The Role of Published Materials in Curriculum Development and Implementation for Secondary School Design and Technology in England and Wales

This paper discusses the ways in which teachers exploited a set of curriculum materials published as a vehicle for curriculum innovation, and the relationship between chosen modes of exploitation and teachers’ own perceptions of how the materials had ’added value’ to their teaching. The materials in question were developed by the Nuffield Design and Technology Project (’the Project’) to offer a pedagogy appropriate to the statutory curriculum for secondary school design and technology education in England and Wales (DFE/WO 1995). The Project had sought both to inform the statutory curriculum, and respond to its requirements. An earlier case study (Givens 1997) laid the foundations for the survey that is reported here. This paper focuses on the teaching of pupils aged 11–14. It finds that while most teachers made at least some use of all the various components of the publications, they were selective. While the Study Guide, which carries out a meta-cognitive dialogue with pupils, was generally underused, those teachers who did use it perceived greater value added by the materials as a whole to the quality of pupils’ work, their effectiveness in design and technology and their autonomy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Learning in Design and Technology: The Impact of Social and Cultural Influences on Modelling

The paper introduces the highly problematic nature of modelling in design and technology education and examines the relationship between cognitive and concrete modelling. Its aim is to gain insight into what learners do, rather than what others say they ought to do in their learning activities. The variety of purposes that educators have for learners’ modelling are discussed through examining the contested curriculum justification for design and technology education itself. The paper proposes that learners’ modelling cannot be extracted from the social milieu in which they act and it provides some insights of these social influences through the analysis of two case studies. Their settings are a girls’ secondary school and a college of higher education. Each case study is presented independently but organised with a common format to consider a) the impact of assessment on learning intentions and outcomes; b) cultural influences on learning and modelling; c) social influences on learning and modelling. A discussion of the emergent themes considers implications for teachers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Perspectives on pupil creativity in design and technology in the lower secondary curriculum in England

This paper is based on work carried out as part of a research study into the professional practices of secondary design and technology teachers in England. It focused on fostering creativity or teaching for creativity as defined by the Robinson Report (1999, All our futures: creativity, culture and education. London: Department for Education and Employment (DfEE)) for pupils aged 11–14 years. The overall research question that drove this study was “to what extent can teachers influence the creativity of pupils aged 11–14 years in design and technology lessons?” The paper provides the basis used to generate a unique theoretical three-feature model or framework that can be used to explore creativity within an educational context.The findings of three investigations in the study are presented in this paper. The first and second investigations looked at what could be learnt from the professional practices of art and design and design and technology teachers and the views of four ‘expert’ teachers known for their ability to develop the creative potential of their pupils. The data is discussed under emerging themes and it is used to inform specific criteria in the evolving theoretical three-feature model for creativity. The model is then used to analyse the data from the third classroom based investigation and the findings are discussed under the emerging themes to help identify the issues related to fostering creativity within the design and technology classroom.This paper discusses the implications of the research for classroom practice and suggests that, as creativity is a complex, multi-faceted concept and process, the theoretical three-feature model and related criteria evolved in the study provides a sound framework to explore creativity within an educational context. As a tool it helps identify examples of good practice and highlight areas that require further attention by teachers aiming to foster their pupils’ creativity. It is suggested that design and technology teachers have lessons to learn from the practices of their art and design colleagues and ‘expert’ design and technology teachers. It is concluded that there is a need for greater understanding by teachers of their implicit theories regarding teaching, learning and creativity. A wider use could be made of the breadth of strategies outlined by the ‘expert’ teachers. This would help address the weakness identified in the school based study and strengthen classroom practice when teaching for creativity.     

Personal Versus Cultural Cognitive Models of Design Creativity

This paper proposes a broader framework for understanding creativity by distinguishing different levels of creativity, namely personal and social/cultural creativity, and their interaction. Within this framework, the possible role that the computer can play is discussed by analyzing the procedure of rule formation and the phenomenon of seeing emergent subshapes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Dual-state Model of Creative Cognition for Supporting Strategies that Foster Creativity in the Classroom

The generative thought processes that give rise to original ideas appear to be very different to those analytical thought processes required to refine them. Thus, design and technology provides a unique challenge to the teacher, since he/she must be able to support and encourage both types of thinking in the classroom. A review of the psychological and educational literature suggests an integrated 2-process model of thinking can be applied to provide a clearer indication of when and how different teaching strategies may be effective. Such a model reconciles apparent contradictions in the literature, offers a better understanding of the pragmatic strategies already used by teachers and helps suggest new strategies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Creativity in school design &; technology in England: a discussion of influences

This paper identifies five influences on design & technology education in England—the government agency, the curriculum developer, the teacher, the pupil and the researcher. Using developments in school design & technology education and examples from England the paper describes a range of activities involving one or more influences noting the implications each has for creativity in school design & technology education. In conclusion the paper summarises the impact of the influences and suggests an approach to support further productive collaboration.     

