sweden (pupils aged 13–16). In the course, the use of experiments in education was one of the major themes. The teachers who partook in the course generally found it difficult to formulate technological problems to be examined using experimental methods. During the course, they were to develop their own technology education experiments. These often turned out to be rather plain activities where the results, rather than the process were the important thing. In this paper, the results from the teachers’ actual attempts to design technological experiments and reasons for why experimentation should get a more prominent position in school are discussed. Experimental work is an essential part of research in engineering design and the technological sciences and should therefore be included in technology education, but without turning it into only applied natural science.