Big Ideas for
Design &
Technology
A Working Paper
David Barlex
Torben Steeg
Big Ideas for
Design &
Technology
Authors
David Barlex
Torben Steeg
Acknowledgements
Nick Givens helped initiate the thinking that has led to this
paper and has provided invaluable advice during its
development.
However, David and Torben take responsibility for all errors.
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Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
Contents
Contents ......................................................................................... 1
Contributors ................................................................................... 2
Introduction ................................................................................... 3
Design ............................................................................................ 3
Technology .................................................................................... 5
Concerning Big Ideas ................................................................... 7
Conclusion .................................................................................. 12
References ................................................................................. 13
D&TforD&T ................................................................................. 14
D&TforD&T Working Papers
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Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 1
Contributors
David Barlex
David is an acknowledged leader in design & technology
education, curriculum design and curriculum materials
development. He taught in comprehensive schools for 15 years
achieving head of faculty positions in science and design &
technology before taking university positions in teacher education.
He directed the Nuffield Design & Technology Project and was
Educational Manager for Young Foresight. David is well known for
his interest and expertise in developing curriculum materials that
support pupil learning from a constructivist perspective. He uses
this approach to develop young peoples’ ability to understand and
critique the design decisions made by professional designers and
those they make themselves in design & technology lessons. This
informed the Nuffield Design & Technology publications which
have been widely used in the UK and emulated abroad – Russia,
Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand.
Torben Steeg
Torben is a freelance consultant in education, with research and
curriculum development interests that include the interactions
between D&T, Computing, ICT, Science, Mathematics and
Engineering and, within D&T, programmable systems, systems
thinking, electronics and communications technologies, novel
technologies, disruptive technologies and the implications of
the maker and hacker movements for education.
He is a member of the editorial board for the D&TA’s ‘D&T
Education; An International Journal’, a founder editor of the on-line
journal ‘ECT Education’ and a Fellow of the RSA.
He has provided advice, curriculum development and CPD activity
to a wide range of organisations and is the author of a range of
general and academic publications.
He is an active participant in Manchester’s maker community and
since 2012 has been an organiser of the Manchester Maker
Faire/MakeFest.
Nick Givens
Nick is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Exeter
Graduate School of Education. He taught in several comprehensive
schools- becoming head of design & technology - and subsequently
established a design & technology department from scratch in a
Sixth Form College.
Since moving into university-based initial teacher education, he
has taught undergraduate and postgraduate design & technology
trainee teachers, led an undergraduate teacher education
programme and a postgraduate design & technology teacher
education course. He has also been an author and a field officer
for the Nuffield Design & Technology Project.
His research interests include curriculum development in design &
technology, inclusivity within education and, most recently,
approaches to teaching about ‘disruptive’ technologies.
2 Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
Introduction
In deciding what to teach in design & technology it is
important to consider both the nature of design and the
nature of technology. These have quite separate intellectual
traditions and one of the tasks of design & technology as a
school subject is to bring these two traditions together in a
way that is both workable and rigorous.
Design
Designing is a complex activity. Lawson (2004) makes an
intriguing analogy with playing chess:
Designing then, in terms of chess, is rather
like playing with a board that has no
divisions into cells, has pieces that can be
invented and redefined as the game
proceeds and rules that change their
effects as moves are made. Even the object
of the game is not defined at the outset and
may change as the game wears on. Put like
this it seems a ridiculous enterprise to
contemplate the design process at all! (p.
20)
Interestingly, this mirrors to quite a large extent the
requirements of the conceptual challenge that young people
will tackle in the new single title GCSE.
Ropohl (1997) has further described this activity as requiring:
[The development and design of] a novel
technical system, anticipat[ing] the object to
be realised through mental imagination.
