Motivating children to learn: the role of technology education

Design and technology education provides children with opportunities to create solutions to specific needs in innovative ways. This paper reports on research that focused on the language that the children used when they were involved in a design and technology activity. In accessing the results of the language study, the findings suggest that the children’s motivation was high and played a significant role in children’s task engagement and persistence. Analysis revealed that there were several key ideas that the children focused on, namely: the fun experienced by participating in the activity, the difficulty of doing the task, the satisfaction of completing the task, the importance of social interaction and the frustrations surrounding aspects of the task. These affective factors that are related directly to motivation will be demonstrated through the children’s language responses to their participation in design and technology education.     

Children’s developing understanding of technology

The issue of children’s conceptions of technology and technology education is seen as important by technology educators. While there is a solid body of literature that documents groups of children’s understandings of technology and technology education, this is primarily focused on snapshot studies of children aged 11 and above. There is little literature relating to individual children’s changing conceptions over time, or to children younger than 11. This paper documents and discusses the changing understanding of the meaning of the word ‘technology’ of seven children over their first 6 years of primary school (age 5–10). It seeks to explain the source of the children’s understandings of the word ‘technology’ and to suggest some teaching and planning implications for technology educators.     

Research on Basic Design Education: An International Survey

This paper reports on the results of a survey and qualitative analysis on the teaching of ‘Basic Design’ in schools of design and architecture located in 22 countries. In the context of this research work, Basic Design means the teaching and learning of design fundamentals that may also be commonly referred to as the Principles of Two- and Three-dimensional Design. The body of knowledge associated with Basic Design may be regarded as part of the general theory of teaching and learning design as practiced in many design schools and which has its origins in the classical design schools such as the Bauhaus. In the author’s perception and practice, the pedagogy of Basic Design promotes a holistic, creative and experimental methodology that develops the learning style and cognitive abilities of students with respect to the fundamental principles of design. This includes an understanding of the elements of shape, colour, texture, light, and rhythm in a manner complementary but usually unrelated to the common design methods teaching approach. As is well known among design practitioners, including architects and industrial designers, a deep understanding of the purpose of these fundamental design elements and principles is still relevant to contemporary design practice. The main objective of the research described in this paper was to determine the status and development of Basic Design pedagogy in a significant number of contemporary design schools. On the basis of the results of two surveys conducted in 2001–2002, this paper will identify and illustrate interesting aspects concerning the programmes and organisation of courses delivered by teachers of ‘Basic Design’. This work will also survey the viewpoints of Basic Design teachers in elementary years of design courses and of those teaching design through projects during the subsequent years of the same courses. Interestingly, the design project teachers surveyed in this research expressed a desire to be more involved in the teaching of Basic Design fundamentals which indicates strongly that Basic Design principles are still relevant in contemporary design education terms as they have ever been and that more research is needed in order to better understand and apply the related pedagogy.     

Teacher Perceptions of Design and Technology: A Study of Disjunction between Policy and Practice

This study examines the curriculum directions being charted by a sample of county secondary school design and technology teachers in England and Wales. The purposes of design and technology are analysed, and the syllabuses and examinations used reviewed, together with how design folios are incorporated into teaching. In addition, teacher reports on student-teacher classroom performance, and student-teacher evaluations of their teaching practice experiences are analysed. It was found that teacher perceptions are highly pragmatic and technical, with the pupils‘ intended learning outcomes largely being defined instrumentally in terms of product output rather than in design process terms. A disjunction is found between the statutory Order on Design and Technology and its implementation, with many teachers ’constructing‘ their design and technology education programmes within a ’craft paradigm‘. The discussion offers possible explanations for this and concludes that it has as much to do with the perceived status of Design and Technology as a school subject as with a ’product – process‘ debate. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Using ‘Electronic Portfolios’ to Challenge Current Orthodoxies in the Presentation of an Initial Teacher Training Design and Technology Activity

