Creativity: A handbook for Teachers (Review)

This handbook for teachers is made up of 28 separate chapters that have been divided into three different parts and seven sections. There are also two forwards, a preface, an introduction and an epilogue. It has been complied by Ai-Girl Tan from Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, for those who wish to explore what creativity is and how it can be enhanced. It is not a book to be read from cover to cover, it is a handbook to be dipped into by those who wish to read and understand contemporary views concerning a very wide range of important issues concerning creativity such as new concepts, theories, models, frameworks, research and teaching experiences

Woman’s under-representation in STEM: The part role-models have played in the past and do we still need them today?

n 2005, Blickenstaff wrote that woman were under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in both education and careers in most industrialised countries around the world. This under-representation is not something new, it was identified as problematic as early as the 1980s (Kelly et al.,1981; Smail et al., 1982). While encouraging girls to study and pursue careers in the technology sector continues to be problematic even today (Bauer, 2017). After introducing the topic, the paper begins with a brief discussion of some of the factors that researchers have believed influenced this under-representation. Several ways forward to improve the state of affairs from the literature are then discussed, before turning to concentrate specifically on role-models and the part that they can play in changing the situation. The next section focuses on the author’s personal experiences of being a role- model in a male-dominated workplace in the mid-1960s when she started her career as the first qualified female woodwork teacher in the UK having trained as a product designer and maker of furniture. This is followed by a discussion of various research projects concerned with the positive effects of role model exposure in terms of: motivating individuals through acting as behavioral models, representing the possible, being inspirational; improving a sense of belonging; impacting on academic self-efficacy; and negating stereotypes. The final section looks at very recent research and comes to some conclusions about the question posed in the paper’s title: Do we still need role-models toda

Does the preferred learning style of those training for a career in design and technology differ depending on age?

Many universities now enrol students on their degree programmes from a broad age range with a variety of entry qualifications. This has caused a shift from an elite to a mass higher education system that has affected aspects of teaching and learning. Much research has been carried out into the relationship between preferred learning style (PLS) and effective learning. There is evidence to suggest that a large proportion of those in a specific profession have the same PLS and that there is no overall gender difference in respect of PLS. However, little seems to be known regarding age differences in the PLS of those studying for a given profession, This paper briefly discusses existing PLS research and explains the choice of tool used to determine the PLS of the sample. It then reports on the findings of a small-scale study of 153 design and technology students (aged between 18 and 54) studying at three different universities in England. The results support the belief that there is a relationship between PLS and specific professions. However, they also indicate that the spread of PLS ratios lessen the older the students become, and that there are differences in PLS in terms of a student’s age and gender. The paper concludes that there are implications for teaching strategies if materials are to meet the needs of all students in mixed aged cohorts even if they are studying for a given profession. The findings would suggest that further research is required to identify ways in which classroom practice could be enhanced as a consequence of the evidence presented in this paper

Key factors which affect pupils performance in technology project work

This paper reports the findings of a study into the perceptions of pupils and teachers regarding factors affecting performance in technology project work. The research was carried out in eight case study schools selected from an initial survey of fifty schools in seven Local Education Authorities in the North East of England. It involved interviews with forty Year 11 pupils and eight Design and Realisation teachers from the Case Study Schools. The study forms part of an ongoing research project concerned with identifying the causes of de-motivation amongst pupils in Years 10 and 11 following courses in technology. Using the analysis of the data collected from the interviews, the paper will discuss the key factors which pupils and teachers perceive to affect performance in technology project work

A comparison of the relationship between creativity, learning style preference and achivement at GCSE and degree level in the context of design and technology project work

This paper compared the relationship between creativity, achievement and learning style preference in the context of design and technology activity for two contrasting sets of learners. Data was collected from fifty-four students studying on an Initial Teacher Training Design and Technology degree and fifty pupils studying for their GCSE Design and Technology examination. A creativity score for each sample member was established and individual achievement data was collected using marks from coursework projects at GCSE and degree level. Learning style data were collected from all participants using an established Cognitive Style Analysis test. Results indicated that there were relatively few highly creative individuals, and that this was particularly noticeable in the student cohort, however the results did indicate the expected positive relationship between creativity and achievement for both cohorts. Similarities between the two samples in terms of learning style groupings were found. Analysis of the data also indicated that there was a clear relationship between level of achievement, being creative and certain learning styles, although for some learning style categories the results did not support existing research. Creative divergent thinkers did not achieve the expected results. This suggested the potential for a new study to see if the anomalies witnessed in these findings would be found in other pupil and student cohorts. There is also the need to research the relationship between the design process adopted and the way it is assessed to try to ascertain why certain creative pupils belonging to certain learning style categories are not reaching their potential