Images of future technology generated by primary school students through their paintings

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the elementary school students' perceptions of future technology through their pictorial representations. The study carried out with fifth-grade elementary school students was applied to a class of 18 students. The 5th graders of Cagis Primary School in Balikesir constituted the research context. The participant children were given pastel painting sets and asked to paint pictures related to future technology. Before this, they were given information about life in the future or using technology. Images collected from children participating in the study were analyzed using content analysis method. According to the analyses, it was determined that the children focused on more than one future technology topic in their paintings. A great majority of the students used "transportation" and important portion of students used "nature" as future technology themes in their paintings. The rest of the students used "Instruments-Devices" as future technology themes in their pictures.