Age and gender differences between pupils’ preferences in teaching general and compulsory technology education in Croatia

Today’s dynamic change of the pupils’ technological environment certainly affects their preferences towards technology, which may be important for planning, structuring and organising general technology education. This highlights the problem of general student preferences, which are not the product of current trends but the universal rules for structuring teaching. To contribute toward the solution of this problem, research into pupils’ preferences towards the teaching of Technical Culture was carried out with the aim of determining general age and gender differences in pupils’ preferences. Accordingly, the study was conducted on a stratified sample, comprising primary school pupils, aged 11 to 15 (N = 699). By applying the customised PATT questionnaire, pupils’ interests in technology, their attitudes towards the teaching contents of the Technical Culture, as well as the attitudes to the importance and consequences of technology were examined. The analysis of the obtained data was carried out using a two-factor ANOVA and t test, as the basis for determining the differences and characteristics of preference with regard to the age and gender of the pupils. The results of the research show that younger pupils are mostly satisfied with the lessons, while older ones expect more modular teaching. More concretely, boys are more inclined to traditional teaching contents, while girls show much less inclination towards such contents. The presented findings indicate the necessity of a modular approach to the teaching of general technology education, especially between the age of 13 and 15, which should allow equally affirmation of boys and girls in this field of education. The development of such teaching requires a series of additional research to facilitate the development of the future curriculum of general technology education.