The École de technologie supérieure (ETS) adds its voice to all those who have made themselves heard within the framework of COP15 so that more space is given to environmental issues in science and technology courses in teaching programs primary and secondary. And we go even further: shouldn’t we go beyond raising awareness and ensuring that our students can participate in the fight against and adaptation to climate change?
Beyond raising awareness of environmental issues, we believe that it is high time to better equip our young people to learn “technological thinking”. But what is technological thinking? It’s a way of looking at the world and possible solutions through the lens of technology applications.
Children’s interest in technologies must be stimulated from an early age to ensure the necessary succession in professions that are of major importance for Québec. It is about stimulating curiosity and developing reflexes by reinforcing a multidisciplinary approach in a world where technology is omnipresent. An eco-anxiety and a feeling of powerlessness inhabit the younger generations in the face of the climate crisis.
Let’s change the approach and equip students with the skills and knowledge to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Technological thinking makes it possible to find solutions and prepares our students to better take into account environmental, social, economic constraints, etc.
This necessarily requires better training of our teachers at the primary and secondary levels so that they can offer technological education capable of meeting needs.
To ensure the transmission of technological thinking to teachers, the engineering community must be involved in the educational field in order to provide authentic learning situations. Without adequate teaching materials, and without the human, social and environmental dimensions in their understanding of technology, it is not surprising that many high school students are unable to project themselves into a career in technology.
We believe that it is urgent to identify, in Quebec and internationally, the best models used to develop technological thinking and arouse the general interest of students in technology and information sciences and to Inspire.
Redesign of the program
It is with the revision of the organization of the contents, by the integration of the fundamental principles and the review of the structure of the technology programs, that these will take on their full meaning. And beyond the structure of the programs, training must make more room for technology and highlight learning and evaluation situations that allow deepening technological thinking.
Thus, if Quebec wants to carve out a choice place for itself in environmental technologies, for example, training young people in technological thinking and introducing them to ways of thinking, particularly in engineering and technology, is a necessary step. It is high time that all the forces of the elementary and secondary education system, the colleagues of the faculties of education, science and engineering of Quebec and the ministries work together to improve the training of teachers and teachers in technology .
For its part, the ETS is present and wishes to actively collaborate in joint training initiatives between technologies and education in order to better support and equip the teaching staff.