ABSTRACT:Since technology education is, compared to subjects such as mathematics and science, still a fairly new subject both nationally and internationally, it does not have an established subject philosophy. In the absence of an established subject philosophy for technology education, one can draw on other disciplines in the field, such as engineering and design practice, for insights into technological knowledge. The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of an epistemological conceptual framework chiefly derived from engineering, to be able to describe the nature of technological knowledge, in an attempt to contribute towards the understanding of this relatively new learning area. The conceptual framework was derived mainly from Vincenti's (1990) categories of knowledge based on his research into historical aeronautic engineering cases. Quantitative research was used to provide insight into the categories of knowledge used by students at the University of Pretoria during capability tasks and included an analysis of a questionnaire administered to these students. Findings suggest that the conceptual framework used here is useful in technology education and that the categories of technological knowledge apply to all the content areas, i.e. structures, systems and control, and processing, in technology education. The study recommends that researchers and educators deepen their understanding of the nature of technological knowledge by considering the categories of technological knowledge presented in the conceptual framework.

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The aim of this study was to investigate how the implementation of GeoGebra by teachers who had recently attended a GeoGebra training course, impacts on learner experience and achievement. The study was conducted in four disadvantaged and under resourced schools situated in rural areas of the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Despite the curriculum’s encouragement to use educational technology in the mathematics classroom, and evidence of the benefits of such use, literature indicates that most mathematics teachers still struggle with effective technology integration into their classrooms. Within the non-equivalent quasi-experimental design of this study, a quantitative approach was used. The conceptual framework involved the first two levels of Kirkpatrick’s (1996) four level framework. Four Grade 10 classes comprising of 165 learners participated in this research. Data collection involved a questionnaire administered to the experimental group, as well as pre- and post-tests assessing the achievement of the learners regarding the properties of quadrilaterals administered to both the experimental and control groups. Results from the quantitative data analysis showed a significant difference in the mean scores with a mean difference of 6.5 in favour of learners taught with GeoGebra compared to a chalk and talk method. Implementation of and enthusiasm about GeoGebra had a positive influence on learner achievement. Analysis of the questionnaire responses indicated a positive reaction towards the use of GeoGebra in learning about quadrilaterals. Based on the results, it was concluded that GeoGebra as a pedagogical tool can work effectively in deep rural schools where geometry is hardly taught.

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