Loughborough University Library: Open Journals
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Demonstration and its Implications for Design Based Craftwork
Get PDFThe us.e of 'demonstration' as a means of imparting knowledge and practical skills will be a familiar technique to all those involved in the teaching of art, craft, design and technology. Whilst using this technique myself on many occasions I have observed that after such a period of instruction the children still make substantial errors. When faced with this situation my first assumption was that my demonstration had in some way been defective. Sandham, Wilmore and Brown make the same assumption, 'If the majority of children are going wrong after a demonstration find out where your teaching has been at fault'. However, despite subsequent efforts to improve my instruction I was often faced with the same result; no visible change in the behaviour of some children to indicate that any learning had taken place. This is further referred to by Sandham, Wilmore and Brown, 'Even after a careful and well constructed demonstration it is amazing how many wrong ways of doing the job some boys will find'. Although this is an excellent descriptive statement it does not bring us any nearer to an explanation. It is my «ontention that the 'wrong ways of doing the job' may in fact be a valuable source of analysis. The amount of pupil error generated by any given task could be seen as an indication of the task in relation to the ability of the children and may also be regarded as a reflection of their understanding of the situation. In this respect pupil error is of vital importance to the teacher because of the information it may convey
The Ladder Shoe Project
Get PDFIn September 1981 Robert Child joined the VIth form at John Willmott School. As his tutor it became obvious to me that he had a great interest in the engineering workshop and especially the machines. I suggested that he become our workshop technician; helping with routine maintenance and stock control for three lessons per week. Robert did this job until Christmas, when a full time technician took over. This left Robert at a loose end. I suggested that he do some sort of design project. Various ideas were considered, but many were too complex and most lacked originality. It was after a week of frustration, unable to find anything suitable, that I mentioned one of my pet hates; the base of a standard ladder never seems to fit the ground where it needs to be positioned. Would it be possible to design a fitment to fill the gap? Robert was sceptical but agreed to consider it, and returned a couple of days later with some vague sketches on a scrap of paper. Robert was of the opinion that to be a successful designer you must be a good artist. It was 0bvious that a more anaytical and, hence, logical approach was required. I went through the design process in depth and Robert reluctantly agreed to follow it. He returned with a well written situation and a brief - stating in precise detail the design requirement. After a week of research gaining information about sections of ladder legs (and materials) and possible existing solutions, ideas were forthcoming. Unfortunately many of these initial ideas were either verbal or in the form of blackboard sketches or on scrap paper - but from these the foundation for the later development was produced
Editorial
No full textThis issue is largely devoted to a matter of great concern to many - girls in the CDT subject area, or rather, their relative absence from it! It is clear that, by tradition, girls tend not to opt for this apparently male-dominated area of the curriculu,m, an area demanding mysterious skills involving the use of heavy tools and machinery, physical strengths, technical terminology and the like - many feel that even if they did opt for this alien subject, they would be heavily outnumbered by the boys and perhaps made to feel inadequate or out of place. In most schools, CDT departments have to compete with the traditional girls' subject areas for the few who eventually follow a CDT Course - in broad, frank terms then, at present, CDT is part of the curriculum for only 50% of mixed schools' populations!This state of affairs is obviously totally unacceptable and contributors to this issue present details of the existmg situation and are able to prove that girls are easily as capable as boys in this subject area, and indeed able to outperform them on occasion
Should CDT be part of a National Common Core Curriculum
No full textIn September 1984 the latest of a series of papers on the school curriculum was issued by the Department of Education and Science and Welsh Office. Like many of its predecessors from government and HMI, since the so-called Great Debate on education of 1976, it advocates the need for a common core curriculum for all pupils until the age of 16 years. In many respects it appears to support CDT more strongly that most. Thus it suggests that the primary phase (5-11) should 'provide opportunities throughout the curriculum for craft and practical work leading up to some experience of design and technology and of solving problems'. The Times described the new position at the secondary stage (11-16) in one sentence: 'Ministers have set themselves the ambitious aim of providing craft, design and technology right through secondary school in a drive to foster practical skills'. It looks as if CDT, after years of being offered a peripheral place on the curriculum, has come of age
What Shall We Do About the Arts?