[The designer] has to conceive of a concrete
object which does not yet exist, and he [sic]
has to determine spatial and temporal
details which cannot yet be observed, but
will have to be created by the designing and
manufacturing process. (p. 69)
“Conceiving . . .what does not exist” (Buchanan, 1996) and
“developing and designing a novel . . .system” (Ropohl, 1997)
indicate that pupils will, on occasion, be required to make
conceptual design decisions. “Developing and designing a …
technical system” (Ropohl) indicates that pupils will need to
make decisions about the way their design will work, that is,
make technical design decisions. “Spatial and temporal
details which cannot yet be observed” (Ropohl) indicates that
Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 3
pupils will need to make decisions about the appearance of
their designs, that is, aesthetic decisions. Finally, “created by
the . . .manufacturing process” (Ropohl) indicates that
students will need to consider how they will make their
design, that is, constructional decisions.
Ropohl (1997) does not explicitly consider the user, yet
product designers have commented on how important it is to
consider the user when developing design proposals and this
is now explicit in the design & technology National Curriculum
and the new GCSE specifications. For example, Jonathan Ive,
Apple’s Chief Design Officer, states, “the design of an object
defines its meaning and ultimate utility. The nature of the
connection between technology and people is determined by
the designer” (Department for Education and Employment,
1999, p. 14). This indicates that some of the decisions made
by pupils should be informed by a consideration of the user.
As these considerations will be broader than any one group
of users, such considerations are perhaps better described
as market considerations. This indicates that pupils will need
to make decisions related to the market for their product.
Decisions in these five domains (conceptual, technical,
aesthetic, constructional and marketing) are not made
independently of one another, for as Buchanan (1996)
states, “a designer must attend simultaneously to many
levels of detail and make numerous decisions as he or she
designs.” (p. 7).
Hence, we have adopted a design decision making model as
a useful way of describing pupils’ design activity in designing
and making activities and used this in the “Good Practice”
section of v2 of the rebuilding paper (Figure 1).
Conceptual Figure 1
Pupil design decisions
Marketing Technical
Constructional Aesthetic
4 Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
Technology
Technology is not easy to define, as different philosophical
positions lead to different definitions. Kelly (2010) in his
provocative book What technology wants1 discusses the idea
of autonomous technology in terms of three interacting
influences:
The primary driver is pre-ordained
development – what technology wants. The
second driver is the influence of technological
history, the gravity of the past, as in the way
the size of a horse’s yoke determines the size
of a space rocket. The third force is society’s
collective free will in shaping the technium, or
our choices. (p. 181)
From Kelley’s perspective, it appears that the influence that
mitigates against technological inevitability (society’s free
will) is the smallest of these influences. He entrenches this
position by describing technological development in terms of
a set of trends that contribute to the expression of specific
technologies and how they might progress. For example, in
this set he includes increasing sentience. This may give
cause for concern given that deeply embedded in popular
culture is the idea of machines becoming self-aware and
either dominating human life, as in the film Metropolis (made
in 1927), or deciding that humanity is antithetical to its own
existence and actively waging war on humanity, as in the
Terminator films (made in 1984, 1991, 2003 and 2009).
Nye (2006) rejects this idea of technological autonomy:
From the vantage point of the present, it may
seem that technologies are deterministic. But
this view is incorrect no matter how plausible
it may seem. Cultures select and shape
technologies, not the other way around …A
more useful concept than determinism is
technological momentum, which
acknowledges that once a system such as a
railroad or an electrical grid has been
designed to certain specifications and put in
place it has a rigidity and direction that can
seem deterministic to those who use them.
(p. 212)
1 What Technology Wants focuses on human-technology relations and
argues for technology as the emerging seventh kingdom of life on earth.
