A Paradigm for Promoting Visual Synthesis through Freehand Sketching

Research (Fish, 2004) suggests that everybody should be taught how to freehand sketch and utilise it as a tool for supporting the visualising instinct. A fundamental shift in philosophy of the technology education system in Ireland towards design driven subjects brought with it a need to develop practising teacher’s technological capabilities. This paper is concerned with the exploration and development of freehand sketching as a support tool for visual synthesis and creative discovery during design driven activities

A Paradigm for Promoting Visual Synthesis through Freehand Sketching

Research (Fish, 2004) suggests that everybody should be taught how to freehand sketch and utilise it as a tool for supporting the visualising instinct. A fundamental shift in philosophy of the technology education system in Ireland towards design driven subjects brought with it a need to develop practising teacher’s technological capabilities. This paper is concerned with the exploration and development of freehand sketching as a support tool for visual synthesis and creative discovery during design driven activities. The fundamental hypothesis tested was whether a set of empirically derived activities ranging from observation to imagination, improved the ability of students with novice sketching ability to develop, manipulate and synthesise graphical libraries through the medium of freehand sketching. 124 students of an Initial Technology Teacher Education programme participated in a journey through the activities as part of a third year undergraduate Design and Communication Graphics module. The study was carried out over a four week period, it involved eight hours of classroom based instruction and the sketching ability of all students was measured pre and post-instruction. Results from the study reveal a statistically significant increase in student’s ability to freehand sketch with notable improvement in their fluency and ability to synthesise concepts and geometries. Overall, the novel and original activities have a notable effect on student’s ability to form, manipulate and synthesise visual information and communicate this through freehand sketching. The model presented has potential to be successively implemented by other teachers in a variety of educational settings and student populations

The Understated Value of Freehand Sketching in Technology Education

As education plays such a vital role in economic competitiveness, it is no surprise that the focus for many governments is to invest in educational initiatives. Innovation in pedagogy, refined curriculum and much research into the science of teaching and learning is hoped to promote a knowledge economy. In recent years the Irish education systems have been particularly proactive in the area of technology education. Four new subjects were drafted at Senior Cycle level, all with a common philosophy grounded in design and technology. This clear shift in focus from the traditional craft based subjects to a more creative design-based suite of subjects has brought with it an unprecedented need for continuous professional development.   This paper focuses on the shift in skill set from teaching in a predefined drawing mode to that of a conceptual mode that fosters creativity. As technical sketching is a fundamental building block of all design-based activities, it formed the core of this study. Focusing on the learning process under the descriptors of presage, process and product enabled a linear exploration of an otherwise complex dynamic learning experience.   Although the perception of innate ability restricts the level of application of many teachers in terms of sketching, it proved a valuable attribute as a comparative criterion when selecting contributors. The study included participants that subjectively claimed an average standard of sketching capabilities and a polar group with a prerequisite mindset governed by the phrase “I cannot sketch”. All participants completed a purpose designed five-week course of study. The course included much psychomotor skill development; however the significant value of the course content centered on the cognitive development that progressed from knowledge acquisition to synthesis.   The paper concludes by highlighting the value of “Process” based education over the traditional “Product” approach and presents empirical evidence that illustrate enhanced cognitive capabilities of the participants. The use of pre and post intervention data and qualitative commentary validates the suggestion that there is a greater cognitive value to sketching than a completed composition

\u27Centering\u27 teaching excellence in higher education

This paper explores the complexity of ‘teaching excellence’ (Kreber, 2002) in contemporary higher education. It describes how a university academic, who has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, questions if they really are an ‘excellent teacher’ and if their student-centered philosophy is sustainable. An analysis of data related to teaching and learning effectiveness over a seven year period highlights a significant weakness in how the academic approached the teaching of undergraduate students. This had a subsequent negative effect on several levels. The paper concludes by describing the merits of academics ‘centering’ themselves between the corporate university and the needs of students in striving for ‘teaching excellence’.PUBLISHE

