Transforming Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs and Understandings about Design and Technologies

Design and Technologies challenges students to think differently: to think critically and creatively. Yet, how, when and why students are exposed to Design and Technologies curriculum in school classrooms is at the prerogative of their teacher. For this reason, it is imperative that pre-service teachers are inspired by and engaged through relevant, rigorous and responsive courses throughout their undergraduate teaching program. Situated within the Bachelor of Education (Primary and Middle) degree at the University of South Australia, Australia, this study captures pre-service teachers’ emerging beliefs, attitudes and understandings of Design and Technologies. Drawing on the comparative responses of pre-service teachers collected at the commencement and conclusion of an undergraduate Design and Technologies course, this paper highlights how immersion in a curriculum area can transform pre-service teachers’ theoretical, conceptual and practical understandings and how this may influence how, when and why they incorporate the learning area in their subsequent teaching experiences

Designing for Diverse Learning: Case study of place-based learning in Design and Technologies pre-service teacher education

Place-based learning experiences in Design and Technologies education connect people and place with design processes and products. Drawing on place-based learning, this case study shares the experiences of eight final year pre-service Design and Technologies education students from the University of South Australia as they collaborated with in-service teachers and learners within a secondary special education setting. This study reports on the design and development processes that pre-service teachers adopted to produce a sensory teaching resource to stimulate interaction, coordination and fine motor skills for students with diverse learning needs. Qualitative data, incorporating a survey and group design folio, were collected from pre-service teachers to capture how design-based decisions were influenced through place-based experiences. Findings suggest that place-based learning facilitated opportunities for meaningful educational and social connections between people and communities. Through engagement in an authentic special education context, place-based experiences enabled pre-service teachers to develop an enhanced sense of civic responsibility and valuing of communities and citizens at a local level. Importantly, engagement in place-based learning scaffolded a deeper and richer understanding of the role that education can play in supporting individuals and communities to create preferred futures. This study suggests that higher education place-based learning experiences are valuable in providing opportunities for Design and Technologies pre-service teachers to foster knowledge, awareness and understanding of the relationship between design processes and products and the needs of people and place

The development of an inclusive model to construct teacher’s professional knowledge: pedagogic content knowledge for sound-based music as a new subject area

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.This paper outlines a systematic process for developing the different knowledge domains required for teaching sound-based (electroacoustic) music as a new subject area. As a new area within the discipline of music, teachers are novices to the field. This requires epistemological deconstruction of what knowledge teachers need in this new field. Then the analysis outlines how to develop teachers’ new knowledge; which can be constructed as: subject content knowledge (SCK), pedagogic content knowledge (PCK) and technology pedagogic content knowledge (TPACK). This epistemological analysis informed our creation of teaching materials that develop these different knowledge domains and take account of the complex interplay between them. This process was demonstrated through the ElectroAcoustic Resource Site Projects to: build first subject content knowledge; then create teacher’s packs to build pedagogic content knowledge; and a bespoke CPD programme to embed their inter-relationships and build technology pedagogic content knowledge. Most importantly, creating the teacher’s packs employed a user-centred design approach, putting teachers and pupils in the centre of the development process, thereby giving them voice. Voice is an integral part of empowerment in our model, which is conceptualised as practicing ‘communicative action’ (Habermas 1984) and disrupts the hegemonic grip of the academic curriculum dominated by the tradition music canon. This paper adds to the knowledge-base regarding how to develop the different domains required for teaching a new subject. We argue that sound-based music is accessible to all teachers and learners, thereby increasing inclusivity. This in turn can radically disrupt ways of teaching music in schools and the model created provides the necessary scaffolding for a paradigm shift in music teaching on an international level

A phenomenographic approach to understanding Taiwanese music teachers’ experiences of creativity in the classroom

