Is it possible to ensure the survival of primary design and technology through ten hour courses?

The title of this article refers to one of the main issues facing primary design and technology (D&T) education at the current time. The lack of time given over to D&T for primary teachers in training is also critical, as some students will graduate with less than ten hours experience of design and technology, some with none at all since the introduction of ‘either/or’ subjects in the initial teacher training (ITT) curriculum. If preparation for teaching the subject is minimal in ITT, is there an alternative?The proviso in the TTA Standards of support in D&T from experienced teachers for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) needs closer scrutiny:“to be able to teach them to their intended age range in their first year of teaching, with the support of an experienced teacher where necessary” (2002 2.b).One could presume that this task would fall on the shoulders of the subject leader. This article reports on a study which set out to find out how realistic the provision for support suggested is and what support is available for those on whose shoulders the responsibility will fall.What emerges from the study are enthusiastic and committed subject leaders who are getting variable support due to the lack of investment in advisory services. While it is not uncommon to meet NQTs who have had no preparation to teach design and technology, teachers were interviewed whose knowledge and understanding of their design and technology subject specialism in training is having a significant impact on the practice in their schools. However, interviews conducted as part of the study also exposed the general lack of understanding of what design and technology is, the purposes of the activities and the differences between design and technology and science activities

Creativity in practice… What not to do…

This paper describes research carried out in two UK primary training providers as part of the ‘Creative Teachers for Creative Learners’ project, funded by a Research and Development Award from the Teacher Training Agency. Over the past two years a study of trainees has been undertaken at Manchester Metropolitan University and Goldsmiths College, University of London, as part of a larger collaboration with Bath Spa University College. During the first year this looked at undergraduates who were training to teach in primary schools. They expressed their own notion of the ‘creative person’ using cartoons and further data was collected using a questionnaire. This year, a task that had originally been piloted by Bath Spa to gain an insight into where postgraduate trainees located creativity within their practice, was used to further explore the undergraduates’ understanding of creativity while they were on school experience placements. This paper draws on data collected from two cohorts of undergraduate trainees in each institution. Comparisons will be drawn between the two sets of data collected to establish how one varies from the other and possible reasons for this will be mooted. Initial findings indicate that the Goldsmiths and MMU trainees expect to find opportunities for creativity in most areas of the curriculum with assumptions that certain subjects offer more opportunities than others. However, as the Goldsmiths and MMU trainees reflected on the reality of teaching on their school experience placements the data gathered offered some interesting insights, which are particularly pertinent in this time of further curriculum change in primary education, including inhibitors of creativity

The process diary: developing capability within national curriculum design and technology - some initial findings

The paper describes the background to and the initial development and trialing of a Process Diary for pupils working in design and technology within Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3. This is seen as a medium through which a pupil records her/his experiences at the time they take place. This will help the teacher in reviewing and assessing capability demonstrated by those activities as well as informing summative assessment. Another role of the Process Diary, at least as impotent as this, is as a reflective medium. This will support a pupil in reflecting on her/his own experiences, and through that reflection moving on to future activities more effectively and appropriately. Schon's perspective of the reflective practitioner is considered to be a very powerful one, with reflection seen here as central to design and technology practice

Design and technology curriculum development in initial teacher education through partnership with local industry

The paper discusses the development of a specialist subject study course in Design and Technology with Computer Studies through a partnership project funded by the Economic Awareness in Teacher Education Project at Goldsmiths'. The aim of the project was to build on the student teachers' experience of conducting personal research to expand their awareness of local industry in the context of information technology. The material presented shows the range of computer control applications explored by the students with support given by ourselves and the local Education Business Partnership Education Officer. Also addressed by the presentation are the implications for initial teacher education curriculum courses with regard to: National Curriculum technology and curriculum themes; developments in teacher education; developing partnerships with the community including industry and commerce

Technological approaches to environmental education

Developing autonomy, confidence and competence in a variety of curricular contexts with a range of media is a central concern for environmental education. We believe that technology plays a crucial role in this. This paper describes the research and development of a multimedia CD ROM for primary aged children which links the world of the classroom with 'their' environment. It suggests that the processes of this research and development not only generated an impressive technological resource but contributed significantly to the professional development of the team and their interaction with learners

Reflective and literate boys: can design and technology make a difference?

