Capacity for abstraction and the applied technology learner

This paper provides a summary of contemporary Australian and international research that connects for the technology educator new understandings for developing the capacity for abstraction and its links to innovation education for the technology classroom. Associated with Fluid Intelligence, the capacity for abstraction is claimed to be the most developing intelligence observed world wide with each new generation showing greater capacities than the previous one (Flynn, 1994, 1999). Similarly new research linking mental practice for enhancing physical performance offers insight into an untapped area for the technology teachers interested in enhancing innovation capacities of learners (Cooper, Tindal-Ford, Chandler, and Sweller, 2001). Implications for pedagogy are discussed.