Developing sketching expertise within technology education

At a time when technological capabilities are perceived to be critical in redefining effective technological education, the introduction of Design and Communication Graphics (DCG) in Irish second level (high) schools has broad implications. Students now have the potential to explore applied geometries, integrated with conceptual thinking in addition to developing essential communication skills. Central to this development is the ability to freehand sketch. Literature concerning freehand sketching (Verstijnen, 1998b) claims that there is a lack of empirically validated models of instruction which promote the development of sketching ability. This research study set out to explore if it was possible to develop the ability to freehand sketch through appropriate instruction and empirically evaluate any development. The study was carried out within Initial Technology Teacher Education (ITTE) and involved over 270 undergraduate students. A number of preliminary studies were carried out to address deficiencies identified in the literature relating to freehand sketching. Using a pre and post test design, the study applied a model of sketching activities which ranged along a continuum from observation to imagination. The effectiveness of the model was examined using various methods (such as visual and verbal protocols (Middleton, 2008)) which captured the tacit and implicit nature of sketching behaviour and cognition. The application of Comparative Pairs (Kimbell, 2008) as an assessment tool for pre and post-instruction conceptual sketches provided a novel method of measuring improvement. It was found that students sketching ability significantly improved as a result of completing the model of activities. The magnitude of improvement was dependent on a number of factors including motivation and previous learning experiences. The model of activities was effective in promoting the ability to use sketching as a communication and problem solving tool. It was found that the model of activities could be delivered by independent teachers. A number of findings relating to students sketching behaviour and cognition were correlated with literature associated with sketching expertise. The study concludes that freehand sketching skill can be developed through appropriate instruction. An empirically tested model of instruction which promotes sketching ability was designed and validated. This has significant implications for the development of pedagogies within Design and Communication Graphics (DCG) and other technology subjects

'Centering' teaching excellence in higher education

This paper explores the complexity of ‘teaching excellence’ (Kreber, 2002) in contemporary higher education. It describes how a university academic, who has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, questions if they really are an ‘excellent teacher’ and if their student-centered philosophy is sustainable. An analysis of data related to teaching and learning effectiveness over a seven year period highlights a significant weakness in how the academic approached the teaching of undergraduate students. This had a subsequent negative effect on several levels. The paper concludes by describing the merits of academics ‘centering’ themselves between the corporate university and the needs of students in striving for ‘teaching excellence’

Developing technology students’ hierarchical thinking during iterative processes of designing through sketching activities

The development of students' hierarchical thinking during iterative processes of designing through sketching activities is a crucial part of design education as it supports the connection between students’ design intentions and its material embodiment. To this end, this paper discusses how different types of sketching activities can facilitate the development of hierarchical thinking in design activities. In this paper, we define hierarchical thinking as the ability to move between abstract and concrete representations through varying levels of specificity as well as the journey from global to specific representations. Doing this, we explore how using different sketching activities can allow students to explore a range of design intentions and physical embodiments at different levels of abstraction and detail. The paper also discusses how the idea of hierarchical thinking can support design educators to teach students to engage with their design processes more productively on a need-to-know basis. By teaching students to move between different levels of abstraction and detail effectively, teachers can support students to develop a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of their designerly processes. Overall, this article highlights the importance of modelling through sketching and hierarchical thinking in design education and practice

Bridging the gap: blending spatial skills instruction into a technology teacher preparation programme

In recent years, there has been a surge in research in spatial thinking across the international community. We now know that spatial skills are malleable and that they are linked to success across multiple disciplines, most notably Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). While spatial skills have been examined by cognitive scientists in laboratory environments for decades, current research is examining how these skills can be developed in field-based environments. In this paper, we present findings from a study within a Technology Teacher preparation programme where we examined first-year students’ spatial skills on entry to university. We explain why it was necessary to embed a spatial skills intervention into Year 1 of the programme and we describe the impact that this had on students’ spatial scores and on academic performance. The findings from our study highlight a consistent gender gap in spatial scores at the start of the first-year with female students entering the Technology Teacher preparation programme at a lower base level than male students. We describe how we integrated spatial development activities into an existing course and how an improvement in spatial scores and overall course performance was observed. The paper concludes by discussing the long-term sustainability of integrating spatial interventions within teacher preparation programmes while also highlighting the importance of future research to examine spatial skills as a fundamental component of technological capability