The book invokes a giant force, the technium, which is "the greater,
global, massively interconnected system of technology vibrating around
us"
Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 5
Arthur (2009) takes a different starting point in considering
the nature of technology and the way it evolves. He argues
that technology can be viewed as the exploitation of
phenomena revealed by science. He rejects a simplistic
“technology is applied science” view but is adamant that it is
from the discovery and understanding of phenomena that
technologies spring. He notes that:
It should be clear that technologies cannot
exist without phenomena. But the reverse is
not true. Phenomena purely in themselves
have nothing to do with technology. They
simply exist in our world (the physical ones
at least) and we have no control over their
form and existence. All we can do is use
them where usable. Had our species been
born into a universe with different
phenomena we would have developed
different technologies. And had we
uncovered phenomena over historical times
in a different sequence, we would have
developed different technologies. (p. 66)
Naughton (in Banks, 1994) adds further weight to the
rejection of a simplistic applied science view of technology
when he writes that technology always involves “ways of
doing things . . . a complex interaction between people and
social structures on the one hand and machines on the
other” (p. 12). Naughton’s description immediately
complicates the design & technology curriculum in that a
consideration of machines, which many would see as a basis
for a technology curriculum, becomes insufficient.
Our view, informed by the preceding discussion, is that
design & technology as a school subject should take
seriously the following aspects of technology:
• That technology is built on phenomena in the real world
and pupils should develop understanding of the range of
key phenomena that technology uses.
• That technology is a human activity and pupils should
both experience a wide variety of technological activities
and learn to consider the human and social implications
of such activity.
• That our current technologies are built on previous
technologies and that, in turn, the technologies being
developed today will have implications for future
technologies. Pupils should, therefore, develop
understanding of these relationships and develop a
critical mind-set about the use of technologies.
6 Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
Concerning Big Ideas
The work of Harlen and colleagues (e.g., Harlen, 2010) in
developing statements of content for science education that
were true to the nature of the subject may provide us with a
useful model. They divided the content into ideas about
science (that is, the way that science as a discipline works),
and ideas of science (the key intellectual building blocks of
science). What might be developed if the design & technology
community adopted such an approach? What would we list
as ideas “of” and “about” design & technology?
Ideas about design & technology might include:
• Through design & technology people develop
technologies and products to intervene in the natural and
made worlds;
• Design & technology uses knowledge, skill and
understanding from a wide range of sources, especially
but not exclusively science and mathematics;
• There are always many possible and valid solutions to
technological and product development challenges, some
of which will meet these challenges better than others;
• The worth of technologies and products developed by
people is a matter of judgement;
• Technologies and products always have unintended
consequences beyond intended benefit which cannot be
fully predicted by those who develop them.
Ideas of design & technology might include:
Knowledge of materials
Design & technological activity requires the use of materials.
And if someone is going to use materials he or she will need
to know something about them. So, what would need to be
known? Clearly the idea of different materials having
different properties is essential. Given the importance of eco-
footprint then it will be useful to know something about
sources of materials and how they are refined to the state
where they are useful. And given the finite nature of the
material world it would be useful to know something about
the estimated reserves of materials, especially those that are
particularly useful and in short supply. This can be listed as:
• Sources
• Properties
• Footprint
• Longevity
Making decisions about which materials to use are therefore
complex and requires much more than a “science”
Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 7
understanding of materials. Marc de Vries (2007)
commented on this amusingly and with insight when he
wrote, “there’s no such thing as a good electron.” Materials
have the properties they do, intrinsically neither good nor
bad, but in choosing which material to use we have to make
a judgment which requires a range of knowledge and
understanding. And, of course, in design & technology
education we want young people not only to learn how to
make such complex judgments for themselves, but also to
critique the judgments made by others. Hence, we believe
that deliberately teaching something about materials in
general is essential.
Knowledge of manufacturing
The next step, of course, is to be able to do something with
these materials, and so manufacturing is an important idea
of design & technology. In broad sweep terms, manufacturing
can be divided into four main methods: subtraction, addition,
forming and assembly and overlaid on each of these are
methods of finishing. At the moment, addition is receiving
considerable attention as additive manufacture is being used
to produce items of both simplicity and complexity at very
different scales to the point where it will almost certainly be
possible to “print” organs for transplant. So, this important
area of design & technology can be subdivided as:
• By subtraction
• By addition
• By forming
• By assembly
• With finishing
Deciding how a product will be made is also complex, as
there will be many ways to achieve a particular “making”
outcome. This is further complicated in school in that it takes
time to develop the knowledge of making processes into
skilful use of those processes. So, we believe that
deliberately teaching about manufacturing in general and
particular making skills is essential.
