Engineering design projects can enhance authenticity, increase relevance, and integrateSTEM subjects without compromising their individual integrity. Nevertheless, the literature also warns that few STEM subject integration projects acknowledge students’ contexts and everyday problems. This study explores how teachers prepare for STEM subject integration in an engineering design project in a Swedish upper secondary school Technology programme and examines the process and outcomes of project implementation from both teachers’ and students’ viewpoints. The design project induces students’ solutions for bettering their everyday physical school context regarding well-being, feasibility, and sustainability. Collection of data employed participatory observations, and interviews with teachers and students. Results are presented as four themes: (1) integration and collaboration can be encouraged through project organization; (2) the engineering design process is the centrepiece of the integrated project; (3) models and modelling are primarily used for communication of design ideas; and (4) integration of STEM content and methods seldomly draws on more than two disciplines. Findings show that utilizing the school’s technology profle provides an accessible pathway to promote integrated STEM. However, although several teachers demonstrate enthusiasm for the real-world relevance of design projects, integration remains challenging. Since the project was mostly viewed as being technology and engineering-based, science and mathematics were present to a lesser degree, which made integration of all STEM subjects demanding. Nevertheless, the project could be seen as responding to an “extended STEM problem” in that components from health sciences were also incorporated.

Les projets de conception technique peuvent renforcer l’authenticité, accroître la pertinence et intégrer les matières STIM sans compromettre leur intégrité individuelle. Néanmoins, la documentation existante met également en garde contre le fait que peu de projets d’intégration des matières STIM tiennent compte des contextes et des problèmes quotidiens des élèves. Cette étude s’intéresse à la manière dont les enseignants se préparent à l’intégration des matières STIM dans un projet de conception technique d’un programme de technologie applicable à la deuxième partie du secondaire dans une école suédoise et examine le processus et les résultats de la mise en œuvre du projet, du point de vue des enseignants et des élèves. Le projet de conception incite les élèves à trouver des solutions pour améliorer au quotidien le contexte physique de l’école en ce qui a trait aux enjeux de bien-être, de faisabilité et de durabilité. La collecte des données a fait appel à des observations participatives et à des entrevues avec des enseignants et des étudiants. On présente les résultats sous la forme de quatre thèmes: (1) on peut encourager l’intégration et la collaboration par l’aspect de l’organisation du projet; (2) le processus de conception technique est la pièce maîtresse du projet intégré; (3) les modèles et la modélisation sont principalement utilisés pour communiquer les idées de conception; et (4) l’intégration du contenu et des méthodes des STIM fait rarement appel à plus de deux matières. Les résultats indiquent que l’utilisation du profl technologique de l’école constitue une voie accessible pour promouvoir l’intégration des STIM. Cependant, bien que plusieurs enseignants fassent preuve d’enthousiasme en ce qui concerne la pertinence dans le monde réel des projets de conception, l’intégration reste difcile. Étant donné que le projet était principalement perçu comme fondé sur la technologie et l’ingénierie, les sciences et les mathématiques étaient moins présentes, ce qui a rendu l’intégration de toutes les matières STIM laborieuse. Néanmoins, le projet peut être vu comme une réponse à un « problème STIM étendu» dans la mesure où on a également incorporé des éléments des sciences de la santé.

National and international policy documents emphasize the need for AI-related competencies “for all”, but there is little clarity on what these competencies should include, and determining what non-experts need to know remains a challenge. AI literacy has become a widely discussed topic in this context, often referring to a set of skills that empower individuals to critically evaluate AI, communicate and collaborate effectively with AI systems, and utilize AI as a tool across diverse contexts, including online environments, homes, schools, and workplaces. However, what AI literacy looks like in practice depends on factors such as age, level of education, and individual background. In this article, we frame AI literacy based on a qualitative analysis of the views of 33 international experts from various disciplines on what AI literacy in K-12 education should encompass. This analysis builds on existing AI literacy frameworks, with a focus on understanding and critically evaluating AI’s role in daily life, recognizing and using AI, and designing AI solutions for everyday problems. The findings show that experts emphasize a wide range of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, highlighting the importance of multiple perspectives when exploring this emerging field.

