Teaching design skills
Technology in senior secondary education
Ineke Frederik and Wim Sonneveld
Delft University of Technology
The Netherlands
Summary
In the last two decades many initiatives have been taken in The Netherlands to introduce
technology in the curriculum for general education, both at the primary and the secondary
level. Partly this has been realized by introducing a subject ‘Technology’ in lower
secondary education (12 – 15 years), and partly by integrating technology – with a focus
on design skills- in the curricula of the sciences in the upper secondary. This paper
describes the situation in upper secondary and focuses on training the trainers and
teaching the teachers to teach design skills.
Introduction
A classical idea about the difference between science and technology is that in science we
try to understand the world and in technology we try to change the world. Scientists
explore the physical world and develop theoretical models for explanation. Engineers or
product developers describe a desired world and develop corresponding technical
artifacts.
The professional practice of scientists and engineers is of course considerably more
complex. Scientist design technical systems for their research and engineers do scientific
research as part of their product design and the difference between what engineers and
scientists do is more diffuse. Education however requires simplification. In the
Netherlands for many years research skills and practical work has been the main focus in
education. The new curriculum however also emphasizes design skills and their linkage
to both science content and man made world perspectives. Both in lower and upper
secondary education design skills are meant to play a more central role!
But how do you teach design skills? Many science teachers have no experience designing
nor do they have no pedagogical content knowledge in the teaching of design skills. How
do teachers –both inexperienced and experienced in
design- prepare themselves to meet the new demands? It
is well known that the success of educational reforms
depends on its actual implementation in schools. Is the
new curriculum –with respect to the teaching of design
skills- bound to fail??? We describe the implementation
model we use and illustrate it with an example. We also
show that teachers identified themselves with the issue,
publishing about good practices and thus became part of
the implementation process.
Technology in the general secondary curriculum
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Large scale educational reforms took place in the past decade in the Netherlands. New
examination syllabuses for all subjects in general secondary education (SE) were
introduced. Initiatives were taken to introduce technology related objectives in the
curriculum. Technology was introduced at all levels. Technology was to be integrated in
upper secondary in the curricula for General Science (Algemene Natuurwetenschappen),
NLT, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. A few technology domains were defined in each
subject and design skills were added to the general list of acquirable skills. As part of the
obligatory practical work (40 – 80 hours) in the last two years of secondary school
students chose between a design- and a research project. Recently (2008) experimental
lesson materials on technology and design were developed for NLT and Physics.
In all cases design is considered a process used in different contexts with different
content. This process approach first shows the whole design process, then zooms in on
part of the design process and later practices the whole again.
Zooming in and out
How do you teach complicated skills such as design? At Delft University we were
inspired by the ‘unambiguous moral’ in the American Journal of Physics (Wells, 1995):
‘to upgrade high school physics, partnerships are needed between experienced teachers
and university staff involved in educational research’. We have set up such partnerships
nationwide (3 universities) and locally (TU Delft) and developed lessons materials and
and examples for integrating design in upper secondary science. (1).
We – a group of outstanding creative teachers together with university staff- developed
different capability tasks. All these tasks must be interesting for the teachers themselves
and easily adapted to their own classroom practice. We –the university staff- set up the
training of trainers and (prospective) teachers.
We start our teaching sequence by expanding the experience base of the participants. We
expose them to a simplified version of the whole design process: short time, simple
materials, no special knowledge or skills required, clear, measurable outcomes.
The group is divided in different small sub groups, all getting different tasks. We use
group work, to be sure that discussion and cooperation takes place. Each group of 4-5
participants gets a different assignment. Each group has to design an artifact with very
simple materials and in a very short time (20 minutes). A list of available materials is
provided; materials are however only handed out when a sketch of the proposed artifact is
shown. After a short while all groups demonstrate their artifact and reflect shortly on the
design process they experienced. This experience base we use to reflect on the (design)
process with the whole group. We introduce our model (see next section) of the design
process. We ask participants to reflect again on their own design process. Did they
recognize the different phases? Did they notice that sometimes they went around the
circle rapidly two or three times? Did they experience the feedback loops when they
switched between several phases, indicating that the clockwise arrows in the model are
by no means prescriptive?
In teaching about the design process we use different capability tasks alternatively
zooming in on past of the process and the whole process:
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1. We practice the whole process in a reduced situation
2. We reflect on the process and introduce our model as a scaffold for future
activities.
3. We zoom in on segments of the pie to teach into more detail how to go about
generating ideas, or on ways to analyze the problem
4. Later we again
Our scaffold: the design model
practice the whole
Design (as a process) is usually described in literature as a cyclic
design process in
process (Roozenburg 2003). In consultation with, and from advice given
situation with less
by design specialists from the Delft University of Technology and
reduction than
teachers working in the nationwide Techniek 12+ -project, a simplified
design cycle was developed for secondary education.
previously.
