Year: 2006
Type: other
Abstract: This paper will describe Phase 1 of a three-year study \nthat is investigating how students learn to make design \ndecisions. Three research questions drove this phase of \nthe study: (a) What do students believe designers do? \n(b) What do students believe about the knowledge and \nskills designers must possess? and (c) What do students \nbelieve about the design decisions made by the \ndesigner of a given product? \nData was collected using two questionnaires \nadministered to one class of Grade 6 students. The first, \nadministered prior to students attempting a Capability \nTask, has provided base-line data for the remainder of \nthe study. The second questionnaire was administered \nafter students had completed a Capability Task and its \nassociated Resource Tasks. Analysis of the data involved \ndescriptive statistics and thematic analysis. \nAnalysis of the data has revealed that students, who had \nno previous experience of design and technology \neducation, demonstrated a considerable knowledge of \nnot only what designers do, what skills they need to \nhave and their personal characteristics, but also \nsubstantial knowledge of what designers need to know \nin order to design a range of products. It appears as \nthough their experiences and perceptions of the \ndesigned world provide a significant fund of knowledge \nrelevant to learning to design.
Authors: Welch, Malcolm, Barlex, David, O'Donnell, Erin
Institutions: Queen's University, Brunel University of London
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W614376696