Technology education in preschool: providing opportunities for children to use artifacts and to create

The purpose of this study is to examine what elements preschool staff members include in technology education in preschool. In this connection, the authors consider engineer education as part of learning about technology, as this deals with engineering and discovering how various things work.

Overall, the authors find seven categories which preschool staff include in technology education at preschool.

• Artefacts and systems in children's environments. This category is described by most preschool staff members. The most key aspect of this category is that children must be able to use both everyday artefacts and technological artefacts. Everyday artefacts include scissors, zippers or wheels, whereas technological artefacts include computers, tablets and digital cameras. Children must learn about artefacts, and about application of artefacts, and this requires the children to disassemble the artefacts to see their components, how the components are related and the mechanisms inside the artefacts.
• It is important that preschool staff let the children use different materials with which they can build and create something, and it is also important to encourage the children to be creative by having materials that set the scene for art projects or engineering projects. Some staff members believe that the children gain knowledge about engineering through engineering play, for example knowledge about stable and unstable constructions. Many staff members indicate that the creative activities must be initiated by the children themselves and not by the adults.
• Problem-solving. According to some staff members, problem-solving is part of technology education in preschool. For example, this entails that children are presented with everyday challenges that they are able to deal with themselves or with help from adults.
• The concept of technology. Some staff members believe that it is important that the children know what "technology" is: It is important that children understand that technology is not complicated, but that it is part of their everyday life.
• Some staff members believe that experiments can be a good example of technological activities. However, they do not describe specifically what these experiments entail.
• Techniques/motor skills. In Swedish "technology" means both technology and technique. Even though, technique is important to be able to use artefacts, some staff members also use technique to describe the children's general motor skills, for example being able to climb.
• Natural science. Some staff members describe nature instead of technology. For instance, they describe how to observe a flower with the children.

The authors conclude that preschool staff consider artefacts as a central element in technology education in preschool. The way in which technology is specified in the national Curriculum for the Preschool is only partly depicted by the preschool staff, and some of the categories mentioned by the staff have not been included in the national Curriculum for the Preschool at all (for example motor skills and natural science). Only very few staff members point out that children's play and the staff's supporting role are important aspects in technology education.

Data was collected using a questionnaire with open-ended questions about the content and activities in technology education in preschool. The questionnaire was distributed to 10% of preschools in one municipality. A total of 102 preschool teachers and daycare attendants completed the questionnaire. Their responses were analysed using content analysis.

Sundqvist, P., & Nilsson, T. (2016). Technology education in preschool: providing opportunities for children to use artifacts and to create. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. DOI: 10.1007/s10798-016-9375-y.