Reflection of article, “Beyond ‘The Design Process’: An Alternative Pedagogy for Technology Education.”

This week has been a very busy week for me and my peers in my group therefore we decided that we would split up the readings for this week and each summarise them to share amongst the group. The following summary has been done by my peer Rebekah Lewis-Smith and she has done a great job thankyou Rebekah!

 

This article was about the Design Process that is implemented throughout the schooling system and how when the Design and Technology Curriculum was first introduced in England, that they had a lineal approach which has proven to be problematic in our schooling system today.
“. . . teachers often undertook a linear process that emphasised the stages of planning and drawing, then construction and finally testing. These stages followed each other successively and were often discrete . . . (Moreland et al. 2000, p. 292). “
Emergence of the Design Process-
Johnsey (1995) identified that there were many different attempts to define the design process in England between 1971 and 1995. Although there were many different designs, he identified many common process skills. One common reoccurrence was the persistence of teachers in teaching a lineal design process.
Challenges-
Using a lineal model (end-on-end process orientated) approach has been problematic. Some of the issues are that students using a design-make-appraise model require students developing a design before the process begins.
Although the design process and the different components used are effective in the role of creating a two-dimensional drawing in creating the design, the literature indicates that this is not the preferred method for students. Children are known to design orally and by exploring materials available to them. Johnsey (1995) believes that the most important part of the design-making process for students is the “making” part and the “design” part does not naturally come first.
When faced with the requirement to follow pre-scribed, linear model students tend to subvert the design process by adopting their own strategies to get the job done, but ritualistically use the teachers approach to satisfy assessment requirements (Williams 2000).
Student Technological Practice-
Gustafson and Rowell (1998) identify five different types of initial problem solving strategies.
1. Guidance/direction
2. Modelling handling
3. Imaging
4. Social beginning
5. Reflecting beginning
Through their studies, they realised that the students initial course of action was influenced by the perception of where ideas to solve the problem might lie. Lewis (1998) suggests that the focus needs to shift from a problem solving approach to one that fosters problem-posing by the students.
Teaching approaches-
With our new understanding of technological practices, there are a number of current teaching practices that no longer fit.
Alternative approach-
Children should be able to explore the range of materials available to them during the exploration of general knowledge and relevant information to the particular context. There should be a scenario to introduce the topic that is authentic to their experience and environment. The scenario should allow for many solutions to be created by students which fit to their own learning styles. There should be open discussions about each student’s process in small groups and with the teacher to clarify the problem. Students should then be able to present their solutions to suit their learning styles.
The role of the teacher in this alternative approach is to manage the learning environment and model technological practices. They will also promote discussion, offer supportive and critical feedback and model strategies so that students have a clear outline of the problem and challenges.
According to a study done by Video Campus (2001) says that some challenges that have presented themselves in this approach is that some students did not achieve their potential outcome because some groups were held up due to the high demand of materials and equipment needed that weren’t originally available. But with this alternative approach, studies have shown that students had a great deal of enthusiasm and involvement in creating solutions. There is a noticeable amount of collaboration between students and their peers as well as their teachers.
Discussion-
This section of the article was summarising about how New Zealand is still trying to make Technology a compulsory subject. Although the design-process has been useful to teachers, it is time for teachers to have a wider understanding of technological processes and the implementation of class room pedagogy using these processes.
The attention of the design process should be down played and more attention given to design skills and technological practices. This enables students to have an approach that suits their individual learning styles.

Reference-
Mawson, B. (2003). BeyondThe Design Process': An alternative pedagogy for technology education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 13(2), 117-128.