浅论科研选题过程中的创造性

本文认为科研选题是一个创造性的过程,并对创造性思维在科研选题过程中的作用做了具体的分析。     

Factors Influencing Successful Achievement in Contrasting Design and Technology Activities in Higher Education

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between such factors as learning style, gender, prior experience, and successful achievement in contrasting modules taken by a cohort of thirty design and technology trainee teachers during their degree programme at a University in the North East of England. Achievement data were collected from three design and three electronic modules at levels 1, 2 and 3. Data concerning appropriate, previous experience before starting the course was obtained through a short questionnaire. The learning style of each member of the sample was ascertained using the Cognitive Style Analysis test. The findings from the study indicated that the learning style groupings were not as expected. A positive relationship between achievement and past experience in both electronics and design activity was found, although improvement for those with no prior experience in comparison to those with previous experience was only evident in electronics. A concern arising out of the data was the differences in terms of achievement between male and female students and also the difference in achievement when learning style and gender were scrutinised. The implications of the findings in relation to the success of the trainees as impending teachers of design and technology were discussed. The problems associated with the small cell size caused by splitting the sample by the three variables was acknowledged and a suggestion was made that further study would be required to ascertain whether the gender and learning style differences witnessed in this study would be replicated in a larger sample.     

Creativity in technology education: providing children with glimpses of their inventive potential

This article examines the claims of the school subject technology education (called Design and Technology in some countries) as a vehicle for inculcating creativity in the curriculum, by introducing children to the world of problem solving and invention. Core foundational underpinnings of the subject are explored, including its hands-on nature, its open-endedness, and its encouragement of generative cognitive processes. Issues relating to the teaching of problem solving are discussed. Examples of curricular approaches to the subject are set forth and their merits as bases for encouraging creative thinking are examined. Research on creativity in the subject is reflected upon briefly. The paper concludes by offering problem solving; and analogical, metaphorical, combination, and divergent thinking, as possible bases for pedagogy in technology education, and calls attention to the subject as a possible fruitful area of research based on creativity in the school curriculum.     

知识工作设计与知识型员工薪酬策略

从系统性、授权度与自由度三个维度讨论了知识工作设计，基于工作与薪酬的双重激励效用，利用委托代理方法分析了知识工作设计与薪酬机制间的关系．最后讨论了知识型员工的薪酬策略。研究表明，上述三个维度的工作设计可适应知识工作的复杂性、满足知识型员工的需求；增加三个维度的水平．工作的复杂性将增加．并能激励员工付出更高的努力水平，但复杂性不能超出员工的能力范围。否则工作设计将得不偿失：工作的复杂性增加时必须增加薪酬激励强度，并增加效益工资与基本工资的比值．但对于复杂性过高的工作，则应降低其比值；员工的薪酬水平决定于其工作价值。     

Creative Thinking, Values and Design and Technology Education

The development of Design and Technology curricula has always been premised on the importance of the act of designing and of the value of the contingent activity of creative thinking. Despite this, there has been a great deal of uncertainty about methods for developing creative thinking abilities in design and technology students. However, the results of research from cognitive psychology, engineering and invention suggest some promising strategies for application in design and technology classes. Moreover, these strategies are emerging during a time when issues concerning ethics and values are also being raised. This paper presents a brief summary of the research into problem-solving and design. It then explores a range of creative thinking strategies, and of their possible applications in design, and goes on to argue that the strategies and settings that promote creative thinking in design and technology make the area not only one that is suitable for addressing ethics and values, but that it may be one of the major reasons for including design and technology programs in school curricula.     

对加强施工项目洽商变更管理的思考

工程变更和工程洽商对工程项目造价有着明显的影响。分析了造成工程变更和工程洽商的原因,研究了对工程洽商的内容管理、加强工程变更的预控管理、洽商变更签证的时效管理,以及通过跟踪审计或审核来加强对洽商变更管理的要点。为施工项目如何加强对洽商变更的管理提供了一些思路和作法。     

关于礼仪服装创新性设计的研究与思考

随着我国与国际社会各领域的交往日益频繁,礼仪服装作为沟通人际关系、展示国家民族形象的一种有效手段显得十分重要。本文对礼服设计构成要素的研究与思考塑造了礼仪服装创新的理念,为其在新时代下再设计再发展做出分析。     

Implementing the Project-Based Learning Approach in an Academic Engineering Course

This paper presents perceptions and attitudes of freshmen students that have participated in an introductory Project-Based Learning (PBL) course in engineering. The course, `A creative introduction to mechanical engineering', was developed and is taught in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion. In this course, teams of students carry out mini-projects that require the design and construction of devices that perform pre-defined tasks. The qualitative paradigm was found to be suitable for studying the process undergone by the students, mainly because the study focused on the human aspect — the students' emotions, thoughts, behavior, and difficulties. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with the students, the teacher, and the teaching-assistant, by observations in the classroom, and by analyzing students' reports. The paper presents the students' perceptions of: the aim of the course; the instructor's role in a PBL environment; characteristics of PBL course; advantages of the PBL from the students' point of view; PBL as a learning environment for future engineers, and implications of learning in teams. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Synergy Between the Technological Process and a Methodology for Web Design: Implications for Technological Problem Solving and Design