This thesis examines what creativity means to a group of Taiwanese music teachers, and how it relates to their classroom experiences and teaching practices. The research followed a qualitative, interpretative approach. Interviews were used to gather data, and were analysed according to phenomenographic principles. Analysis of the interviews indicated that two main approaches were taken by teachers regarding their experiences of creativity: a product-focused, and a process-focused approach. In the product-focused approach, creativity was defined from the outside according to externally imposed factors, frames of reference, and motivating forces. In the process-focused approach, creativity was defined from the inside, from the point of view of the individual involved, and in which personal agency, inclusion, and collaboration were valued. From the two approaches, four categories were further identified that delineated the main focus of teachers’ experiences, namely curriculum, talent, knowledge, and dialogic. The approach taken by teachers towards creativity also showed a relationship to how music education was perceived. Teachers who had a product-focused approach to creativity saw music education in terms of content, while those who were process-focused had a meaning-oriented view of music education that valued the experience of students over the content that was taught. Similarly, a correspondence was found between how creativity was perceived and the nature of classroom interactions that varied between teacher-centred and learner-centred. The thesis concludes by questioning whether traditional approaches to music education still prevalent in Taiwanese classrooms can accommodate the democratic and universalized approach to creativity promoted by the Taiwan government. It is recommended that music teacher educators in Taiwan re-evaluate the goals of music education and how it is delivered if music education and creativity are to co-exist

Creativity and innovation in science and technology: Bridging the gap between secondary and tertiary levels of education

Purpose: This paper stems from a study which was conducted as a means to first, find out whether there is a gap between the secondary and tertiary education levels, second identify any existing gap in Science and Technology education, and third, examine the impact of the above upon students’ creativity and innovativeness at university level. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: As such, a group of teachers and students at both secondary and tertiary levels were selected as the sample of the study. Questionnaires were administered to trained secondary school teachers and to university students. Interviews were also conducted to triangulate data. These enabled an analysis of the current situation in terms of students’ engagement/creativity/innovativeness in Science and Technology at secondary and tertiary levels. Findings: The findings reveal a problematic situation arising with respect to beliefs and what truly prevails in the education sector at secondary and tertiary levels. This study has revealed a number of salient issues related to the gap existing between the secondary and tertiary levels of education in Mauritius, with special bearing on creativity and innovation in Science and Technology. Research limitations/implications: Only three institutions were involved, with a small sample of students, so that the findings cannot be generalised. Moreover, gender is a variable that has not been taken into consideration. Practical implications: The study has proposed a number of recommendations to enable Mauritian students (at secondary and tertiary levels) to develop creativity and hopefully become innovators. This leads us to believe that the recommendations emerging from this study will be beneficial to various stakeholders who wish to understand the gap existing between secondary and tertiary education in Science and Technology education. Originality/value: This study takes a case study approach adopting a mixture of interviews, surveys and observations to understand the research problems with regards to the younger generations need to be equipped with scientific and technological advances in acquiring knowledge, new sets of skills and values. Therefore, this study endeavours to document the perceptions of learners and faculty staff

Meeting technological challenges? Design and technology in schools 2007–10

Using evidence from Her Majesty’s Inspectors’ focused surveys of primary and secondary schools, this report evaluates the provision of design and technology (D&T) in the curriculum. Most pupils in all of the schools visited enjoyed designing and making products, solving problems and seeing their ideas taking shape. Achievement and provision in D&T were good in about two thirds of the primary schools and just under half of the secondary schools, particularly where up-to-date technologies were used and explained accurately to pupils. However, a lack of subject-specific training for teachers undermined efforts to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills, particularly in using electronics, developing control systems and using computers to aid designing and making. The report also addresses the challenges presented to schools in modernising the D&T curriculum so that it keeps pace with global technological development

Teaching to think

Given that a devolved curriculum empowers a teacher to educate for change, and indeed encourages cross curricular critical and creative thinking, this article offers a broad review of three current strategies for helping anyone to think critically and creatively instruction in formal logic, training in focusing attention, and creating a community of inquiry. It concludes that the latter is the preferred mode of teaching thinking for understanding and responsibility, both in schools and in pre service teacher education, because it captures the best balance between student engagement, the presentation of external social standards and the need for ongoing reflection on both of these and because it provides an inclusive model of inquiry which is neither closed nor relativistic