AI literacy in school education is booming within the scientific discourse of AI in education. How AI literacy is currently being framed serves diverse educational, political, and commercial purposes influencing how we imagine postdigital classrooms today and in the future. More importantly, how AI literacy emerges in primary education notably impacts how children understand AI and their own agency in a society where AI is ubiquitous. This study reviews how scientific literature conceptualises AI literacy, focusing on middle school students. An AI-adapted literacy framework (GeST) is used in the analysis to distinguish three perspectives of AI literacy (Generic, Situated, and Transformative). Forty-four papers from 2016–2024 were included in the final descriptive and qualitative analysis, showing an exponential growth in scientific papers. While still vaguely defined and poorly theorised, AI literacy materialises into different AI curricula and technology-supported teaching activities. The GeST analysis indicates that AI literacy is primarily viewed as a set of measurable skills related to generalisable theoretical knowledge that is expected to make children more competitive in a globalised and technologised world. Although some papers consider empowering students with specific competencies to challenge the AI development, critical considerations of AI in education is less visible. The paper highlights the necessity to steer the conceptualisation of AI literacy to put a stronger emphasis on critical orientations that enable students as well as teachers to examine claims about AI, and pose ethical questions to its adoption and use in classrooms and beyond.

Teaching materials not only support students but also support teachers in how they transfer their subject knowledge to teaching. Teacher guides are often digital and can address teachers by talking through or talking to the teacher, thus supporting teachers. In this paper a digital teacher's guide for grades 7-9 is analysed to see how it communicates with the teachers. The teacher's guide in technology education was analysed by content analysis in two steps. Firstly, on whether it talks to the teacher or through the teacher, and secondly the units that talk to the teacher were analysed by using six design principles. The results show that most of the guide (75 %) is text that talks through the teacher, e.g. by giving direct instructions for the teacher on how to carry out the teaching. In the remaining sections of the guide, text that talks to the teacher, there are examples of all six design principles. These sections include the purpose and structure of each chapter, describe key content, highlight challenges, suggest teaching adaptations and provide definitions of important terms and concepts. The analysed guide does not take advantage of the benefits of digitalization. Teacher guides should enable teachers to adapt and expand upon the material. It is important to design teacher guides with more text that speaks to teachers, not just through them.

In Sweden, all students study technology during compulsory school. In uppersecondary school, they choose a program based on their own interests andfuture plans. This pilot study utilizes the PATT-SQ-SE questionnaire toexplore its applicability in a different context. The aim is to investigate uppersecondary school students’ attitudes and perceptions of technology andtechnology education, based on their experiences during compulsoryschooling. In the study, students in a Swedish midtown, ages 16-19, weresurveyed. They have completed their technology education in compulsoryschool but have chosen to pursue other programs in upper secondary school,such as Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, or Child and Recreation.

The survey was analysed through the attitudinal components; affective,behavioural, cognitive, and the relationship between them.

The findings provide insights about what these students retain from theirtechnology education in terms of attitudes and teaching content. Byexamining their views and experiences, this study seeks to provide insightsand the impact of technology education in compulsory school.

En skolas traditioner och vanor kan begränsa vilka kunskaper och syften som dominerar i teknikundervisningen. I den här texten presenteras tre kunskapskategorier som har sitt ursprung i olika kunskapstraditioner. Dessutom presenteras två begrepp - ingenjörsförmågor och medborgarförmågor – som refererar till två långsiktiga syften med teknikundervisning. Resultaten är hämtade från min avhandling som bland annat handlar om vilket teknikinnehåll tekniklärare betonar i sin undervisning. Dessa resultat, som kommer att utvecklas i texten, kan bli ett stöd för lärare när de behöver förhålla sig till tolkningsutrymmet som finns i läroplanen. Resultaten kan därmed bidra till att bredda synen på teknikämnet och dess innehåll.