Knowledge of functionality
Most of the made world has to “work” so some knowledge of
achieving functionality is required. Three categories seem
useful: powering, controlling and structuring. Controlling is
moving on in leaps-and-bounds with the embedding of
electronic intelligence into everyday products becoming
commonplace. The technology to achieve this is within the
reach of schools through microcontrollers such as PICAXE
and Arduino. Equally, providing power is developing in
interesting ways in response to concerns about climate
change, with a growing emphasis on the use of renewable
8 Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
power sources. So, this important aspect of design &
technology can be subdivided as:
• Powering
• Controlling
• Structuring
Deciding how something is going to work involves complex
decision making. This is well exemplified by the Bayliss Wind
Up radio – a radio powered by a battery isn’t useful when
batteries are in short supply or too expensive to buy.
Powering by means of human energy stored in a wound-up
spring that was structured so it could control the release of
this energy slowly over time that could be used to operate a
dynamo that powered the radio is an elegant application of
the three Big ideas concerned with function. Hence, we
believe that deliberately teaching something about achieving
function in general is essential.
Knowledge of design
Very little of the made world comes into existence except
through purposeful design. Knowledge of design is crucial
and recent HMI reports have indicated that teaching
designing has long been the Achilles heel of the subject. Four
broad methods will be needed: (a) identifying peoples’ needs
and wants, (b) identifying market opportunities, (c)
generating, developing and communicating design ideas, and
(d) evaluating design ideas. This set of methods taken
together and used sensibly enables young people to develop
the abilities to envisage outcomes that do not yet exist and
create them through choosing and using materials and
embedding function. Hence this important idea of design &
technology can be subdivided as:
• Identifying peoples’ needs and wants
• Identifying market opportunities
• Generating, developing and communicating design ideas
• Evaluating design ideas
It is well known that designing is difficult and can only be
learned by tackling the activity itself (Choulerton, 2015). We
are convinced that identification of a variety of design
strategies and explicitly teaching pupils how to use these is
important in design & technology.
Knowledge of critique regarding impact
The question that immediately follows is to what extent are
designed outcomes of worth?
How do they affect the lives of those who use them and those
that make them? How do they affect the planet? Here we
immediately see the need for critique. This is different from
Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 9
evaluation as defined in “evaluating design ideas”, in which
the evaluator asks of a design idea/outcome: “Did it do what
it was supposed to?” In critique the question becomes: “Is
what it is supposed to do worth doing and what are its
unintended consequences?” Two broad areas of critique are
stewardship and justice. Critiquing for stewardship involves
considering life cycle analysis and speculating about different
economic models – the currently predominant linear
economy and the circular economy as espoused by, for
example, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2012, 2013). In a
just world, all people should be able to live in freedom from
hunger and fear and have shelter from harm. They should
have opportunities to pursue happiness and make the best
of their lives. The made world, full of deliberately designed
products, environments and systems, must be held to
account by critique. So, critiquing the outcomes of others as
well as their own is an important pupil activity. This important
idea of technology can be sub-divided as:
• For justice
• For stewardship
This critique should take place in a broad sweep way at the
level of an environment, a system or product, as well as at a
more detailed level in which the decisions concerning the
nature of small features within any of these can be subject to
critical scrutiny.
Note also that to gain a holistic picture of the subject, all the
ideas “of” and “about” design & technology will need to be
considered together as they interact with one another when
design & technological activity plays out in the hands of
industrialists, politicians, the general public, designers,
engineers and technologists.
Figure. 2, on the next page, summarises the Big Ideas.
