Review of a Cross-Curricular Approach

            The rationale for conducting the "Energy technology: a cross-curricular approach in Japan" study was two-fold (Journal of Technology Studies, 30 (2), 123-128, Hirai, S., Ohiwa, O., Shinde, M., King, C., & Yamazaki, S.  (2004)).  According to the authors, the first purpose was to “develop and reflect upon a new energy technology curriculum at the lower secondary school level using an action research method,”   and the second purpose was to “determine the effect of collaborative activities, with the families of the pupils enrolled in the curriculum, as a means to help develop pupils’ cross-curricular competence.”  The research utilized was from a variety of strands.  Of the key components of the study were the Japanese standards for technological education, around which some areas of the study were organized and expanded.  The authors also drew from a variety of comparative studies about technology education as well as literature which presented studies about social accountability in technological education.  The purpose was to determine, through action research, the collaboration of students, their families, and their communities could enhance and improve their performance and success in their technology education.  The researchers of the study also presented how the utilization of cross-curricular approaches and technology portfolios would enhance the pupils’ learning experience through research which aimed at improving student performance through the involvement of family and community.  With a heavy focus on social accountability for the use of technology, the study was of participatory research method.  The researchers were studying a compilation of issues that involved both the local practice of cross-curricular methods within a grade eight classroom as well as the social issue of family and community involvement in technology education.  The participants of the study were of two separate 8^th grade technology classes.  One class participated in the proposed collaborative curriculum where the other was self-paced.  The results certainly spoke for themselves.  The student’s of the collaborative study improved steadily where the others stayed the same through the duration of the study.  The researchers compiled this quantitative data with qualitative data, which included classroom observations and student interviews.

            Personally, as an educator in public school, I found this article relative to what I do every day.  We work constantly to maintain parental involvement, and our studies are just as conclusive as these in Japan:  when kids have a support system, they are more successful.  The presence of social accountability in this research is also vividly important, as technology can present a dichotomy of the unity of knowledge and human separation.  What these researchers touch on is the ever more popular desire of the human experience to be braided into the utilization of technology.