Design and Technology Education (LJMU)
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‘Reading Woods’ with Teachers in Icelandic Schools in the 21st Century
Get PDFThe curriculum development project, ‘Reading Woods with Schools’, focused on cross curricular outdoor education in Icelandic woods. The participants were 105 teachers from twenty-two elementary schools: these teachers were trained via an in-service teaching course and given a woodland area prior to the project. The aim was to ascertain how teachers could utilise woodland in enabling students to gain an understanding of the ecosystem of the woods, use of the woods in craft, learn about sustainability and understand that woods are resources that influence the wellbeing of the human race.
The article outlines the curriculum project ‘Reading Woods with Schools’ and reports on a survey that was undertaken in order to examine teachers’ views and experiences, in terms of the use of local woods in projects. One teacher from each of the participating schools reflected on the project and answered the survey. The main aims of the survey were to examine how the activities were organised, to what extent the woods were used, hindrances in using the woods for schools, knowledge gained via the project and what kind of support the schools required in running the project. The survey concluded that the activities were mostly dependant on teachers’ initiative, as outdoor education is not a part of the Icelandic National Curriculum (Menntamalaraduneyti, 2010). Furthermore, teachers must have access to outdoor education training, educational materials, good facilities and it is important to establish an online database, featuring a collection of different projects, for teachers to access during their courses
Action Research to Develop and Validate a Scheme of Work to Promote Creativity and Designerly Thinking Through Play
Get PDFThe paper reports on a study of the development and validation of a Design and Technology Scheme of Work (SoW) that is facilitated by Engino assembly toys. Three initial case studies are described; one to assess the suitability of the Engino products for specific age groups; and two which took place in primary schools; one to evaluate the sequence of tasks designed for the actionresearch case study; and another to investigate if creativity can be promoted through the Engino products. Two further action research case studies were then completed with secondary school students, during which the SoW was further developed and elaborated to suit the needs of this age group. The final versions of the SoW were further validated during a dissemination seminar and professional development workshops involving primary and secondary school teachers. Having the importance of play in mind for enthusiastic and creative learning, the SoW was designed to fulfil a number of requirements from the Cypriot National Curriculum, covering 6 of the 9 areas. We discuss our findings with reference to promoting creativity in the context of Design and Technology as well as the possible roles that construction toys can play in this endeavour. The paper is illustrated with a picture gallery with indicative examples from student work
Designing the Néopass@ction Platform Based on Modeling of Beginning Teachers\u27 Activity
Get PDFIn the context of French teacher training — which does not sufficiently consider the professional problems faced by students when they enter the working world — we developed the Néopass@ction platform in view of proposing a reference base describing the real work of teachers. The platform is designed to serve at the national level as a resource either for web-based training, which the learner does alone, or for instructor-led training conducted in a classroom setting. The first section of this article begins with a description of the main difficulties identified in teacher education in France. It then gives a brief history of videotraining at the international level, followed by a presentation of how video-based training has evolved through the incorporation of the results of activity analysis. The second section describes the design of the Néopass@ction platform following several phases of coordination between research and training, based on theoretical assumptions about possible aids for achieving greater professionalism, and three different levels of activity modeling: real activity on the job, transformations of professional activity, and training trajectories for navigating on the platform. The processes that transform professional activity are precious aids for the "design-inuse" of the platform, which in turn is transformed in the light of professional progress made and the effects of its use on the activity of teachers in training
Designerly Well-being: Implications for pedagogy that develops design capability
Get PDFThis article presents the concept of "designerly wellbeing", identifying the value for individuals and society of the development of the design capability inherent in all humans. The concept builds on ideas more generally of capability, well-being and democratic design and is characterised as the satisfaction, pride, confidence and competence of being able to engage in designerly thought and action with criticality and capability. (Stables, 2012) This article explores pedagogic issues, particularly in relation to the development of an individual\u27s understanding of themselves as a designer, how they engage effectively in the processes of designing and how they develop the confidence and confidence to positively exploit their own designerly capability in their personal life, social and community life or professional life. Key to this is the stance of the educator on the processes of designing. The paper will present research that make the case for an iterative, dynamic view of process, responsive to the changing demands within any design or design related task. This research illustrates the importance of recognising the preferred approaches to design activity of individuals and the importance of supporting individual preferences whilst building new strengths to establish a repertoire of design methods, processes, knowledge and skills. An initial exploration of designerly well-being is presented through a small-scale pilot study that enabled 14 year olds to work in groups to take on big design challenges and prototype ideas. The pilot study indicated the positive effects on both the learners and the learning that took place as well as providing insights into the challenges for the teachers. It also indicated the need forfurther research
