This thesis deals with the matter of making reforms in engineering education, and it highlights the significance of delivering a more comprehensive image of technology and its different aspects in the course of training students about technology and engineering. The innovative contribution of the thesis lies in its approach of taking advantage of the philosophy of engineering/technology. ... Read more

The technological literacy of students has recently become one of the primary goals of education in countries such as the USA, England, New Zealand, Australia, and so forth. However the question here is whether these educations - their long-term policy documents as well as the standards they provide in particular - address sufficient learning about the nature of technology. This seems to be an important concern that through taking advantage of the philosophy of technology (the arena which affords a bountiful ground of various reflections on the nature of technology) is intended to be discussed throughout this study. In the first place, the paper presents a relevant framework based upon Mitcham's (1994) four-aspect account of technology, i.e., technology as objects, knowledge, activities, and volition. Then it categorizes the main relevant concepts and concerns put forward by many other philosophers of technology into this framework; this will yield a concrete model (tool) to analyze any intended standard such as the above mentioned ones. Afterwards, to show how this model works, the well-known case of the USA - Standards for Technological Literacy (ITEA, 2007) - will be used as an example for inspection; the results will disclose the points where the current American case needs to be modified. ... Read more

Although ‘models’ play a significant role in engineering activities, not much has yet been developed to enhance the technological literacy of students in this regard. This contribution intends to help fill this gap and deliver a comprehensive account as to the nature and various properties of these engineering tools. It begins by inspecting two well-known cases: the long-term policy documents of technological literacy in the USA and in New Zealand. This will help to clarify the approach of these educational documents to models, provide a primary understanding of their existing drawbacks in this relation, and realize the necessity of underpinning a well-organized account that can be used in teaching about models. Next, the discussion moves toward an attempt to develop a sound description of the nature of models. This is accomplished through an extensive review of the viewpoints of philosophers (of science and technology) about the nature and properties of these tools; models will then be argued and suggested for consideration as techno-scientific artefacts with their own dual nature: the intrinsic and the intentional. Such an account paves the way to the next step, which namely attempts to provide a well-ordered framework of the models’ various properties, through taking up those two natures and their interrelation in detail. The paper concludes by showing some initial advantages of applying the suggested approach to the intended cases, which can hopefully lead to further, more detailed inspections and extended contributions. ... Read more

New Zealand’s curriculum, in terms of its approach to technological literacy, attempts to deliver a sound, philosophy-­based understanding of the nature of technology. The curriculum’s main authors claim that it conforms well to Mitcham’s (2014) categorization of different aspects of technology’s nature. Nevertheless, taking advantage of the existing literature of the philosophy of technology, this paper will reveal that the intended urriculum, though an admirable approach, still has a number of points needing improvement, and there are also certain gaps to be bridged in the claimed conformity. This analysis primarily makes use of the method initiated by Nia and De Vries (2016a), based upon Mitcham’s suggested framework and other philosophers’ opinions as to the nature and various features of technology ... Read more