Technologists talk: making the links between design, problem-solving and experiences with hard materials

Design and problem-solving is a key learning focus in technology education and remains a distinguishing factor that separates it from other subject areas. This research investigated how two expert designers considered experiences with hard materials contributed to their learning design and problem-solving with these materials. The research project used a qualitative approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with two mechanical engineers. They identified their experiences under three key headings that provided them with much of the essential knowledge and understanding they employ today to design and problem-solve with hard materials. These included experience of seeing outcomes that provided feedback on their designs, experiences that informed about materials and material selection and accessing others’ experiences from communities of practice.     

How are students’ attitudes related to learning outcomes?

This article is a part of a research project aimed to find out how different background variables are related to learning outcomes in technology education related to the school subject Sloyd (craft). The research question of this article is: “How are ninth grade students’ attitudes towards the subject related to their learning outcomes?” The empirical data (n = 4792) was collected by stratified sampling from 152 secondary schools as a part of the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) assessment. A shortened Finnish version of the Fennema–Sherman attitude test was carried out in a narrowed sample (n = 1548). The three attitude factors for learners were ‘Liking Sloyd as a school subject’, ‘Experiencing Utility in Sloyd’ and ‘Self-concept in Sloyd’. Structural equation modelling revealed that ‘Experiencing Utility’ predicts learning outcomes while ‘Liking’ and ‘Self-concept’ were interveners. The results suggest more learner-centred pedagogics for developing technology education.     

Undergraduate design learning in multiple partnerships: joinedupdesign for academies

This article reports research into undergraduate design learning through an off-campus partnership. The Sorrell Foundation’s Joinedupdesign for Academies programme involved partnerships between university design departments, ‘failing’ 11–18 schools and professional designers, in the context of a funding commitment to rebuild/renew school buildings in the UK, and an ideological commitment to remodel schools as ‘Academies’. We investigated the impact on 12 undergraduate Design students’ learning as they partnered pupils at two secondary schools in a live regeneration project, following both schools’ redesign/relaunch as ‘Academies’. Using a mixed methods case study approach, we report the acquisition of a wide range of employability skills, vital for professional designers, through an innovative learning model in which pupils act as clients. In terms of design education, these partnerships provided a rare and authentic exposure to the complex demands of publicly-funded work for undergraduate design students, and as such offer a new and potentially interesting model for experiential design education, which bridges campus and off-campus learning.     

Informing a pedagogy for design and problem-solving in hard materials by theorising technologists’ learning experiences

Design and problem solving are central to technology and have distinguished learning in technology from other curriculum areas. This research investigated how expert technologists learn design and problem solving through experience. Data was collected from four expert technologists and this information was analysed using learning theories that focus on learning through experience—that is experiential learning theory, situated cognition, distributed cognition and activity theory. This framework of analysis provided evidence that learning through experience is central to these experts’ development and justify a broader construct of experience than normally associated with hard materials. This information supports curriculum development in hard materials technology that employs a wide range of experiences and provides justification for curriculum developers and teachers to justify, inform and develop effective design and problem solving learning programmes focussed on a broadened construct of experience.     

Interdisciplinarity in design education: understanding the undergraduate student experience

Interdisciplinarity is becoming a critical issue of concern for design schools across East Asia in their attempts to provide industry graduates with the skills and competences to make creative contributions in a global economy. As a result, East Asian higher education institutions are aggressively endeavouring to provide interdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum that combine traditional designerly skills with engineering knowledge and methods. The current study takes an interdisciplinary undergraduate course as case-study to examine how the pedagogic strategy of team teaching influences student learning experience. Two surveys of student learning were conducted for this research purpose. The first provided an indication of the holistic student learning experience, while the second explored the conditions of team and non-team teaching as influence upon learning experiences specifically. Results showed how students taught by a single instructor provided a more positive overall opinion of course quality and experienced significantly more encouragement to participate compared to team taught respondents. However, findings also indicated how team teaching significantly increased the students’ experience of a balanced contribution from different disciplinary perspectives and how the team teaching approach was significantly more effective in providing students with greater opportunities to understand the relevance of the different disciplines to the course subject. We conclude with a discussion of results in terms of the effective use of team teaching at undergraduate level as strategy for interdisciplinary learning experiences.     