Students should familiarize
themselves with the
different parts of the
process and with the whole
process. We use short
capability tasks to practice
part of the process, each
time a different context and
a different problem.
Students thus combine
procedural knowledge and
context knowledge.
The short capability tasks
are always carried out in
one lesson period. A
segment of the design cycle
is practiced. We call this
method cyclic zooming
(Frederik 2003). Students
zoom in repeatedly on
different skill dimensions
of the design process. At
the same time attention is
given to science-knowledge
needed for solving the
problem. Two or three
phases are practiced each
time.
Later students use this
procedural knowledge in
more time consuming
problem situations. Finally
they complete the whole
cycle (sometimes more
In the phase of analyzing the problem students try to identify themselves
with the design task and must try to find answers to questions such as
‘what is the problem?’, ‘who owns the problem?’ and ‘what do we want
to achieve with a possible solution?’ Different teaching suggestions are
given: the problem- owner may be interviewed (identification with the
target group); the situation simulated (identification with the owner of
the problem) or concept maps drawn.
In the phase of composing requirements students must be able to deduce
a list of requirements from the given context that can be used in
verification. The use of concept maps to stimulate students to think of
many suggestions is profitable as well.
In the phase of generating ideas (cognitive modeling) students must be
stimulated to think of multiple solutions for the design problem. Within
the domain of design engineering one of the most outstanding criteria
for quality is creativity. We look for a form of creativity that produces
original as well as suitable results. To think of different promising
solutions again requires ‘divergent thinking.’ Different practical
strategies may be applied; for teaching purpose we propose to use a
table of ideas.
The combination of ideas, that best satisfies the tasks is the design
proposal. Arguments for the choice should be given. The design
proposal should be made in the form of a technical drawing, where the
materials and working principles are shown and a written proposal.
Subsequently the design should be realized and the design proposal
transformed into a working prototype. Finally students evaluate and test
their design. They reflect on how well the prototype satisfies the list of
requirements and suggest how the design product or process may be
improved.
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than once). Since this approach is used in the beginning of a teaching sequence on design
it should be motivating, image forming and challenging, giving students an idea of the
work real design engineers do. Students should experience and appreciate that design
concerns realistic problems people have, and that science helps solving these problems.
Implementing the teaching of design skills
As said before the implementation strategy we used is ‘train the trainers’ or ‘teach the
teachers’ so we
1. developed rich materials, capability tasks
2. organized and gave workshops both for teachers and for trainers.
We used the example shown in appendix 1 and several others (appendix 2) with the same
characteristics and different aims. All capability tasks we used were developed by
university staff together with outstanding teachers to make sure that the tasks were both
interesting for teachers ánd for their students, that they are convincing examples of what
engineers do and that they are easily adaptable for classroom use.
Results
Our approach resulted in many colleagues using one or more of our capability tasks in
their teaching practice. Also some teacher trainers in Sweden, Japan and Korea used our
materials. Moreover the collegues disperse their experiences: writing about it in the
national teacher journal (both the science one and the technology one) or in their school
paper. See Frederik and Vrijman (6) for a collection of dutch articles.
We also get feedback from the teachers: asking to use our materials, telling us how they
adapted or improved our proposals, reporting on their students enthusiasm when they
asked: ‘when are we going to do so-and-so again’.
One teacher used the one-handed-spider catcher exercise together with self assessment
techniques. She asked her 13 year old students to propose a grade for their product (blue
dots) and then discussed with them the teachers proposal for the grade (red dots).
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Moreover some of the teachers are participating in the nationwide educational reforms
writing syllabuses with novel approaches and they have incorporated the tasks in the new
materials (4).
Conclusion and discussion
Implementation of technology in the sciences is by no means easy. Our approach did
have some success: lesson materials were developed, teachers trained and thus better
prepared, tests developed. Our answer to the implementation issue is to form alliances
between schools and universities thus creating powerful learning environments (7).
Collaboration between university experts and experienced, creative teachers is necessary
for ideas and teaching materials to be developed. These must be easily adaptable for
classroom use and contain knowledge and skills that are worthwhile, robust and
interesting for the participants. The fact that these materials are easily adaptable to use in
slightly different classroom situations resulted in many experiments, performed by
teachers. They -and we also- observed that the pupils’ attitude towards technology shifted
favorably towards technology when they were exposed to our mini-curriculum on design
skills.