The paper examines the extent to which a University undergraduate curriculum initiative provided initial teacher trainees with opportunities to challenge orthodox design methodologies through the production of an electronic portfolio within and extended design and technology activity. It was found that the ‘electronic portfolio’ served primarily as a developmental tool for promoting creative continuity and sound, reflective, design practice within a structured educational design challenge. The portfolio also provided a focus for the development of ‘e’ learning skills as it facilitated the use of new technologies in the compilation of the portfolio. Additionally, the portfolio provided trainees with a means by which they were able to demonstrate their capability to prospective employers. The use of the ‘electronic portfolio’ challenges current orthodoxy and methods routinely employed to present and assess trainees’ creative work, which have been shown to constrain innovative practice. The paper concludes that the use of the ‘electronic’ portfolio was successful in facilitating trainees’ engagement with a creative Design and Technology process.     

‘Enhancing the Creative Process for Learning in Primary Technology Education’

When undertaking design and technology activities, children are provided with opportunities to create solutions to problems in new and innovative ways. The mental processes involved in the generation of new ideas may be enhanced when children’s attention is not focussed and is allowed to wander in a relaxed and uncompetitive environment. Research indicates that the two mental states, generative and non-generative, cannot exist simultaneously. This paper reports on a research project which investigated the impact on children’s thinking when a period of non-focussed thinking became part of the technology process. The results support the previous proposition that a child’s non-generative/analytical mental state needs to give way to a generative state so that a child can be more fully creative. Moreover, from this study that documented children’s ideas during their involvement in a design and technology activity, teachers are urged to provide an incubation period as part of the technological process in the classroom, so that children’s creativity can be fostered.     

ASIT—a problem solving strategy for education and eco-friendly sustainable design

There is growing recognition of the role teaching and learning experiences in technology education can contribute to Education for Sustainable Development. It appears, however, that in the Technology Education classroom little or no change has been achieved to the practice of designing and problem solving strategies oriented towards sustainable design. Brainstorming, Brainwriting, SCAMPER, Metaphoric Thinking, Outrageous Thinking, Mind Mapping and other problem-solving strategies used in the classroom could be suitable for eco-design, however, there appears to be little research data on their use. This paper examines and presents the ‘Advanced Systematic Inventive Thinking’ (ASIT) system as an eco-design strategy. ASIT is derived from a more complex engineering-based problem solving strategy known as TRIZ (the Russian acronym for The Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems). Drawing on Stable’s (in press) call for new approaches to address sustainable design and achieve solutions through Technology Education, this article traces the history of TRIZ and the development of ASIT. It then argues that the ASIT strategy can be an effective methodology to be taught and used in the Technology Education classroom to solve problems in the ‘eco’ or sustainable design context. Several design scenarios have been included to illustrate how ASIT can deliver eco-design solutions to problems. These examples demonstrate the flexibility of the methodology and the diverse range of applications in which ASIT can be applied.     

The locating of emotion within a creative, learning and product orientated design and technology experience: person, process, product

Within this paper, a conceptualised triadic schema is hypothesised for locating emotion within a creative, learning and product orientated Design and Technology experience. The research is based upon an extensive literature review that has been synthesised and juxtaposed with the broad aspirational aims of the subject. The schema, based upon abductive reasoning and grounded theory, ultimately conceptualises the overarching theme of emotion within a creative, learning and product orientated Design and Technology experience within the Primary and Secondary stages of England’s education system. The triadic schema offers an additional opportunity in meta-theorising how the broad aspirational aims of the subject, as outlined in the English national curriculum statement of importance for Design and Technology, can be achieved through recognising the powerful overarching concept of emotion within three emerging domains: Person, Process and Product. The central tenet of this paper is the recognition of emotion within a triadic schema for meta-theorising the place of emotion within a creative, learning and product orientated Design and Technology experience. David Spendlove was previously a senior teacher in secondary education before moving into Higher Education and is now the subject leader for Design and Technology at the University of Manchester. He co-edits both Design and Technology Education: An international Journal and the DATA international research conference proceedings. He is a director of the Design and Technology Association and his research interests are broadly based around learning, pedagogy, creativity, emotion and gender.     