Beyond ‘chalk and talk’: educator perspectives on design immersion programs for rural and regional schools

Twenty-first century education needs to be re-envisioned to equip citizens for a lifetime of rapid change and complexity. Design has been proposed as a pedagogical framework that develops the required foundational literacies, competencies and character qualities citizens need to thrive in this new creative knowledge economy. However, widespread adoption will require systemic transformation of practice, and recognition of the value of formal and informal ‘connected’ learning environments and experiences. This paper explores the potential of design immersion outreach efforts in fostering design capabilities and building educators’ pedagogical repertoires to support twenty-first century learning. It documents educators’ experiences of goDesign, the first three-day place-based travelling design immersion experience for regional and rural Australian high school students and teachers. Drawing on observational data, and in-depth interviews with participating principals (n?=?3) and teachers (n?=?14) from six regional schools, educators believed goDesign provided new ideas for their classroom practice. They felt it broadened horizons for both themselves and their students, through: personally inspiring experiences and career aspiration; engagement in design thinking process, skills and mindset; and providing a valuable opportunity for community building. As educators in regional and rural areas often experience geographical, social and professional isolation, this paper argues that place-based informal design immersion programs might be an innovative way to engage and educate both students and teachers with design, thus building the competencies required for successful twenty-first century futures.

     

Young children’s views of the technology process: an exploratory study

This paper describes an exploratory study of an aspect of the technological knowledge of two groups of five-year-old students in their first year at school. Their emerging understandings of the steps required to develop a new product were investigated through a series of interviews. A theoretical framework linking technological knowledge to ‘funds of knowledge’ from experiences outside the classroom supported the analysis. The data suggest that young children draw on a broad range of experiences and knowledge, often uncritically, in order to explain how things are made. They are able to transfer their understandings of the technological process from one experience to another particularly when they have the language and background experiences to support them. Of particular note however, is that they were often unfamiliar with the properties of materials and therefore unable to anticipate the processes necessary to convert raw materials into a final product. The research also highlighted some key considerations for working with young children in this area.     

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.     

Learning design and technology through social networks for high school students in China

The subject of design and technology was introduced to the curriculum for high schools in China 10 years ago. However, the teaching and learning of this subject have become difficult for both teachers and students because there is a lack of qualified teachers with design background to deliver this subject in a way to stimulate the learning interests of the students. This paper presents a research that is aimed at improving this situation by integrating the teaching and learning of design and technology within a computational environment as part of social networks sites. The purpose is to enable the collaboration among the students and interaction between teachers and students. In this research, a series of investigations were conducted, by following through several taught subjects in design and technology in prominent high schools in China. Based on these investigations, a theoretical framework for web-based design learning and teaching system in the style of social networking is developed, implemented and tested, emphasizing three features of design: innovation, collaboration, and interaction. This framework has been tested among high school students and teachers in a high school in Nanjing. It identified and validated necessary techniques and design features required to make an education-related social networking site effective and affective for the students and teachers. The results of this research indicated that social networking sites have significantly positive values in design education, especially for the collaboration and interaction on the subject of design and technology.     

Innovation learning in comprehensive education?

The goal of this article is to clarify the concept of innovation and by presenting a research on the basic education outcome assessment data from an innovation learning perspective, answer to a question: Do students learn innovation in comprehensive education? The empirical information in this research is based on data collected in the national assessment of the subject craft, design and technology education (CDT) in Finland in 2010. The comprehensive education in Finland, the basic education, means grades 1–9 in comprehensive schools from age 7 to 16. This assessment included a design task, a test of knowledge and skills and an attitude test in CDT. This research focuses on two central concepts: (1) innovation is defined as a novel, inventive and usable solution, in either material or immaterial space: an end-product, process or method related to people’s practical needs and purposes and (2) innovation learning is defined as a problem based and creative process of using and implementing knowledge and skills in iterative and critical manner in designing and making a novel and practical solution with high usability. The assessment data was marked off to tasks which indicated the innovation learning (n = 661 out of the sample n = 4792). Brim quartiles were used as a methodological solution; the brim quartiles of usability formed the sample of this research. The statistical differences were tested using the Kruskal–Wallis test and the Pearson Chi Square test. Innovation learning includes the process of designing, planning, making and the practical solution itself. The national data allow general conclusions according to the level of innovation learning in comprehensive education. The central observation is that students learn innovation in comprehensive education varying from good to moderate levels. However, if students have not studied design and technology since 7th grade, they are twice as likely to be negative underachievers as to be either positive achievers or positive underachievers. This is useful for governments to know when trying to increase innovation on a national level, as well as when considering the well-being of people and society.     