The mini-curriculum consists of a number of capability tasks (3) (see also appendix 2)
used in teacher training and in training sessions for teacher- trainers. The tasks were
constructed and adapted with the following requirements in mind:
• Easily adaptable for classroom use,
• Exemplary of what professional designers do,
• No need for a lot of preparations or specialized classroom facilities,
• Involve both brains and hands-on activities, both group- and individual-work
• According to teachers: successful and inspiring in the classroom
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References
1. www.Techniek12plus.nl
2. Frederik, J.E. and Sonneveld, W. (2007), ‘Mysteries for sale’, in: Vries, M.J. de,
Custer, R., Dakers, J. and Martin, G.E. (Eds.), Analyzing Best Practices in
Technology Education. Rotterdam/Taipei: Sense Publishers, 83-92.
3. Frederik, J.E, Sonneveld, W and deVries, MJ (2010). Teaching and Learning the
Nature of Technical Artifacts. IJTE (in press)
4. Beindorff, W.H. ea (2008) Technisch Ontwerpen in de Biomedische Technologie,
NLT module. http://www.betavak-nlt.nl/les/modules_v/modules/00024/
5. Wells, M., Hestenes, D., & Swackhamer, G. (1995). A modeling method for high
school physics instruction. American Journal of Physics, 63(7), 606-619.
6. Frederik, J.E. &Vrijman, M.K. (2008), Ontwerpen Moet Je Doen. Giethoorn: Ten
Brink, ISBN 9789087970031
7. Guskey, T.R. (1995). Professional development in education: in search of the
optimal mix. In: T.R. Guskey & M. Huberman, Professional development in
Education: new paradigms and practices. New York: Teachers College Press.
[weg?]
Appendix 1: instruction sheet for ‘spit and glue models’
Spit and glue models
The aim of this assignment is to make a simple object with a number of just as simple
materials. You will work together in groups.
Each group designs and presents a different object.
In making the design you may use the following materials:
•
Large drinking straws
•
•
•
•
•
•
Toothpicks
plasticine (plastic clay)
paper, size A6
paperclips (2 sizes)
tape
•
•
•
•
•
aluminium containers (for
brownies)
string
clothepegs
popsicle sticks
wooden skewers (saté sticks)
rubber bands
You have a maximum of 20 minutes to make the object.
When the time is up, the objects will be presented.
You have a maximum of 2 minutes for the presentation.
1. Pill sorter
NOTE: Save your prototype
carefully.You will need it
later.
Introduction
In our daily lives things are sorted all the time. For example letters, various types of
vegetables and flowers, pills, etc.
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You are going to try to sort steal balls of various sizes. The balls represent pills of various
sizes.
Assignment
Design something to automatically sort and collect steal balls of four different sizes.
2. Sample transporter
Introduction
Small quantities of radioactive materials are often used in research on various types of
illnesses. Because of the risk of contamination it is usually impossible to use your hands
to transport these samples.
To remain at a safe distance (at least 25 cm) from the radioactive source, it is necessary to
design an instrument to move the sample without touching it. It must be picked up and
then moved. You can use a film canister or a clump of clay of the same size to represent
the sample.
Assignment
Design and build this “transporter”.
3. Spider catcher
Introduction
Many people are afraid of spiders. Less frightened housemates must then catch these
friendly and useful animals. But we don’t want to harm these skilled insect catchers,
much less kill them.
You are going to make a working spider catcher, which can move the spider outside
unharmed. The spider catcher must be operable with one hand. The other hand must be
free to hold onto the stepladder you are standing on!
Assignment
Design and build this spider catcher, which can be operated with one hand.
4. Seed spreader
Introduction
Some plants and trees can shoot their seeds across a great distance.
This is called autochory. An example of such a plant is the
Himalayan Balsam, which shoots out its seeds when the plant is
touched.
Assignment
Design and build a simple construction which can shoot a seed (in
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this case a steal ball) exactly one meter in the air. The mechanism should work when
touched briefly. The “seed” will of course go up without your direct help.
5. Medical nebulizer/inhaler
Introduction
Some medicines need to be breathed in through the lungs, such
as the so-called “inhalers” for asthma patients. These medicines
must first be nebulised. Usually these medicines are dissolved.
But sometimes the medicine is a very fine powder that must be
dispersed.
Assignment
Design and build an object that can disperse a fine powder in the
air.
Appendix 2: capability tasks we used:
What?
Spit and glue models
Cycles’ zooming (A,B, C)
Mysterious objects
Brain writing
‘How to…?’
Simulation exercises
Describing familiar objects
Aims
to experience different aspects of the
design process
to work in more detail on part of the design
process
to differentiate between tasks and
properties of artifacts
to develop ideas on design proposals
to think of many ways of solving a problem
(divergent thinking skills)
to explore a realistic problem; to identify
with the problem owner
to relate properties to tasks and vice versa
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