The personal response to designing and making: investigating PGCE students' feelings as they move through a designing and making assignment

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the way in which feelings of trainee teachers on a one year post graduate certificate of education (PGCE) initial teacher education (ITE) design and technology (D&T) course changed as they moved through a designing and making assignment. This paper is in four parts. The introduction presents a brief overview of the literature reporting pupils’ emotional response to the secondary school curriculum in science and attitudes toward technology. Second, it describes a pilot study in which a cohort of secondary design and technology PGCE trainee teachers were required to record their feelings in response to a designing and making assignment. Third, the paper presents a preliminary analysis of the data, commenting in some depth on the response of four purposefully sampled trainees. Finally, it considers the possibility of this approach being used with pupils in schools

Capitalising on the utility embedded in design and technology activity : an exploration of cross-curricular links

Despite international support for cross-curricular activity involving design and technology, science and mathematics classroom practice in secondary schools has been unable to respond positively or effectively. This paper explores the ideas of purpose and utility as drivers to enable collaboration between teachers from these subjects and suggests ways in which this collaboration might take place

A small-scale preliminary pilot to explore the use of Mode 2 research to develop a possible solution to the problem of introducing one-year PGCE design and technology trainees to design methods that are relevant to the teaching of designing in the secondary school

David Hargreaves (1998) noted that, in the world outside education, knowledge is not created in a university by researchers and then applied somewhere in the real world by practising professionals: it is developed where it will be used. It will be developed in order to get something done, a form of research called Mode 2 (Gibbons et al, 1994). He proposed that ‘knowledge creation and dissemination in education must now move into Mode 2: teacher-centred knowledge creation through partnerships’. In this paper we identify two problems by means of a literature survey and through a partnership between a curriculum developer and a university-based researcher, clarify its local manifestation and explore a possible solution that might be further informed by an extension of this research method. The problems identified by the literature survey are (a) the wide variation in designing experience within one-year postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE) design and technology students and (b) the poor development of designing skills in secondary school pupils within the subject design and technology. The partnership developed and implemented a piece of work new to the PGCE design and technology curriculum at a university in the south of England to give trainees experience relevant to their own development as a designer and to show how this might be related to developing design skills in school pupils. This was in addition to the design-based projects trainees had been required to develop and present in previous years. The trainees’ response to the work and its relevance to the Key Stage 3 work they undertook on teaching experience were then identified by a short interview with a selection of the students. The implications of this feedback for an extension of this work are discussed within the intention of improving the design teaching expertise of PGCE students at this particular university

Questioning the design and technology paradigm

In this paper I present a brief background to the questioning of the design and technology paradigm made by Andy Breckon before using the work of seven acknowledged experts in the field of design and technology education to scrutinise the validity and practicality of this questioning. The experts are David Layton, Richard Kimbell, Robert McCormick, Patricia Murphy, Mike Ive HMI, Malcolm Welch and Stephen Petrina. Next I consider the nature of design and technology within the school curriculum as if it were a brand competing for attention with other brands in the curriculum. I then use the experience of the Young Foresight Initiative to consider specifically Andy’s position on design and technology innovation. Finally, I sum up by identifying future directions for the subject that have emerged from considering Andy’s paper

So we’re going to have this huge spike here? Pupils’ talk while designing and making

This paper reports on the conversations between focal pupils (two boys aged 13 years), as they collaborated in the designing and making of a statue of a fierce creature that would be used to deter intruders from their classroom. This dialogue is analysed from two perspectives: (a) that of exploratory talk (Barnes & Todd, 1977) and (b) dialogic talk (Alexander, 2004). The analysis revealed that the pupils (a) made design decisions concurrently with making, (b) did not, for the most part, engage in exploratory talk, and (c) did engage in dialogue. The analysis also revealed the designerly nature of the talk that did take place and raises some questions as to the purpose of pupil talk during designing and making. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further questions to investigate with regard to the purpose and nature of talk in design & technology lessons

