XIII.IOSTE Symposium, The Use of Science and Technology Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. September 21-26, 2008, Ku3adası / Turkey TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION THROUGH OPEN ENDED TEACHING STRATEGIES ASSOCIATED WITH PRACTICAL LEARNING TOOLS Birger Brevik, Svein Sjøberg, Anne-Lise Høstmark Tarrou University of Oslo / Akershus University College P.O.Box 423, NO-2001 Lillestrøm E-mail: birger.brevik@hiak.no Abstract For the past 7 years, LEGO Mindstorms have been used to teach electronics, engineering processes and system engineering in practical settings in the technical and vocational education programme in an upper secondary school in Norway. Experiences from this work constitute the basis for a PhD project that, by means of interactive research methods, will investigate the application of LEGO Mindstorms as a pedagogic learning tool (Erwin, Cyr, & Rogers, 2000) in the implementation of the new core curriculum in the most recent educational reform in Norway called “Knowledge Promotion” (Kunnskapsløftet) This paper presents results from a pilot study in the technical and vocational education programme of a school that has started using LEGO Mindstorms in the classroom to solve problems taken from activities in the Norwegian educational context. In Norway, after completing the 10th grade chronological work life. The observations suggest that when teachers allow the students to use LEGO as practical tool in the classroom, the students work more focused and are more interested in carrying out the practical task than prior to the introduction of LEGO in the classroom. Key words: Technology, Technical and vocational, Lego, Work-based, Open-ended, Practical 1. INTRODUCTION This paper will present and discuss the teaching and learning of technology in vocational education of compulsory schooling, the youngsters are about 16 years old and have the legal right to a three-year education in the upper secondary level. They must, then, make a choice between two main alternatives. One of them is the three-year general education, which qualifies for entrance in colleges and universities. The other is the technical and vocational education, which consists of attending an upper secondary school during two years and being an apprentice in the work life during two more years. Together, the four years (2 + 2 model) lead up to a trade certificate. Teachers working in the technical and vocational sector have also a trade certificate(Nor.Dir.for.Ed., 2006; Tarrou & Holmesland, 2007), similar to the one that their pupils will receive after completing their education. In addition to the trade certificate, vocational education teachers must have four years of practice in their professional areas, plus two years of technical education and one year of pedagogical education (Tarrou, 2005). Technical and vocational education teachers may also receive their pedagogical education on a part time basis simultaneously with their teaching practice. The strength of these teachers is their practical experience acquired in the professional field combined with technical and pedagogical education. In the general education sector, all teachers have at least a bachelor degree in an academic subject, and the majority has a master degree from the field they teach. 1