Promoting student-led science and technology projects in elementary teacher education: entry into core pedagogical practices through technological design

Future elementary school teachers often lack self-efficacy for teaching science and technology. They are particularly anxious about encouraging children to carry-out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry and/or technological design projects. Moreover, because this often also is the case with practising elementary school teachers, it is difficult for student–teachers to gain practical experience facilitating student-led project work during practicum sessions. To provide student–teachers with expertise and motivation for promoting student-directed, open-ended project work, therefore, a group of future elementary teachers were taken through a constructivism-informed ‘apprenticeship’ during their university-based teaching methods course and then invited to make project work the subject of the action research that they were required to complete during their practicum. In this paper, successes that one student–teacher (out of 78 studied) experienced in promoting student-directed, open-ended technological design projects are reported. Although she judged children’s designs to be modestly successful, data indicate that her self-efficacy for promoting project work increased significantly. Analyses of qualitative data collected during the methods course and practicum also indicate that aspects of the curriculum, teachers, students and milieu appeared to contribute to this success. Such findings suggest that teacher educators should focus on helping future elementary teachers to develop expertise and motivation that would enable and encourage children to conduct technological design projects before conducting scientific inquiries. Such a tack may be the most pragmatic—and, arguably, epistemologically-sound—approach for helping ‘science- and technology-phobic’ student–teachers to move from the periphery to the core of practices in science and technology education.     

Designing the Best: A Review of Effective Teaching and Learning of Design and Technology

The role of Design and Technology (D &; T) in schools in England is changing. As from September 2002, D &; T will no longer be compulsory from age 14, but students will have a statutory entitlement to opt to study the subject. These proposed changes have renewed policy-makers' interest in a subject, which was first introduced into the National Curriculum in England and Wales in 1990. It provides the immediate context for a review of the literature published in English on Design and Technology commissioned by the Department of Education and Skills. Four databases were searched: the British Education Index (BEI), Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), PsychInfo, and Current Educational Research in the UK (CERUK). This article draws from the findings of the review and focuses in particular on two questions: How can D &; T be delivered effectively and what enhances learning and teaching in D &; T? The reviewers conclude that the factors which enhance effective learning and teaching of D &; T include: adequate equipment and accommodation, appropriate curriculum content and teaching methods, up-to-date continuing professional development for teaching and management support to allow teachers to implement innovative practices. In addition, they suggest a research agenda, which could inform future research in D &; T.     

Teaching for CAD expertise

CAD (Computer Aided Design) has now become an integral part of Technology Education. The recent introduction of highly sophisticated, low-cost CAD software and CAM hardware capable of running on desktop computers has accelerated this trend. There is now quite widespread introduction of solid modeling CAD software into secondary schools but how much is really known about the processes of learning and teaching CAD, particularly solid modeling? This paper will discuss current practice in CAD teaching and the way this relates to solid modeling. It will discuss the findings of current research with particular emphasis on the difference between command knowledge and strategic knowledge and how this relates to the development of CAD expertise. Command knowledge is referred to as knowledge of the commands (algorithms or tools) and the procedures to use those tools within CAD software while strategic knowledge is concerned with knowledge of the alternate methods by which a specific task may be achieved and the process by which a choice may be made. The results of a recent experimental study into the teaching of CAD expertise will then be outlined and the implications for the teaching and learning process will be discussed.     

Motivation levels in pupils project work: observations from an action research programme with particular reference to groupwork

Conclusions The new Proposals for Technology for England and Wales (DFE December 1992) suggest Design and Make Tasks (DMTs) ie. project work as being the major method of Design and Technology learning. This article has been primarily concerned with questions of motivation within project work but has touched on other-fundamental aspects. As a teaching/learning technique group project work has limitations as indicated above. However it would appear that many teachers do not recognise these limitations and produce poor practice. An example would be the frequent failure to use end of lesson debriefs to share individual's experience and to reflect. It is important that we now begin to develop a clearer understanding of project work as a learning experience. The DFE document offers little guidance; more research and debate is necessary to identify the assumptions and put forward practical advice on how to maximise the potential benefits of project work in Design and Technology.     

