A common perception of designing is that it represents a highly complex activity that is manageable by only a few. However it has also been argued that all individuals are innately capable of designing. Taking up this latter view, we explored the processes behind student designing in the context of Design and Technology (D&T), a subject taught at…

Design and Technology education is potentially a rich environment for successful learning, if the management of the whole design process is emphasised, and students' design thinking is promoted. The aim of the present study was to unfold the collaborative design process of one team of elementary students, in order to understand their multimodal…

This exploratory study evaluated self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies of 27 students in grades 9-12 during an engineering design project. The specific focus of the study was on student task interpretation and its relation to planning and cognitive strategies in design activities. Two research questions guided the study: (1) To what degree was…

This paper provides education-based researchers and practitioners with the preferred research and design methods used by Higher Education Institute (HEI) students and Key Stage 3 (KS3) pupils applied within a participatory approach to a design activity. The outcomes were that both pupils and students found informal (unstructured) interview to be…

It has been found that the implementation of Human-centred Design (HCD) methods in the Fuzzy Front-End is not likely to lead to diversification in educational product planning exercises, where time lines are short and executors lack experience. Companies, interested to collaborate with Master-level Industrial Design students on strategic design…

Junior Certificate Technical Graphics was introduced in Ireland in 1991 and aimed to develop innovative problem solving aptitudes and knowledge of plane and descriptive geometry (NCCA 1991). Despite the philosophy of breadth and balance (NCCA 2004) associated with educational outcomes in the Junior Certificate curriculum, many subjects, Technical…

It is difficult to ignore the impact that Web 2.0 and the subsequent social software revolution has had on society in general, and young people in particular. Information is exchanged and interpreted extremely quickly and in ways that were not imagined 10 years ago. Universities are struggling to keep up with this new technology, with outdated…

Higher Education is experiencing an increasingly diverse student population. Students bring a range of skills and experiences to their courses; they have different backgrounds and different needs. This fluidity requires an approach to teaching that encompasses the social aspects of learning. It has been suggested that authentic approaches to…

This paper discusses the impact of a specially developed assessment and feedback system implemented within a second year industrial design module at Coventry University, UK. The "Assessment Buddy" system was developed in response to the need for a successful assessment and feedback method that could cope with the complexities of a creative…

In an ever changing society of the 21st century, there is a demand to equip students with meta competences going beyond cognitive knowledge. Education, therefore, needs a transition from transferring knowledge to developing individual potentials with the help of constructivist learning. Advantages of constructivist learning, and criteria for its…

At the heart of learning and teaching in studio based design subjects lies the engagement by students and tutors in activities which are based on practical work simulating design professionals' work. We report here on a research project which explored the student/tutor relationship in design pedagogies across a range of academic levels and…

In this paper, we present an exploratory protocol study on the use of different communication channels during design sketching. We focus on how individual designers share their mental models with other designers in a group, and analyse their use of graphical, textual, and verbal communications during concept generation. Our findings suggest that…

The internal design thinking behaviour of designers in the concept development has been an important issue of cognitive psychology. In this study, the design thinking process designers have in applying digital media and traditional paper in the early concept development stage was explored. Special focus was made on the structure and procedure of…

This paper presents two studies in which an empirical approach was taken to understand and explain form generation and decisions taken in the design process. In particular, the activities addressing aesthetic aspects when exteriorising form ideas in the design process have been the focus of the present study. Diary methods were the starting point…

This paper starts from the premise that drawing can be a means of visualising thinking, with an emphasis on the process involved. A gap often seems to exist in the minds of students of visual/material creative fields in ideas-generative contexts, between thought and action. The thesis is that the gap between thinking and doing can be reduced to…