During 1999-2000 a small scale research project was undertaken to evaluate the impact of a curriculum initiative aimed at increasing literacy skills through linking their development to design and technology (d&t). The initiative, the Enriching Literacy through Design and Technology Project, was conducted in Year 2 and Year 6 classrooms in six primary schools in an Education Action Zone (EAZ) in the North East of England. The research compared the impact of the project on these schools with a further group of five schools in a broadly similar locality. The approach taken in the project involved integrating literacy and d&t within activities, each of which was supported by resources that included some form of 'handling collection'. The involvement of the handling collections promoted an emphasis on hands-on exploration and on product analysis. A number of ways were used to explore the impact of the initiative. Teachers in both schools completed questionnaires; teachers in the intervention schools were interviewed; the children in both schools took combined literacy and d&t assessment activities and the children completed an activity evaluation questionnaire. The data provided demonstrated the positive effect on the intervention group in overall terms, and indicated contributions to the development of certain literacy and d&t skills. One aspect that emerged was the notable positive impact on boys of certain aspects of literacy skills and, where d&t was concerned, on the development of reflective skills. This paper will discuss certain concerns that emerge from literature on the underachievement of boys, consider these in the light of this new data and explore how this approach may have contributed to the enhancement of boys' skills

Different views, different outcomes: how the views of science and design and technology gained develop and support effective classroom practice

This paper outlines research conducted at Goldsmiths, University of London, into primary student teachers' understanding of the nature of science and design and technology, the relationship between the two subjects and their contributions to the curriculum. Quantitative data collected through questionnaires indicated a conceptual framework describing the interplay between understanding and practice in the classroom whereas qualitative data through interview and reflections developed that framework into a broader model which described the interplay between capability, understanding and practice and the impact this understanding had upon the approach the student teachers adopted in planning their classroom based activities. Evidence from the data gained from our research demonstrates that, in the design of initial teacher education courses, account needs to be taken of the extent to which student teachers have prior experience of the subjects, and the understandings they hold of the relationship between science and technology in society. As a result of this project, we argue that primary teachers can be encouraged to develop their understanding of the nature of, and relationship between science and design and technology thus enabling them to plan classroom activities which effectively link the two curriculum areas whilst maintaining the distinctive nature of each

Performing Arts and Carnival in Initial Teacher Education and Schools: HEARTS project at Goldsmiths, University of London 2005-2006

HEARTS was conceived as a project to revitalise the arts in the experience of students in Higher Education preparing to become primary school teachers. Supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts and the Teacher Training Agency, HEARTS funded HEIs to undertake year-long projects that would enrich the arts for their students and lead on to deeper change within institutions in the way new teachers are made ready for their professional role. In order to do this at Goldsmiths we proposed to document, research and develop our existing performing arts and carnival courses

Using \u27big data\u27 to explain visits to lakes in 17 US states

We use large dataset on US lakes from 17 states to estimate the relationship between summertime visits to lakes as proxied by social media use and the lakes\u27 water quality, amenities, and surrounding landscape features and socioeconomic conditions. Prior to estimating these relationships we worked on 1) selecting a parsimonious set of explanatory variables from a roster of more than 100 lake attributes and 2) accounting for the non-random pattern of missing water quality data. These steps 1) improved the interpretability of the estimated visit models and 2) widened our estimated models\u27 scope of statistical inference. We used Machine Learning techniques to select parsimonious sets of explanatory variables and multiple imputation to estimate water quality at lakes missing this data. We found the following relationships between summertime visits to lake and their attributes across the 17-state region. First, we estimated that every additional meter of average summer-time Secchi depth between 1995 and 2014 was associated with at least 7.0% more summer-time visits to a lake between 2005 to 2014, all else equal. Second, we consistently found that lake amenities, such as beaches, boat launches, and public toilets, were more powerful predictors of visits than water quality. Third, we also found that visits to a lake were strongly influenced by the lake\u27s accessibility and its distance to nearby lakes and the amenities the nearby lakes offered. Finally, our results highlight the biased results that big data -based research on recreation can generate if non-random missing observation patterns in the data are not corrected