Traditional instructional methodology in the Information System Design (ISD) environment lacks explicit strategies for promoting the cognitive skills of prospective system designers. This contributes to the fragmented knowledge and low motivational and creative involvement of learners in system design tasks. In addition, present ISD methodologies, including web design methodologies, do not focus sufficiently on technological problem solving and design. Engagement in system design tasks demands critical thinking [Shelly, Cashman & Rosenblatt, 2001, Systems Analysis and Design, 4th edn. Course Technology, Boston] and abstraction skills [Harris, 1999, Systems Analysis and Design for the Small Enterprise, The Dryden Press, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth]. The aim of this paper is to explain a synergy between the technological process and web design methodology and its influence on the development of the cognitive skills of learners in the ISD context. In this research, the Team Structure Software Process (TSSP) methodology was integrated with the stages of the technological process. An interface approach between Information Systems and Technology Education was adopted during the implementation of an Instructional Web Design Program (IWDP), which served as a framework for building a software product. This research was based on a qualitative, action-research approach where individual interviews, focus group interviews, observation and document sources were used to gather data. Seventeen students at an institution of higher education were observed and their experiences were investigated through a focus group interview, journals and an essay. In addition, an interview with the teacher was conducted to investigate her thoughts and feelings during the implementation of the IWDP. During the implementation of the IWDP, multi-method learning was promoted, enlarging learners' insight into the design process and a climate for enhancing intellectual processes and skills created [Jakovljevic, 2002, An Instructional Model for Teaching Complex Thinking through Web Page Design, DEd thesis, Rand Afrikaan University, Johannesburg] This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Influences of Socio-cultural Interaction upon Children's Thinking and Actions in Prescribed and Open-Ended Problem Solving Situations (An Investigation Involving Design and Technology Lessons in English and Finnish Primary Schools)

The purpose of this study was to explore the value and impact of social interaction upon children's design and technological thinking and actions. The study was based on the assumption that constructivistic driven and open-ended, creative design learning contexts enabled children to form, as well as to reconstruct, their designing and making capabilities and knowledge. Children were required, by means of open and closed teaching methods, to technologically create a particular product which used sound for a chosen purpose.The resultant multiple data collection processes, using videos of children working, examination of children's completed projects and semi-structured interview techniques, enabled the authors to analyse childrens' acquisition of Design and Technology (D&T) knowledge.Pupil's capabilities were seen to be enhanced through their direct, active, socio-cultural interactions, within a range of classroom settings, and involving different teaching methods, with respect to the primary curricula in UK and Finland.     

An Exploration of the Role Values Plays in Design Decision-Making

The paper explores the role of values in design decision-making through the eyes of key authors and a pilot study. ‘Knowing that’ and ‘knowing how’ in designing are reviewed and the problematic distinctions between ‘know how’; and skill noted. The effect of values on design decision-making is discussed and examples from the pilot study are presented together with a new categorisation strategy for values in design decision-making.     

服装设计与工程专业创新型实践教学模式的探讨

高校实践教学是培养创新型人才的重要环节,探索构建创新型实践教学模式具有重要意义。本文主要从课程实践教学、课外实践教学、实习及毕业论文(设计)方面等实践环节出发,探讨构建创新型实践教学模式,为高校实践教学改革提供新思路和可供借鉴模式。     

独立学院服装设计与工程专业教学改革思路探讨

通过研究独立学院服装设计与工程专业人才培养目标,探讨了从明确专业建设发展方向、完善师资队伍建设、优化教学体系与教学方法、强化实践教学内容、健全教学质量保障体系等方面进行改革,以培养具有较强实践能力和创新精神,具有就业竞争优势与可持续发展基础的应用型高级专门人才;提出了适应广东特别是珠三角经济社会发展需要的应用型本科人才培养模式和课程体系,为独立学院的发展能更好地适应地方经济社会发展的需要提供参考。     

送电工程勘测设计中DEM的获取

介绍了送电工程勘测设计中数字高程模型（DEM）获取的3种主要方法：收集资料获取、矢量化生成、高分辨率卫星遥感影像立体像对处理,及采用上述方式获取DEM的过程中应注意的问题。由地理信息中心收集资料获取相应的DEM时,应注意数字测量系统软件及卫星遥感影像处理软件的差异;矢量化生成DEM及高分辨率立体卫星遥感影像获取DEM时,应注意外业控制点布设原则及数量,并结合具体工程介绍了其应用情况。