Studying the effectiveness of conceptual design in secondary design and technology in England

摘要

The purpose of the study reported here was to investigate the effectiveness of a conceptual design unit as part of the Design and Technology curriculum for 14 years old pupils in England. One research question drove this study: What sort of designing do pupils do when they design without having to make what they have designed? Data consisted of the design ideas of a whole class developed during 6 lessons towards the end of an 18 lesson teaching sequence. Findings, which are in line with those of the pilot study, indicate that the pupils' designing was highly iterative, creative, involved making a wide range of design decisions and revealed understanding of technological concepts.