Positioning industrial design students to operate at the ‘fuzzy front end’: investigating a new arena of university design education

This paper describes pedagogic research to instigate, support and understand a significant change in the education of undergraduate industrial design students. Design educators at Loughborough University, UK, have proposed that it will be critical for future industrial designers to learn new knowledge and abilities which will enable them to successfully operate at the ‘fuzzy front end’ of new product development. This is an arena before a traditional design brief exists (i.e. ‘pre-brief’), and typically involves in-depth investigation of such issues as users, experiences and brand, followed by exploitation of the findings. Curriculum development and new teaching, evolved over five annual cycles of implementation, reflection, planning and new implementation, is described. A model of the activities and processes of this ‘pre-brief’ arena is presented. Through structured investigation of the cycles of improvement and follow-up evaluation research, evidence gathered from stakeholders (students, educators, and industry) indicates that industrial design students can be taught to successfully operate at this fuzzy front end, and that this can be a highly effective strategy for students in their design project work. It also suggests that the students’ enhanced abilities will be in demand following their graduation.     

Do computers improve the drawing of a geometrical figure for 10?year-old children?

Nowadays, computer aided design (CAD) is widely used by designers. Would children learn to draw more easily and more efficiently if they were taught with computerised tools? To answer this question, we made an experiment designed to compare two methods for children to do the same drawing: the classical ‘pen and paper’ method and a CAD method. We asked two groups of 14 children to draw a geometrical figure: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF). The first group drew it with a pen on a sheet of paper (‘paper’ group) and the second on a computer screen with CAD software (‘computer’ group). Two drawing conditions were studied: ‘Copying’ the figure and drawing from memory. Results showed that the ‘computer’ group was better at copying the figure but that both groups performed equally well when the figure was drawn from memory. These preliminary results suggest that using a CAD tool could help children while they copy a model, but that it does not improve their ability to draw the same figure using their own, internal model.     

Learning in DEPTH: developing a graphical tool for professional thinking for technology teachers

In this issue of the International Journal of Technology and Design, we report on a series of case studies from the second phase of an international project—Developing Professional Thinking for Technology Teachers (DEPTH2). The first phase of the project was a study conducted with both primary and secondary technology pre-service teacher education students in a number of different countries who were given the same teacher-knowledge graphical framework as a tool to support reflection on their professional knowledge. We discovered that, despite the different country contexts, student teachers of technology could articulate aspects of their developing teacher knowledge using the same framework for teacher professional development. As previously reported in this journal (Banks et al. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 14, 141–157, 2004), the common graphical tool enabled them to set out their subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and ‘school’ knowledge and was useful in helping them become more self-aware. In this second phase of the project we have developed this line of research in two ways. First, we extended the range of participants to include experienced teachers involved in in-service work connected to curriculum development. Second, we looked at the inter-relationship for pre-service teachers between their developing professional knowledge and their own ‘personal subject construct’. In this article, the theoretical framework for the subsequent papers is described and set in the context of recent debates surrounding the nature and importance of teacher knowledge; and the way such professional knowledge can be articulated by teachers.     

Assessment for Learning: Using Solo Taxonomy to Measure Design Performance of Design & Technology Students

One objective of Design & Technology (D&T) is to enable students to be inventive in designing practical solutions to problems. D&T is viewed as being successful when students can demonstrate the ability to recognize problems, undertake inquiries by themselves, and contribute ideas accordingly. This article will discuss a study which investigated an alternative approach to assessing students’ design performances. In the study, a new item format was designed and a new criterion framework of assessment based on Biggs’ SOLO Taxonomy was developed. The evidence from this study indicates strong face validity for the new approach which maps closely to the goals and purposes of learning D&T. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Multidisciplinary Technology Education

