Technology literacy has become an increasingly important aspect of the development of a person, society, and environment. A technologically literate person is an individual who understands the nature of technology, possesses physical and sensorial abilities to interact with technological tools and is capable of critical assessment of technology-related issues.
Technology literacy of the pre-school period has been little researched and poorly defined, and is consequently not included in the Slovene Kindergarten Curriculum. Once the development of technical skills is tended to by the kindergarten teacher, we can notice some intertwinement of technical skills with all the other areas of the curriculum (mathematics, language, movement, nature, society, art). The aim of the present thesis is to ascertain the level of technology literacy in children aged 2 to 3. A model focusing on three different areas has been designed to measure the level of knowledge, problem-solving capacity, and early critical thinking and decision-making in young children.
The theoretical part defines technology literacy and outlines all three areas in which technology literacy is to be assessed. Technical education in pre-school period described, and the child’s development in connection with technology is researched.
The empirical part focuses on the technology literacy of children aged 2-3 by means of the model developed specifically for this thesis. Ten children were included in the research. A time-frame of the development of technology literacy, which starts in the early childhood, was created. An observation sheet was used to record the differences between assembling and disassembling 3-D wooden puzzles. We observed cooperation, question-asking, creativity, explorative skills, and logical thinking. The majority of the children were aware of the technical elements and have well-developed capacities for problem-solving. Only traces of early critical thinking and decision-making have been observed.
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