Eddie Norman

The Nature of Technology for Design.

This paper reviews ideas from design and technology and science education and discusses knowledge, values and skills as aspects of technology in order to demonstrate that technology for design cannot be simply associated with a knowledge component of technology. The paper highlights the linguistic challenges in expressing issues in this area and the philosophical difficulty that the nature of cognitive modelling means that some aspects may be impossible to express using language. Values and a designerly way of knowing and the nature of technological skills are discussed in order to establish their relationship to technology for design. Prior studies concerning technology and designing have focused on engineering and science-based design areas. A research agenda in relation to the proposed broader interpretation of technology for design is discussed, which demonstrates that such research must ultimately be interdisciplinary. Nevertheless, initial steps which could be taken by design researchers are suggested.

Science for design

The relationship of science and design is not well understood or developed but is becoming the centre of the national debate concerning technology in UK schools. This article seeks to clarify issues, define terms and develop thinking in this complex area.

Curriculum Planning for the Development of Graphicacy Capability: Three Case Studies from Europe and the USA.

Curriculum planning for the development of graphicacy capability has not been systematically included in general education to coincide with the graphicacy needs of human society. In higher education, graphicacy curricula have been developed to meet the needs of certain disciplines, for example medical and teacher training and engineering, among others. A framework for graphicacy curricula, anticipating the graphicacy needs in higher education, has yet to be strategically planned for general education. This is partly a result of lack of research effort in this area, but also a result of lack of systematic curriculum planning in general. This paper discusses these issues in the context of graphicacy curricula for engineering. The paper presents three broad individual case studies spanning Europe and the USA, brought together by the common denominator, graphicacy. The case studies are based on: an analysis of graphicacy within general education curricula, an analysis of graphicacy for engineering education in Europe and an analysis of graphicacy for engineering education in the USA. These three papers were originally presented in a plenary session at the American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering Design Graphics Division at the University of Limerick in November 2012. The case studies demonstrate the potential for strategic curriculum planning in regard to the development of graphicacy in general education and an overview of a methodology to achieve that. It also offers further evidence towards the importance of the systematic classification of graphics capabilities in Engineering and how the lack of a developed theoretical framework in this area undermines the case for the importance of graphics within engineering education.

A review of current A/AS syllabuses in Design and Technology

Concluding remarksIt can be seen that the common core has brought a great deal of consistency between the syllabuses. There was a belief that A-levels would be restructured as a result of the National debate about core skills for A-levels, but this now seems to have been shelved. The pressure now is from the evolving form of National Curriculum Technology and the search for continuity and progression and from the developing relationship with other 16–19 courses, e.g. BTEC (Business and Technician education Council). The recent paper by Smithers and Robinson (1992) failed to add very much to the debate as a result of the rather simplistic and divisive view it presented.The review of A and AS-levels in Design and Technology is due to begin in the near future. It is essential that a full representation of the issues and complexities of this field is made so that developments can be soundly based. Design and Technology has made great strides at A and AS-level and it is vital to ensure that this progress is both recognised and sustained through the review process.

Modeling Materials Technology and the Designers' Perceptual Span

Abstract This chapter begins by noting the general relationship between modeling and designing. Some mathematical and visual strategies for modeling materials technology are discussed, and, in particular, the manner in which these models enhance the perceptual span of the designer is explored. The capabilities they enhance are identified and the limitations implicit within the models are noted within the increasingly complex context of design agendas. The key requirements concerning materials technology for the purposes of those engaged in designing, or ‘materials technology for design’, are discussed. The implications for design education of these positions are noted and the conclusion reached that, as with designing, modeling materials technology must facilitate the interaction, through all the senses, of the imaging of design concepts in the mind with their external representations.