The development of a design and technology website for primary teachers

This paper describes the development of a design and technology website specifically for primary teachers. The website is one of the resources being developed by the Nuffield Primary Design and Technology Project. The aim of this project is to provide the resources that will enable primary school teachers to become more effective at teaching design and technology. Within this overall aim, the object of the website is to develop and support an on-line community of primary design and technology teachers. This will also develop primary teachers' ICT skills within the current national training initiative. The paper describes the following: the development of an initial website (working with an innovative multimedia company and utilising small focus groups) the features within the initial website its positioning in the National Grid for Learning the use made of the website (through website statistics) the further development of the website within the suite of websites belonging to the Nuffield Curriculum Projects Centre the features within this developed website the potential of the site for ICT in service training the use made of this developed website (through website statistics) The paper then discusses whether, in the light of the above, the website is meeting its required functions

Is it possible or desirable to change the relationship between science and design and technology in secondary schools?

This paper will consider the findings of 'Interaction', a report commissioned by the Engineering Council and the Engineering Employers' Federation, to explore the relationship between science and design and technology in secondary schools. The paper begins by summarising the epistemological and other key differences between science and technology, based on a literature review. It will continue with a description of the methods used to investigate the views of the science and design and technology education communities. The paper will then report these views and use them to present a rationale for a closer relationship between the two subjects. Then the paper will describe models whereby a closer relationship may be achieved, taking into account the barriers to progress identified in the report. Following a list of the recommendations made in the 'Interaction' report, the paper will end with the progress made so far in implementing these recommendations and discuss how this implementation can be seen in terms of robust professional development and the creation of new professional knowledge

Using the Internet as an information gathering tool for the design and technology curriculum

The authors describe how the writing of case studies of industrial and commercial practice for the Nuffield Design and Technology Project for 14-16 year old students has led to the use of the Internet as an information gathering tool. They then describe how this experience led the National Centre for Educational Technology and the EdExcel Foundation to commission research to identify a range of web sites that could be used to source relevant information for the EdExcel Foundation design and technology GCSE coursework component 'An investigation into an existing product'. The focus of the research was primarily to identify sites which gave information about methods of manufacture and then to use this experience to gain an appreciation for the problems and opportunities that might face schools in enabling novice WWW users to access information through the Internet. The authors then consider whether these experiences can be developed into a generalisable/transferable model for using the Internet as an information gathering tool

Developing a conceptual framework for auditing design decisions in food technology: the potential impact on initial teacher education (ITE) and classroom practice

The paper presents the final findings and recommendations of the second of two previously reported small scale research and development projects (Barlex and Rutland, 2004; Rutland, Barlex and Jepson, 2005) with specific reference to food technology. The paper refers briefly to the background to the research activities including key findings from the first research project and preliminary findings (Rutland, Barlex and Jepson, 2005) from the second research project. It outlines the development and refinement for food technology of the conceptual model. This paper focuses on the third food technology interventional curriculum activity implemented during the course and the trainee’s use of the food technology conceptual model as a tool to audit their design decisions. It reports on the findings from the interviews with six trainee teachers following the activity. Finally, it reports on the findings from lesson observations during their school practice for the six trainee teachers in the later part of the course. The paper concludes by considering the impact on ITE and classroom practice of the research projects with specific reference to the conceptual model for designing in food. It comments on the positive use of the conceptual model with the current year group of PGCE Secondary food technology and BA Primary Education with Design and Technology trainees and the impact of imbedding the interventional studies into the courses. Reference is made to reflections of teachers and school based mentors of the potential impact of the model as a tool to audit and track the development of design decisions

Educational research as a foundation for curriculum development in D&T

Educational research has been criticized for being inaccessible to practising teachers and both removed from and irrelevant to their needs. Seldom does the research inform curriculum development, the production of learning materials, or their effective use in the classroom. Earlier research by the authors revealed limitations in pupils’ constructional skills, technical knowledge and aesthetic appreciation as they develop a solution to a design and make task. Knowledge of these limitations and the design procedures adopted by the pupils informed the development of a Capability Task and a suite of Resource Tasks so that the same design and make task could be used in a classroom setting. Current research is providing insights into ways in which teachers can be introduced to a pedagogy and the development of curriculum materials. The results of this work are, in turn, providing the basis for the development of more general model for using research findings to inform the design of curriculum materials and associated pedagogy