International Study about technological maturity of pupils in the later years of Sec-ondary School
The meaning of technology in today's society is indisputable tied to our daily live and work routine. Without knowing the basics of the technological environment we are living in it is nearly impossible to get along well in our social and work life. Only those ones who are competent in using the given technologies responsible may use these without losing track of the risks and difficulties.
But what exactly do today's teenagers know about the impact of technology on their everyday life and on our society?
This question is to be answered by a group of researchers of the CETE-Network. They will rise a cross-national survey about the general technology education of teenagers. Involved in this study are:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Fletcher (Head of the study) Universität Duisburg Essen, Deutschland
Prof. Dr. Marc de Vries, Delft University of Technology, Netherland
Dr. Stefan Kruse, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Charles Max, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
This study aims to find out to which degree teenagers are able to understand and utilise technology in their personal and social surroundings (to which the title refers to as "technological maturity").
Therefore a new competence model was developed and based on this a measuring instrument was created. The aim is to consider all fields of technology (e.g. communication technology, energy management, manufacturing technology as well as the consecutions of technology) and record in what extent teenagers are able to use basic concepts in highly diverse contexts.
Currently the measuring instrument is evaluated in pretests in different nations. The test persons are in the later stages of secondary schools, about 14 to 16 years old.