Contrary to a tale that is being told in the US, there is no transhistorical, universally pristine organisation of technology. This article resituates technology education in the contested, historico-political terrain to which it belongs. The current, and only, model of the technology discipline is interrogated in order to interrupt a project with roots bound up with a doctrinaire, academic conservatism popularised during the early 1960s. Following a lively critique of the technology mono-discipline, comparative curriculum is used for path-finding and interpretation. Counter to the mono-discipline model of technology, the conceptual parameters of a critical and plural multidiscipline are outlined. ‘Multidisciplinary Technology Education’ (MTE), inspired through efforts in art education, is proposed as a middle path between the technology mono-discipline and Design and Technology. MTE is balanced over four interdisciplines – Practice, Design, Studies and Criticism – with an end in technological sensibility and political sagacity. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Constructing design and technology an early years perspective

This paper argues that a pedagogic model grounded in both constructivist and Vygotskyian theory can be consistently applied throughout Design and Technology education. The constructivist model outlined, is borrowed from the work of Rosalind Driver in Science education and applies a perspective grounded in Piaget and moderated by Ausubel. This perspective involves a clear recognition that: The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. This argument is extended further to cover the acquisition of scientific, design and technological capabilities. The paper focuses on how effective learning is achieved when new understandings are related to appropriate existing concepts and cognitive structures. Vygotsky's conception of the zone of proximal development is utilised to show how cognitive functions that have not yet matured and which the child is unable to apply independently, can be productively applied, with the assistance of an educator. Child development is, from this perspective, dependent upon existing competencies, knowledge and understandings being challenged and extended with support, it is argued however, that it is essential that the challenges are not so great or irrelevant that the child experiences failure. The consequences of allowing individuals to experience educational failure are widely apparent in the context of science and technology throughout our society. The role of play in the early years is seen as particularly valuable in this context. From this perspective the essential task for the teacher must be to clearly identify the limits of proximal development and to restrict as far as possible their teaching to this zone. The identification of such limits demands an appreciation of progression within the learning context. The paper argues that the structure of the attainment targets within the UK Design and Technology National Curriculum provides teachers with a framework of constructive scaffolding within which children may be given the maximum freedom and autonomy while developing their practical capability in designing and making. This heuristic framework may be lost in the application of the new proposals for Design and Technology.     

Professional design and primary children

An analysis of the way in which primary age children design, particularly when working with a professional designer, suggests that there are several similarities in approach between the two. This observation is supported by evidence from developmental psychology, which has stressed the crucial role which play performs in developing children's inventiveness and ability to solve problems. Subsequent research focusing on children's designing suggests that this play is fundamental to designing activity, and extends naturally into the more formalised activities of drawing and modelling. Through playing and using narrative language to describe their actions, children are learning to interpret their own mental images. To develop these images and make them more concrete children use their hands in drawing and modelling whilst drawing on their accumulated personal knowledge about the activity of designing, in a similar way to that in which professional designers make use of their own, highly sophisticated skills to bring an idea to concrete fruition. By comparison with some of the rigid models of the design process described in schools, designers and children may have more in common than we realise.     

Mother’s nutritional label use and children’s body weight

In spite of a growing body of literature studying the determinants of children’s obesity, relatively little is known about the association between parental nutritional label use and children’s body weight. To bridge this gap, this study examines the effect of mother’s nutritional label use on children’s body mass index and overweight. Using data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan, a two-stage econometric model is proposed and estimated with a semiparametric method. Results indicate that mother’s nutritional label use leads to lower probability of children becoming overweight or obese, and a non-linear relationship between mother’s nutritional label use and children’s BMI is evident. For mothers who seldom use nutritional labels, label use does not lead to a reduction in children’s BMI. In contrast, for mothers who are frequent nutritional label users, label use contributes negatively to children’s BMI. However, the magnitudes of these effects are relatively small, suggesting that additional instruments or policies are needed if further reduction in children’s body mass index is desired.