Researching Design Learning : Issues and Findings from Two Decades of Research and Development

Design & Technology evolved in the school curriculum from the mid 1960s. By the 1980s the subject had become mainstream for the British government to fund research exploring what learners could do when challenged with design & technology tasks. Richard Kimbell and Kay Stables worked together on that project, producing in 1991 the first seminal research report on learners capability in design & technology. This book summarises the lessons learned from these projects. The messages centre on the designing activity, on learning, teaching and assessment, and - more widely - on what can be learnt about the research process itself. How does this active, concrete learning tradition enable cognitive and emotional growth? What influences bear upon this process; the teacher, the environment, the task, the learners themselves?