Improving children's performance in the procedures of design and technology

Teaching pupils how to design and make in better and better ways should be one of the major aims of the design and technology teacher. Part of becoming a better designer is to do with an understanding of how to proceed in more effective ways within a design and make assignment. This paper focuses on the separate behavioural skills that have been identified in a recent research project which examined how primary aged pupils design and make. It goes on to suggest a model for how these skills might be employed in a variety of tasks and how this image can help teachers organise learning programmes and establish a firm direction to their teaching

The place of the process skill making in design and technology

Making is a fundamental skill in design and technology. There seem to be few problems with identifying when it occurs and in teaching the sub-skills involved. Less is known, however, about the frequency of its occurrence in a design and make task and about its relationship to the other process skill such as modelling, researching and evaluating. By studying primary school pupils closely as they design and make it has been possible to make some observations about the place of making in the whole process of design. The findings are based on a research project which used video recordings of primary pupils to observe their procedures. A graphic method for gaining a new perspective on the process of design is described in order to support the conclusions drawn. Design and technology capability requires pupils to master a knowledge and understanding of key concepts and combine these with an ability to proceed with a design task by employing a range of process skills. Knowledge and understanding will not only include such conceptual areas as mechanisms and product quality from the design and technology curriculum, but also some of the 'big' ideas from other curriculum areas such as electricity (science) or use of 'visual elements' (art). Procedural ability will include an understanding of how to go about designing and making and will include process skills such as specifying outcomes, modelling ideas and evaluating products. A summary of these design process skills which are drawn from a wide range of publications can be found in Johnsey. A modified version of these is listed later in this paper. One of the apparently simplest process skills to identify is that of making. In contrast to some of the other process skills, we know with some certainty that this consists of easily observable events such as cutting, joining, shaping and marking. The National Curriculum for Design and Technology 2 uses the term Making Skills to describe a broad area of activity in contrast to Designing Skills. For the purposes of this paper, however, making will be taken to mean the construction of a product in which pupils might 'measure, mark out, cut and shape, join and combine materials and apply additional finishing techniques ...' This paper will consider the place of making in the whole process of design and go on to examine the relationship it has with the other process skills. The ideas discussed are based on recent research in which the way primary school pupils carry out design and make tasks in the classroom situation was examined

Observing the way primary children design and make in the classroom: an analysis of the behaviours exhibited

The process of designing and making has been described in various ways, often as a simplified flow of events from identifying a problem or need to the final evaluation of the end-product. Similarly the literature which promotes practical problem solving often describes it as a process which has stages similar if not identical to those used for design and technology. More recently the APU has developed the concept of an interactive process between "head" and "hand" 1. Their model, however, is still a simplified linear one which uses broad categories to describe the behaviour of the designer. How accurately do these models reflect reality? How much are they based on observations of children designing and making? Are there behaviours which children exhibit which are not described in these models? This paper describes a pilot study for a research project using video to record the behaviour of children as they carry out short design and make tasks. A graphical representation of the process of design will be introduced and used to show that the models we use do not necessarily reflect reality

The long-term effects on schools and staff of in-service courses for teachers of primary design and technology

A new curriculum subject, design and technology, was introduced into schools in England and Wales as part of a National Curriculum in 1990. In-service training for primary teachers of design and technology is an essential feature in the development of this new curriculum subject. This has taken place partly through the Grants for Education and Training (GEST) funded courses ranging from 5 to 20 days in duration. While a short training course might be evaluated for its content and modes of delivery, the effect of the course on the school itself is of much more interest and concern. Without a knowledge of the degree of change that the course has brought to pupils and teachers. an evaluation of the course will not be complete.This paper describes the results of two surveys which set out to gauge the degree of change perceived by course participants in schools as a result of GEST funded courses over the past four years. The analysis and conclusions provide indications regarding the effectiveness of the courses and suggest where improvements might be made. Many of the conclusions and recommendations would apply to a wide range of in-service courses in all curriculum areas

Inservice training for primary design and technology - is it working?

This paper reports on course participants' perceptions of aspects of change in their schools as a result of participation in Grant for Education and Training (GEST) funded courses for design and technology, carried out at the Universities of Central England and Warwick. An initial trial, using both questionnaire and interview techniques, was followed by a questionnaire survey of teachers who had attended the courses during 1993 and 1994. The categories of enquiry focused on the perceptions of changes in the practice of the course participants, their colleagues and the school as a whole. Additional enquiry was made into changes in resourcing for design and technology following the course, the attitude of the head teacher towards design and technology and the provision made for dissemination of the courses in schools. Analysis of the data has made possible a comparison of the effects of course length, structure and focus on the perceptions of changes to design and technology practice in the schools surveyed. Patterns in responses are identified and analysed, and recommendations for future courses are suggested