The strategic management of re-innovation

Abstract
Most studies of the management of the technological innovation process cover the range of activities that culminate in the commercial introduction of a new product. In certain sectors of industry, however, especially those characterised by extended product lifecycles, continued competitiveness depends on vigorous and continuous product improvement, i.e. on the process of 're-innovation' to satisfy evolving user requirements. Ongoing research at SPRU has investigated the process of re-innovation in a number of industry sectors, and the paper presents material relating to two of the characteristic patterns of re-innovation identified in this research.
The first characteristic pattern is re-innovation combining the existing with the new. Two brief case studies are presented. In both cases, the manufacturer and customer gained significant benefits from this re-innovation strategy. For the manufacturer there were reduced development and testing costs, scale and learning curve benefits, distributed inventories of spares and servicing experience. For the customer there were familiarity benefits and reduced entry risks associated with proven reliability of parts and sub-systems.
The second, and more general pattern of re-innovation is based on the concept of the 'robust design'. This is a basic design which has sufficient inherent technological slack or flexibility to enable it to evolve into a significant design family of variants. Product design families offer the producer economies of scale in R&D, manufacturing, marketing and sales and servicing. They offer the user learning from experience, the enhanced possibility of user-inspired modifications, a wider range of price/ performance packages and rapid adaptations to changing environments. Robust designs can effectively combine economies of scale with economies of scope; they are strategically more flexible than leanly configured designs which satisfy only transient user requirements.     

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.     

Organizational Learning and New Product Introductions

Organizational learning widely is believed to be important to competitive performance of companies. The purpose of this article is to examine how organizations learn from their experiences in new product introductions. Theory suggests that organizations will display a “competency trap” that reduces their ability to learn from organizational experience. Often initial success can cause a firm to rely on a single or a few experiences to develop routines, discounting later experiences. Therefore it is expected that organizations will have trouble learning from experience. The theory was tested by examining all new product introductions in the U.S. shampoo industry from 1974–1987. The dynamic nature of the business—the average brand survives about two years—made this an attractive research venue. Using the econometric technique of survival time modeling, a model was fitted of survival of brands as a function of organizational experience and organizational experience squared. The model also included controls for financial resources available to the firm and the level of first year's advertising. The model confirmed the general hypothesis that firms' brands are less successful the more experience they have. This study interprets this as evidence of a competency trap in new product introductions. The results broadly are supportive of the hypothesis that organizations find it harder to learn from experience as experience grows. Untangling the source of this problem is a goal of further research. For practice, the article suggests caution to brand managers in experienced companies. There is no guarantee that firms grow in their ability to build brands; results here suggest the opposite. Formal reviews of the new product, its process, and its performance by senior managers for lessons learned is desirable. Management of individuals and organizations may facilitate learning from experience. For managing individuals, often product success brings about a reassignment of successful personnel; care should be taken to insure that individuals' learning is captured by the new product organization before reassignment. On the organizational level, formal brand management may be a highly effective method for managing an ongoing stable of long‐lived brands but may be a poor choice in a dynamic market like shampoo. Companies may explore new organizational structures and departments to conceive and to develop new products since the skills required for managing ongoing brands may be different from creating new ones.     

STEM education in the twenty-first century: learning at work—an exploration of design and technology teacher perceptions and practices

Teachers’ knowledge of STEM education, their understanding, and pedagogical application of that knowledge is intrinsically linked to the subsequent effectiveness of STEM delivery within their own practice; where a teacher’s knowledge and understanding is deficient, the potential for pupil learning is ineffective and limited. Set within the context of secondary age phase education in England and Wales (11–16 years old), this paper explores how teachers working within the field of design and technology education acquire new knowledge in STEM; how understanding is developed and subsequently embedded within their practice to support the creation of a diverse STEM-literate society. The purpose being to determine mechanisms by which knowledge acquisition occurs, to reconnoitre potential implications for education and learning at work, including consideration of the role which new technologies play in the development of STEM knowledge within and across contributory STEM subject disciplines. Underpinned by an interpretivist ontology, work presented here builds upon the premise that design and technology is an interdisciplinary educational construct and not viewed as being of equal status to other STEM disciplines including maths and science. Drawing upon the philosophical field of symbolic interactionism and constructivist grounded theory, work embraces an abductive methodology where participants are encouraged to relate design and technology within the context of STEM education. Emergent findings are discussed in relation to their potential to support teachers’ educational development for the advancement of STEM literacy, and help secure design and technology’s place as a subject of value within a twenty-first Century curriculum.     

Passionate about designing

In the school based subject of design and technology (D&T) a fundamental element is designing and making functional products using critical and creative thinking whilst developing skills in the use of a variety of processes and materials. Teachers of the subject need to be more then just ‘enthusiastic’ about the processes involved if they are to develop enthusiasm in their pupils that will sustain them through the exciting but sometimes arduous and difficult processes required to achieve outcomes of which they and their teachers can be proud. The intention of this research project, using an initial sample of forty-nine students and a non-probability purposive sample of ten students studying to become D&T teachers was to tease out the factors which appear to enable some students to be passionate about creating a product to a given brief while others from similar backgrounds and expectations, given the same brief, and in the same learning situation, do not reach this level of enthusiasm. The data collection method used was an attitude scale and semi-structured interviews which were qualitatively analysed in order to identify factors involved, with the intention of informing and improving the way the authors teach their students, to design, and about design, with the additional aim of improving the students teaching of that activity once they become D&T teachers. Within the full paper results are discussed and tentative conclusions drawn.     