Teknikens betydelse för samhället blir större för varje dag som går och formar också stora delar av våra liv. Våra hem är fyllda med olika apparater som, utan att vi egentligen tänker på det, ansluter oss till tekniska system som i sin tur försörjer oss med vatten, el, telekommunikation och annan infrastruktur. Tekniken spelar också en viktig roll i yrkeslivet, oavsett om man arbetar med att utveckla ny teknik, att underhålla teknik eller att använda teknik i sitt arbete. Behovet av att förstå tekniken har alltså aldrig varit så stort som nu varför vi valt att sätta samman denna antologi. Boken är skriven med blivande och verk-samma lärare i fokus. Vi har därför valt att lyfta fram en bred förståelse för teknik och teknikundervisning, samtidigt som vi försökt visa hur denna förståelse kan vara ett verktyg för att utveckla undervisning. Målet för oss i redaktionen har med andra ord varit att skapa en blandning av texter som med varierande konkretion belyser den konstruerade världen ur ett flertal olika perspektiv... 

Contemporary secondary technology education often does not mirror engineering practice. Whilethere is much rhetoric on the need for promoting active, authentic, and real-world professionalexperiences in upper secondary school, most technology education teaching remains traditional,and teacher centered. This study investigates the affordances for authenticity of role-play-basedproject work in a Swedish upper secondary software engineering course. The project requiredstudents (aged 17–18) to assume the role of software engineer employees at a web-designbusiness with the task of creating a website for a gaming company, where the course instructorassumed the role of the web business owner. The six-week project included the formulation of adesign plan, back-end programming, developing and refining the design and layout, adjustingcontent for accessibility, and publication of the web site. Inductive analysis of observations fromthe unfolding role-play in five student groups (total 22 students), and interviews with fourstudents and the teacher exposed salient themes related to authenticity of the role-play-basedproject exposed within teacher-student interactions and student intragroup interactions. Teacherstudent interactions revealed that the teacher exhibited various roles in the project, initially actingas a customer but also the responsibilities of a boss and a teacher-mentor. In the latter instance,students perceived the project as more school-oriented than authentic, expressing a preference foran external customer, and at the same time, the teacher tried to align the task with the project’scurriculum requirements. Student intragroup interactions showed that despite highly varied roles,students felt that their assigned roles enhanced the authenticity of their experience, although theywere unaware of what a real scenario might entail. Successful students emphasized theimportance of structured work and clear responsibilities to meet the project goal. The findingsshow that while role-playing is not necessarily always equivalent to reality, it was viewed as afulfilling and situated learning experience that simulated a real-world scenario, but which reliedon mutual confidence and responsibility between the role-players. Future work will combine thefindings with existing frameworks of authenticity to inform the development of role-playscenarios in upper secondary engineering education. 

Background The subject of technology looks different depending on context. There is also an epistemological complexity to technological knowledge in technology education. Purpose To gain a deeper understanding of the epistemological foundations of the subject of technology and technology teaching, the teachers views are needed. The aim of this study is to examine how teachers discuss technology education, with a particular focus on how they talk about technological knowledge. Sample 19 Technology teachers from compulsory school in Sweden participated. Design and methods Through focus groups, teachers views of knowledge in technology education were collected and then analysed. Results The results consist of three parts. Firstly, it was found that the teachers were unfamiliar with discussing epistemology in technology education. Secondly, interpreting their views of knowledge in technology education through a theoretical framework for knowledge in technology education yielded examples of knowledge from the three constituent categories: technical skills, technological scientific knowledge, and socio-ethical technical understanding. Finally, an inductive analysis revealed two categories based on the teachers broader views of knowledge: civic capabilities and engineering capabilities. Conclusion Overall, the results provide an understanding of teachers ways of describing technological knowledge. The teachers perceived the term knowledge in a broader way than traditional epistemology, including capabilities in their descriptions. We propose a new perspective on the character of knowledge and capability in technology education, called technology education competence. The results of this study point to important aspects of the nature of the subject, which might lead to reflection about what knowledge should be considered of value in the future regarding research but especially development of curricula.