Get PDFWeneed to do something about the arts, because they are undersubsidised, underpatronised, undervalued and underdistributed. I will explain what I mean by these words and although I am concerned with the arts in general, it will not be surprising if I tend mainly to take the theatre as a representative art
The Gladstone Pottery Museum
Get PDFDuring the last 25 years the Pottery industry in the North Staffordshire area has developed from the long established ";Pot Banks"; with their Bottle ovens and uncomplicated processes, into highly organised manufacturing plants using the most advanced technical processes - tunnel kilns and mechanised units and safe working conditions
Teaching information literacy within a relational frame: the Media and Information Literacy course at Manchester
No full textBruce, Edwards and Lupton (2007) define the “relational frame” of information literacy (IL) education as one within which all other frames can be integrated, from the “content” and “competency” frames which are based on objective measures, through learning-based frames which are subjective, to an intersubjective, social impact frame. Put more simply, they propose that IL education and application can and should vary in form depending on the context. Through analysis of the critical and social theory which supports Bruce et al’s ideas, and through a brief case study of a postgraduate course built from these theories, this paper proposes that the relational frame of IL can, and should, be applied to the teaching of “multiliteracies”. If relational IL education means, for example, that students should experience variation in their approach to information searching and evaluation, then this implies they must be able to understand underlying value systems which provoke such searches, like environmentalism or religion. The relational frame of IL therefore serves as a bridge between IL and multiliteracies
Government Information Literacy in the “century of information” (Brown 2007)
Get PDFThere are currently numerous drivers for change within the Scottish Government (SG), including the changing nature of the workforce and the changing skills and abilities required by the SG to undertake its work and achieve its goals in policy-making. The SG’s Government Economic Strategy (Scottish Government 2007a), its Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong Skills Strategy (Scottish Government 2007b) as well as the internally focused Skills and Learning Strategy (Scottish Government 2007c) and Information Strategy (Scottish Government 2008a) all point to a number of developments that are creating demands for new skills and behaviours across the Scottish Government.
Taking these strategies as a starting point, the authors have developed an Information Literacy Strategy for the Scottish Government (Scottish Government 2008b), informed by local and national information literacy studies and recommendations from research carried out by the Scottish Information Literacy Project (Crawford and Irving 2009) and a survey of information use within the Scottish Government (Scottish Government 2008c).
The focus of this study is information literacy in the workplace. Using interview based research and an online survey, the Scottish Information Literacy Project and the Scottish Government Library Services sought to provide a picture of information literacy in the Scottish Government. Information literacy was identified as an essential workplace decision making skill for Scottish Government staff. Information seeking skills were identified as a key area of deficit amongst Scottish Government staff, together with an awareness of the need for access to a wide range of information sources, and critical thinking and evaluation skills to support high quality decision making, was generally lacking. As a result of the research findings, the authors have developed and are rolling out an information literacy programme across the Scottish Government. The authors have also established stronger internal partnerships within the Scottish Government with those areas engaging in training and skills
Information literacy and its relationship to knowledge management: A theoretical study
No full textThis paper explores the perceived commonalities between information literacy (IL) and knowledge management (KM) and the different contexts in which the two areas of theory and practice manifest themselves. It approaches the study in terms of, first, the widespread interest in KM within the Library and Information Services (LIS) community; second, the belief, supported by research into workplace IL, that IL and the fostering of an information literate workforce are key components in any KM initiative; and, third, the LIS profession’s long-standing interest and expertise in IL instruction. KM is put into context with reference to two publications by Standards Australia and from this the main functions of a knowledge manager are delineated. It is suggested, with reference to IL in higher education and workplace contexts and to well-articulated models of knowledge transfer, such as SECI, that there are significant commonalities between IL and KM but that there are equally significant differences between the two. The paper argues that research in each domain can inform the other but that IL represents a fraction of the KM domain, so attempts to conflate the two may cause confusion rather than providing a pathway for information professionals and others pursuing workplace IL. Finally the paper provides recommendations for further research and suggests a scalar approach to conceptualising KM and IL practice