Technical experiments in TVET: A comparative study with South African and German lecturers

Abstract

Experiments in scientific and engineering education promote understanding of theory, enable discovery-based learning and focus on the central ways of thinking and working of those disciplines. While there are expansive national and international findings on scientific experiments and their scholarly implementation, the barely differentiated knowledge regarding technical experiments remains limited. A research gap can also be observed in the scholarly implementation of technical experiments in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). This article addresses this gap within the context of educational cooperation between South Africa (ZA) and Germany (DE). It reports on an explorative comparative study, from an international perspective of educational research, with German and South African TVET lecturers (N = 20). The results present current challenges and potentials, provide insight into country-specific differences and similarities and exhibit a research need within technology education.