Assessing Alignment between High School IT Courses and State IT Curriculum Frameworks
Abstract: High school technology education can expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) participation when students become aware of potential STEM careers and connect these career decisions to their educational decisions. To understand how students can navigate technology education experiences as career pathways from high school to two- and four-year colleges and universities, researchers analyzed syllabi to assess how necessary technology knowledge and skill sets have been developed and implemented into current high school technology education courses in North Florida, USA. Two questions guided this investigation: 1) What are the technology course learning outcomes and content coverage in selected high schools; and 2) To what extent does the content reflect relevant technology learning frameworks? To answer the research questions. This research suggests additional areas for research that may shed light on the apparent dissimilarity between the classroom experience and content frameworks: the role of teacher preparation for teaching technology; the need for high school technology instructors to engage in professional development and training is limited by time and funds; and more in-depth exploration of the extent to which state curriculum shapes classroom experiences.
Presider: Maya Al Hawary, Hamadan Bin Mohammed Smart University