Liminal Moments: Designing, thinking and learning
Get PDFThis paper provides a contextual reflection for understanding best practice teaching to first year design students. The outcome (job) focussed approach to higher education has lead to some unanticipated collateral damage for students, and in the case we discuss, has altered the students’ expectations of course delivery with specific implications and challenges for design educators. This tendency in educational delivery systems is further compounded by the distinct characteristics of Generation Y students within a classroom context. It is our belief that foundational design education must focus more on process than outcomes, and through this research with first year design students we analyse and raise questions relative to the curriculum for a Design and Creative Thinking course—in which students not only benefit from learning the theories and processes of design thinking, conceptualisation and creativity, but also are encouraged to see it as an essential tool for their education and development as designers. This study considers the challenges within a design environment; specifically, we address the need for process based learning in contrast to the outcome-focused approach taken by most students. With this approach, students simultaneously learn to be a designer and rethink their approach to “doing design”
Experiences of Classroom Techniques and Learning Outcomes
Get PDFThis article is a part of a research project that is aimed to explore how the background variables of learning are related to learning outcomes in a Sloyd subject, internationally referred to as Craft, Design and Technology. The research question of this article is: “How are ninth grade pupils’ experiences of classroom techniques related to their learning outcomes?”
The empirical data is based on an evaluation by the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE). The data (n = 4,792) was collected by stratified sampling from 152 schools. The data of pupils’ experiences of classroom techniques was gathered in a specified questionnaire using a narrowed sample (n = 1,548). Three main orientations for learning were found: Learner-Centred Learning, Teacher-Directed Learning and Collaborative Learning. Furthermore, two orientations were formed of technical and textile technology areas of the subject.
Analysis revealed that participating in either classes of technical technology area or textile-technology area predicted success in the other area as well. Thus, learning outcomes in one area correlate with the learning outcomes in the other. Due to this result, the effects of learning orientations were analyzed separately for both technology areas. Experiences of Learner-Centred Learning predicted success in technical technology area while experiences of Teacher-Directed Learning predicted success in textile technology area. Collaborative Learning didn’t predict success in either of the areas. The results can be applied in developing the subject more towards the learners’ point of view
From Story to Product: Pre-schoolers’ Designing and Making Processes in a Holistic Craft Context
Get PDFEarly childhood education and care, pre-primary education, and basic education form an integrated whole that seeks to progressively facilitate a child’s development in Finland. In pre-primary education children are understood as active problem-solvers who learn in a holistic way through imagination and play. The term ´child´ is used to refer to a pupil or a student in early childhood- and pre-primary education. In the Finnish education system, the teaching of craft should strive towards a holistic craft process already from the first grade, though this process is rarely employed in pre-primary education. This article details an experiment in which 10 pre-schoolers designed and made an artifact in the context of a holistic craft. This experiment was intended to immerse the children in all phases of the designing, making, and assessment process. This process began with collecting anticipatory stories by storycrafting method. Following this, the pre-schoolers were asked to design and make a puppet-like character using textile materials. Qualitative content analysis was carried out on the children’s brainstorming and designing processes to find out the ways in which pre-schoolers makeconnections between the various stages of a holistic design process. During the children’s work processes, their awareness of the holistic process was recognized. The experiment showed the pre-schoolers’ designing processes to proceed logically, and that they were able to design individual crafts in the context of a holistic craft process
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Design and Technology Education (LJMU)BLResearchDay (LJMU)Journal of Living Labs (LJMU)Journal of Natural Products Discovery (L...Journal of Social Media for Learning (LJ...Student Law Journal (LJMU)PRISM (LJMU)Public Health Institute Journal (LJMU)SPARK (LJMU)Student Experience Proceedings (LJMU)Transformation in Education (LJMU)Innovations in Practice (LJMU)Links to Health and Social Care (LJMU)
Design and Technology Education (LJMU)BLResearchDay (LJMU)Journal of Living Labs (LJMU)Journal of Natural Products Discovery (L...Journal of Social Media for Learning (LJ...Student Law Journal (LJMU)PRISM (LJMU)Public Health Institute Journal (LJMU)SPARK (LJMU)Student Experience Proceedings (LJMU)Transformation in Education (LJMU)Innovations in Practice (LJMU)Links to Health and Social Care (LJMU)Access Repository Dashboard
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