Ideas

5 June 2017

What do I need to know to teach D&T?  Ideas about D&T.

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Ideas of D&T.

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6 June 2017

Why teach D&T?

Thoughts from the group:  Skills, thinking (esp. creative), place to excel if not so academic, computer skills, preparing for a) the future, b) the world, c) independence.

My thoughts about D&T as part of the curriculum:

D&T occurs in context (historical, cultural, environmental, economic).  Transferable skills across curriculum (in particular maths, science, but also art, English).  Complements other subjects (computer science, business studies, sociology, media studies, PE – fine motor skills).  Valuable skills: problem solving, evaluative critical thinking, communication of ideas, R&D, listening to views/feedback, decision-making, planning and organising, selecting correct tools/technologies/materials/methodology.  Develops: ethics, values, needs, wants; experimentation, risk-taking, enterprising; evidence modelling – to prove concept and functionality; justification of choices; responsibilities; nutrition.

More generally:

You've got a problem that will need a “thing” to solve.  You've noticed that life would be sweeter if something did a thing.  You've got a thing but it's not doing all the things it could.  Design and technology creates the “things” - looking at the problems and the gaps, filling them with ideas, choosing the methods and materials to use, fashioning the thing, seeing whether it works, finding new problems - making life sweeter because “things” impact the world.

A question: evidencing of process/methodology does not occur in the same way in the professional world.  Is it always essential in D&T teaching and learning?

Excerpt from Sarah and Alison's chapter in Teaching Design and Technology.
Teaching for design and technology capability – key words/ideas:
Investigate, Unpredictable, Autonomous, Responsibility, Context, Situation, Framing (define and control), Project Work, Technical, Challenge, Authentic, Aesthetic Attributes, Linear/Iterative, Driven by Learning, Prior Experience, Develop Progressively.

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The National Curriculum frames design within a set of Contextual Challenges – to provide an external stimulus for pupils' work.  We looked at the current graduate degree shows to identify projects which would fit within these contextual areas.

Extending human capacity:

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Responding to the unexpected:

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Improving living and working spaces (environments and objects):

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Securing a sustainable future:

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Protecting people and products:

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Promoting health and wellbeing:

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Developing and communicating personal, social and corporate identity:

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Developing communities:

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14 June 2017 

Why teach D&T?  Value statements from Alison's pre-PhD article.
All kids do D&T but most kids are not going to be designers.
EBacc – University-derived subjects: English, Maths, Science, Humanities, Language.
Social justice argument – teaching these as EBacc subjects is enabling all (would other subjects disadvantage...?)
D&T draws on other subjects – science, sociology, anthropology etc.

I am including my pictures of Alison's article here because I think it's something I'll go back to:

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15 June 2017

Does every project need to culminate in a product that can be taken home?
The emphasis/syllabus is now about creating high quality prototypes rather than products “that could be sold in a shop”.
How are achievements/knowledge-building documented?  Are they?

20 June 2017

Why does food science sound to me like it's made up?!

21 June 2017

OKGo TED talk – an inspiring description of the iterative process.

They don't have ideas, they “find” them.
“It's like [ideas are] made of these disparate parts, these disparate chunks sort of floating out there. And if you're receptive and you're observant, and crucially, if you're in exactly the right place, you can get them to just line up.”
Looking for wonder; and surprise as an element of wonder.
Usual method seems reliable – think, have idea, plan, revise, plan, execute.
But the problem is testing out the reliability/wonder of the elements within the plan.
Have to try out the ideas to find the reliable ones.
Need an ideas “sandbox” to try things out.
Not “testing”, but “playing” and generating the chaos that means we might get a couple of things to line up and the chances are we've found a novel idea because no one has made those particular things line up before.

29 June 2017

I just came across this on https://artfulparent.com/2014/10/strewing.html

“Strewing is the art of casually yet strategically leaving “invitations” for learning and creativity out for your kids to discover on their own.”

It strikes me it could be a really useful tool for unlocking creativity in the classroom too, like the “tinkering” or “free modelling” that was described in some of the PGCE students' presentations last week.

6 July 2017

So much stuff came out of Jenny Dhami's workshop about creativity at the DATA summer school. These are just a few notes and I will link to her presentation once she has e-mailed it through.

Graham Powell and Guy Claxton – TLO – write about learning habits.

Kagan principles for learning.

Garlic chopper – don't give the answers first, get the students to ask questions and work it out for themselves.

Heath Robinson Contraptions are a great place to start – especially when looking at mechanisms and movement.

Identifying user needs – use animals – kangaroo, hippo, ant etc.

Chooser or chance dice to form a design specification. Add in feelings or moods too.

Games like BrainBox or Tension.

Hyperlinks in a PowerPoint to introduce variables. Make use of discussion to spark ideas.

Get famous designers involved to add meaning to a project. Get actors to be famous designers! Use video introductions to engage children.

Homework tasks – “how creative can you be with a cardboard box?”

Little Book of Thunks by Ian Gilbert.

Monopoly ideas - Chance, swapsies/transactions, building in the acceptance that you won't be successful every turn.

Jenny.dhami@gmail.com

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