funded by:

The project

- Update stands for Understanding and Providing a Developmental Approach to Technology Education

- aim of the programme is to improve science and technology teaching in Europe in order to appeal young people to technology, especially girls

- new learning material and methods for three-age groups: early, Childhood, elementary school and general education shall result from the project

Fragmentation of technology education

Boys Girls

Professional Education

Comprehensive School, Lower Grades 1-6

Gymnasium

Comprehensive School, Higher Grades 7-9

Preschool education, kindergardens

Advancements to the State of the Art

Professional Education: EXPERTISE

Gymnasium, ages 16-18:DEEPER UNDERSTANDING, KNOW-HOW

Comprehensive School, Higher Grads, 7-9: BASIC UNDERSTANDING

Comprehensive School, Lower Grads, 1-6: INTEREST, BASIC SKILLS (encouragement, problem solving)

Early Childhood Education: CURIOSITY (introducing, experimenting with materials)

Innovative Aspects

- strong focus on early childhood and primary education

- most attitudes are shaped at these ages

- focus on girls, disseminate best practice examples

Girls’Day at a car centre in Soest

Girls’Day at a car centre in Soest, Germany

Girls‘Day – Future Prospects for Girls: Technology professions and crafts are presented to girls from ten years and upward

Aims of the project

- to examine why girls drop out from technology education at different stages of their education

- to create new ways and educational methods to make the image of technology and technological careers more attractive for both boys and girls

- to promote, encourage and mobilise especially girls and young women for engineering and technology both as a career and as active users of modern technology

Early Childhood Education (ECE)

- experiences for younger children focus on play, discovery and exploration

- older children enjoy a focus on more formal and complex experiences (science experiments, construction, design projects: planning, problem solving, applications of learned principles)

Tiny Tots Science Corner

Early Childhood Education (ECE)

- it is important- to encourage children to observe and experience their environment - to stimulate children’s curiosity, creativity and playfulness- to enhance the development of self-confidence of children in their ability to think up and carry out experiments and projects

Gender and Technology Education

- existing role models and attitudes of people around (toy marketing, children’s books and films etc. media, family members, neighborhood, teachers, peers)- connections with the wider community (working places)- self-image and identity- barriers (glass-ceilings) – visible and invisible- segregation by gender in learning situations / teaching

UPDATE Website

- a web-based collaborative environment- collaborative working space for the online editing and compilation of questionnaires and texts- a blog for supporting partner communication and dissemination activities, also participations of schools and children- work package spaces- mailing list- Update portfolio for workpackages 2-4- public part for diverse audiences- http://update.jyu.fi/index.php/

Multinational Project Consortium

- 16 partners from 11 different countries participate

- the research project is funded by the European Comission for the next three years

- UPDATE will be part of the Sixth Framework Programme of the EC

UPDATE Project Partners and Contact Persons

- University of Jyväskylä

- University of Glasgow

- IUFM University Institute for Teacher Training of Aix-Marseille

- "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi

- Ovidius University Constanta

- University of Tallinn

- Dortmund University of Applied Sciences

- University of Koblenz

UPDATE Project Partners

- FCRI Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation

- Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Chances

- Institute of Philosophy at the Bratislava Slovak Academy of Sciences

- State College of Education in Vienna

- Regional Institute for Educational Research Marche

- Aristotle University

- University Complutense de Madrid

- IDEC S.A