10 Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
Figure 2
Big Ideas for design &
technology
Properties
Sources
Footprint
Longevity
Intervention
Addition
Maths & science
Subtraction
No single right
Forming
answer
Assembly
Worth debatable
Finishing
Unintended Materials
consequences
Fundamental Manufacture
nature
D&T
Critique Functionality
Design
For justice Powering
For stewardship Controlling
Needs and wants Structuring
Market opportunities
Generating developing and
communicating ideas
Evaluating
Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 11
Conclusion
The above consideration of the ideas “of” and “about” design
& technology is at a high level of summary and considerable
detail will need to be added as teachers devise a curriculum
that incorporates these ideas. And it is important that such
detail is added in a way that embraces a wide range of
approaches to design incorporating, for example, the
practices of different cultures in different places and at
different times. In this way, an over-emphasis on modern
Eurocentric approaches can be avoided and the insights of
indigenous peoples can be taken into account.
12 Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017
References
Arthur, W. B. (2009). The nature of technology. London: Allen
Lane.
Buchanan, R. (1996). Wicked problems in design thinking. In
V. Margolin, & R. Buchanan (Eds.), The idea of design (pp. 3—
20). Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Department for Education and Employment. (1999). Design
and technology: The National Curriculum for England.
London: Department For Education and Employment
De Vries, M. (2007) Philosophical reflection on the nature of
design & technology. In Barlex, D. (Ed) Design and technology
for the next generation A collection of provocative pieces,
written by experts in their field, to stimulate reflection and
curriculum innovation (pp. 18-31). Shropshire, UK: CliffeCo.
Ellen McArthur Foundation (2012) Towards the Circular
Economy Vol. 1: an economic and business rationale for an
accelerated transition
Retrieved from
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/tow
ards-the-circular-economy-vol-1-an-economic-and-business-
rationale-for-an-accelerated-transition
Ellen McArthur Foundation (2013) Towards the Circular
Economy Volume 2: opportunities for the consumer goods
sector
Retrieved from
http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/business/reports/
ce2013
Harlen, W. (2010). Principles and big ideas of science
education. Hatfield, UK: Association for Science Education.
Kelly, K. (2010). What technology wants. New York: Viking,
Lawson. B. (2004). What designers know. Oxford, UK:
Elsevier.
Naughton, J. (1994). What is ‘technology’? In F. Banks (Ed.),
Teaching technology (pp 7 –12). London: Routledge
Nye, D. E. (2006). Technology matters. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Ropohl, G. (1997). Knowledge types in technology.
International Journal of Technology and Design Education,
7(1), 65–72.
Big Ideas for Design & Technology | March 2017 13
D&TforD&T
David and Torben have been working together in design &
technology education, on and off, for around 20 years.
D&TforD&T is a means to enable us to disseminate our work
and communicate with the design & technology community
and its main vehicle is the D&TforD&T website. This allows us
to bring together in a single place the things we are working
on and thinking about, both together and individually.
The website also profiles associates with whom we frequently
work – Nick is a key member of this group.
In particular, by doing some of our work and thinking more
publicly we hope to draw in other colleagues from the D&T
education community.
The core things we use the website for include:
§ Blogging; to share our thoughts on various things in the
broad areas of D&T and education as well as drawing
attention to interesting things we find elsewhere on the
web.
§ Noting courses and other CPD activities such as network
meetings that we are involved in running. We also
mention other events, such as conferences, that we might
be either speaking at or planning to attend.
§ Making available resources we have developed for
teachers and|or pupils. We also use this part of the
website to share our plans for resource development and
seek both commentary on these plans and support for
the development work – such as help with trialling.
§ Discussion around and publicity for other projects we are
involved in.
§ Sharing the reading we are doing. We have found, over
the years, that discussing and sharing our reading has
been an important route to developing and keeping fresh
our thinking about D&T and education as well as helping
us keep (each other) current with new developments. We
want to share this reading and thinking more widely by
noting the books, papers, reports and articles that are
stimulating us.
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