Quality and characteristics of recent research in technology education

The focus of research in technology education has evolved throughout its history as the field changed from industrial arts to technology education (Spencer & Rogers, 2006). With the move to technology education, the field has begun to broaden its focus to better understand the teaching, learning, curriculum, and policy implications of preparing the next generation of technological thinkers. Although a complete “paradigm shift ” may not have occurred completely within all technology-oriented programs (Sanders, 2001), the current emphasis on engineering within technology education indicates a need to examine and assess the status of technology education research over the past ten years to identify strengths and areas that need to be addressed in order to guide the field into the future. Issues of Quality in Educational Research Scientific inquiry is a continual process of rigorous investigation to answer the critical questions of a discipline. Advances in scientific knowledge are achieved through long term scholarly efforts of the scientific community t