An analysis of the impact of student–scientist interaction in a technology design activity,using the expectancy-value model of achievement related choice

Many education initiatives in science and technology education aim to create enthusiasm among young people to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Research suggests that personal interaction between secondary school students and scientists could be a success factor, but there is a need for more in-depth research on the actual effects of science education initiatives. This paper describes an in-depth, qualitative assessment of a technology design activity, using as a theoretical framework the expectancy-value model of academic choice Eccles and Wigfield (Annu Rev Psychol 53:109–132, 2002). A core element in the studied education initiative is the interaction between secondary school students and scientists. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participating students and analysed qualitatively to disentangle the factors in their motivation to participate in this initiative and their experiences and memories gathered during participation. Last, this paper reflects on the use of the expectancy-value model for in-depth assessments of science education initiatives. Results show that interest-enjoyment values and attainment values are most important in the students’ motivation to participate in the studied activity. These values are connected to educational principles of authentic practice, and of providing meaningful contexts for scientific concepts. Furthermore, results show that the interaction between students and scientists is not automatically a success factor. Disappointment in this interaction, can cast a shadow on students’ whole experience. This leads us to propose to include an additional factor in the expectancy-value model of achievement related choice: educational environment, including ‘personal interaction’ as an element. Adding this factor would—in our opinion—create an even better framework for in-depth assessment of science education initiatives.     

Knowledge networks for new technology–based firms: an international comparison of local entrepreneurship promotion

This paper reports on an international comparison of three organisations established to promote new business start–ups in the USA, UK and Canada. A ‘knowledge–based’ approach is adopted to examine how networks of would–be entrepreneurs interact with networks of experienced entrepreneurs and managers, venture capitalists, technical experts, consultants, IPR lawyers and other specialists. This interaction is promoted and mediated at the local level by the three organisations at the centre of the study: the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), Texas; Connect, Edinburgh; and the Canadian Environmental Technology Advancement Corporation (CETAC–West) in Canada. These act as local network–nodes or ‘knowledge integrators’, as well as ‘incubating’ new ventures to increase the new business ‘birth rate’ in their respective regions. The comparison is based on interviews and secondary data that describe the initiation, development, operation and local impact of these organisations. Findings stress the importance of the regional context as a source of particular kinds of knowledge and expertise that may promote or inhibit new technology–based business start–ups. In particular: the scale, scope and quality of ideas and business proposals in local networks; the availability of relevant expertise and experience for ‘intelligent selection’ and for successful mentoring; the nature of rewards and incentives for all players; and the importance of local champions or figureheads, are all factors that help explain differences across the example regions. The paper combines a variety of conceptual approaches around the idea of regional knowledge networks which underpin ‘distributed innovation’. Heightened technological and market uncertainty for new technology–based firms places a premium on the ability of entrepreneurs to integrate specialist knowledge and utilise expertise from a variety of local sources. Despite differences in the scale, scope and effectiveness of their efforts we conclude that all three organisations are supporting ‘accelerated learning’ amongst entrepreneurs.     

The frustrations of digital fabrication: an auto/ethnographic exploration of ‘3D Making’ in school

Following initial educational enthusiasms for ‘Making’ technologies and the ‘Maker Movement’, increasing numbers of students are now using digital fabrication programs and equipment in school. Given the current lack of empirical research exploring the realities of Making as a school activity, this paper presents an in-depth auto/ethnographic account of 3D printing—currently, one of the most popular Maker technologies in schools. Investigating the case of an 8 week Year 9 design project, this paper seeks to broaden understandings of how 3D printing technologies and practices are shaping “what counts” as learning within contemporary school settings. In particular, this research focuses on the experiences of Making within a school context; what is learned through these experiences; and how the process of Making in school feels. This paper highlights three key issues that have been marginalised to date in discussions of Making in schools: (1) lack of pragmatic engagement, (2) affective labour of failing; and (3) mediated alienation.     

Effects of spatial experiences & cognitive styles in the solution process of space-based design problems in the first year of architectural design education

There are many factors that influence designers in the architectural design process. Cognitive style, which varies according to the cognitive structure of persons, and spatial experience, which is created with spatial data acquired during life are two of these factors. Designers usually refer to their spatial experiences in order to find solutions to design problems. Information recalled from past spatial experiences lay the ground for creating the conceptual framework when solving a design problem. In addition, the person’s cognitive style, which develops through factors such as education, environment, genetics and family, can also be effective in solving design problems. In this line, an empirical study was conducted to research the effects of spatial experiences and cognitive styles on the solution process of spatial design problems in the first year of architectural design education. The study concluded that the cognitive styles of students were effective on their space creation method, order and duration.