Teaching and learning creativity

Creativity is not an easy phenomenon to define and hence understand. Perhaps this is partly the reason why there seems to be ‘issues’ in creativity and design and technology education. Some approaches to understanding creativity have focused on one area, for example the cognitive approach. There are however, a number of researchers who suggest that there are many interrelated factors that seem to contribute towards understanding creativity. These have become known as multidisciplinary approaches. This paper outlines one such approach to creativity, Csickszentmihalyi’s ‘Systems Perspective’ for studying creativity. A number of implications and issues will be explored with respect to the teaching and learning of creativity in design and technology (D&T). The teacher it is argued, has a significant role in increasing the likelihood of creativity in the D&T classroom. This paper is limited to a small case study, but seeks to generate a debate in order to help demystify the phenomenon of creativity, how it may inform practice in the D&T classroom, and ultimately increase the likelihood of creativity for pupils studying D&T

The importance of classroom climate in fostering student creativity in Design & Technology lessons.

D&T educators have pointed to a ‘crisis’ in creativity within the subject. Research has indicated that organisational climate, defined as ‘the recurring patterns of behaviour, attitudes and feelings that characterise life in the organisation’, can help or hinder creativity. Hence ‘climate’ is a potential explanatory factor for the lack of creativity documented in student outcomes. This paper, therefore, explores whether the classroom climate experienced by secondary students (aged 11-16 years) in D&T lessons is conducive for creativity. Data are drawn from a number of sources including student (N=126) and teacher (N=14) interviews and student (N=4996) and teacher (N=69) questionnaires gathered across a total of 15 schools, as part of an ongoing Gatsbyfunded research and intervention project. Coded data and survey questions relating to the nine climate dimensions outlined in Ekvall and Isaksen’s climate model were identified. The paper focuses on two of these dimensions; challenge and freedom. The analysis revealed that students felt much of the work they do lacks challenge and freedom, hence they do not perceive the climate in their classrooms as conducive for creativity. Teachers’ perceptions differed somewhat and this is discussed with reference to the performativity culture in which they are located. Whilst acknowledging the difficulties this poses it is argued that, as the literature indicates climate is ‘in the hands of the manager’, teachers can change their practice to enable creativity to flourish. Tentative suggestions for ways forward are suggested

Technicians’ support: a crucial dimension for implementing creative change in D&T classrooms.

In the context of an ongoing research and intervention project ‘Subject Leadership in Creativity in Design and Technology’ funded by the Gatsby Foundation certain factors were identified as either supportive or hindering to the realisation of the main aim of the project which is introducing changes in teaching practices that help develop students’ creativity. To better understand these factors, participating teachers were interviewed regularly to discuss the progress made in their schools. In these interviews, teachers indicate the importance of the support of the technician in the D&T department and highlight the impact of this support on teachers’ adoption of the teaching practices which the project recommends for enhancing the possibility of students engaging in creative designs for the subject projects. It became clear that technicians needed to redefine their roles to be supportive to teachers during the process of change, yet this would only take place if technicians were involved in the change process from its outset. If these two conditions were met, the result was that technicians supported and facilitated students’ creativity. Hence, the paper highlights the importance of engaging the technician from the outset of change to ensure his/her support to the teachers and outlines possible ways for developing this kind of engagement

'...we're not designing for a specific user at key stage 3'. Teachers' lack of planning of user-centred tasks in Design and Technology at key stage 3 in England and implication this has for pupils’ understanding of complex design tasks

This paper discusses the importance of user-centred design by outlining its history , embodiment in national and international standards (for example, British Standards Institute, 2005) and its relevance in addressing the needs of an ageing population. It also outlines how a user-centred approach to design and technology has been part National Curriculum in England since 1989. Using data collected from two schools which includes, teacher interviews (n=4); pupil focus group interviews (12 pupils comprising 6 boys and 6 girls from two schools); a pupils survey (n=50) and departmental documents such as schemes of work, we found that many of the tasks teachers plan for students, do not provide them with the opportunities that allow for a user-centred approach. We discuss the implications of this and make some initial conclusions as part of our on-going research

The contribution of product analysis to fixation in students’ design and technology work

Design and technology (D&T) educators have pointed to a ‘crisis’ in creativity within the subject. Creative cognition literature suggests lack of creativity in design work is at least partly the result of ‘fixation’ (difficulty in generating novel ideas due to imagination being ‘structured’ by pre-existing knowledge). This paper applies these ideas in the context of current practice in D&T to shed light on how students generate design ideas and how a particular teaching approach, product analysis, influences these processes. Data are reported from the six schools involved in the preliminary phase of a Gatsby-funded ongoing research and intervention project1. A number of methods including interviews with D&T teachers (N=14) and focus groups of students (N=126), lesson observations (N=10) and an analysis of documents and student work were utilised to address the question: ‘How does the use of product analysis contribute to fixation in secondary school students’ design work?’ Product analysis was found to be frequently used by teachers at different points in design and make projects, particularly during initial research work prior to the generation of design ideas and as a starting point for the generation of ideas during an idea generation lesson. Example of these different uses of product analysis are outlined, however the impact each has on students’ generation of design ideas was similar: current practice leads to fixation as thinking is constrained down a particular path. Implications for practice are noted

Unpacking secondary school technology teachers’interpretations and experiences of teaching ‘problem‑solving’

Research relating to the nature and purpose of ‘design’ activity across education sectors has accelerated in recent years as governments and policy makers throughout the world high light the importance of skills such as creative problem-solving and innovation. Within sec ondary schools, responsibility for teaching and learning through design is often assigned to Technology and Engineering subjects, however, gaps tend to exist in relation to what dif ferent teachers understand and experience about the teaching and learning of problem-solv ing and design in their classrooms. In this exploratory study, a small group of practicing secondary school teachers completed a one day training workshop where they were intro duced to new knowledge and pedagogical skills relating to design problem-solving using a classroom intervention called ‘Designing Our Tomorrow’. The teachers participated in a focus group discussion before and after the workshop in which they discussed their experi ences in teaching design. Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakof & Johnson Meta phors we live, University of Chicago Press, 1980) was employed to highlight the fgures of speech used by the teachers during the focus groups and from these a number of conceptual metaphors were identifed that described their understandings and experiences of teaching design problem-solving. In synthesizing the broad theoretical base relating to understand ings of design problem-solving and CMT together with the fndings from the one day pro fessional development workshop, the paper highlights the potential value for researchers in using CMT to unpack teachers’ views on how design problem-solving is taught and learned in schools. Finally, the paper reveals a potential new space to inform and evaluate future professional development of Technology teachers, particularly where the focus is on com plex and difcult to defne concepts such as design and problem-solving