Como usar as TIC de forma a melhorar o processo de ensino e aprendizagem em educação tecnológica

Abstract

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been assuming a leading role in society and one of the biggest challenges is that of incorporating them in the field of Education. It is in this context that this work has been devised, with the purpose of identifying the answers on how to use ICT as to improve the learning/teaching process in the subject of Technical Education (TE). In order to give an accurate answer to the guiding question of this study we have adopted the action research methodology. Data has been gathered from the work developed by the students, from the direct observation of classes and their later registration in journals and classroom observation forms, from evaluation reports gathered after each cycle of observation, as well as from questionnaires completed by the students which have been supported by relevant documentation and by a set of interviews placed on teachers with management and pedagogical responsibilities in the School administration. By following a constructivist theory, the students were challenged to learn through information research, selection and organization, by exploring different tools within the field of TE at the same time, which allowed them to overcome some difficulties with the conception of projects and with the exploration of technological content. In this research we have developed some strategies in order to achieve the learning goals in ICT, especially in the areas of Information and Production, by involving programmes of computer-aided design (CAD) and others of general usage (Office) and by applying the WebQuest methodology as to organize and guide the different tasks that the students were asked to develop along each cycle of the action research. The results of this research put forward that the use of CAD programmes in the conception and graphical display of projects enhances the accuracy and the visualization of the final product; it also eases the simulation of materials and textures as well as it allows quicker changes and alterations to the project. The results obtained also suggest that the use of WebQuest has enhanced the learning/teaching process in ICT, by exploring content of the “principles concepts and technological operators” group, which resulted in the acquisition of meaningful knowledge by students, in the fields of energies, movements and mechanisms.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Eduardo Cardoso (Supervisor)