The relationship between design reflectivity and conceptions of informed design among high school students

ABSTRACT

Although reflection is a key behaviour of expert designers, it is often a challenging task for new designers. In addition, research on the reflectivity of student designers is limited. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to identify the levels of reflectivity while designing, and (2) to study the relationship between reflectivity and conceptions of informed design. We collected data from high school students engaged in an engineering design project. We developed a coding protocol to score levels of reflectivity in student reflections at three levels (low, medium, and high), and used the conceptions of design test to assess changes in student understanding of design activities. Using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, we determined if students tended to select more ‘key’ design activities and fewer ‘distractors’ within each reflection group. We also performed McNemar’s tests to determine which specific design activities were important within each reflection group after the design project. The results show moderately reflective students had higher gains in understanding of informed design activities compared to those with high or low reflectivity. Results also indicate that different design activities became important for students within each of the three reflective groups. Implications from this research indicate that groups of students experience changing conceptions of design in different ways. An understanding of what students deem important while designing would better allow teachers to encourage behaviours that are like those of informed designers.     

Walking The Talk: from theory to practice in delivering community based design education

This paper discusses the model of ‘walking the talk’, when running design studios based on the ‘live projects’ model within a university setting for vulnerable communities. This model is examined through exploring emerging humanitarian and community‐based design approaches in architectural education. It is tested through two case studies of design studios in Mostar and Beirut, led by the author between 1998 and 2002. Lessons from these community‐engagement studios are applied through a third case study, a design project for a disability day‐care centre in Hoi An, Vietnam. The project was led by RMIT University students and staff between 2009‐2011 and built in April 2012.     

Examining Elementary Students’ Development of Oral and Written Argumentation Practices Through Argument-Based Inquiry

Argumentation, and the production of scientific arguments are critical elements of inquiry that are necessary for helping students become scientifically literate through engaging them in constructing and critiquing ideas. This case study employed a mixed methods research design to examine the development in 5th grade students’ practices of oral and written argumentation from one unit to another over 16 weeks utilizing the science writing heuristic approach. Data sources included five rounds of whole-class discussion focused on group presentations of arguments that occurred over eleven class periods; students’ group writings; interviews with six target students and the teacher; and the researcher’s field notes. The results revealed five salient trends in students’ development of oral and written argumentative practices over time: (1) Students came to use more critique components as they participated in more rounds of whole-class discussion focused on group presentations of arguments; (2) by challenging each other’s arguments, students came to focus on the coherence of the argument and the quality of evidence; (3) students came to use evidence to defend, support, and reject arguments; (4) the quality of students’ writing continuously improved over time; and (5) students connected oral argument skills to written argument skills as they had opportunities to revise their writing after debating and developed awareness of the usefulness of critique from peers. Given the development in oral argumentative practices and the quality of written arguments over time, this study indicates that students’ development of oral and written argumentative practices is positively related to each other. This study suggests that argumentative practices should be framed through both a social and epistemic understanding of argument-utilizing talk and writing as vehicles to create norms of these complex practices.     

基于工作过程的高职《国际贸易实务》课程设计

《国际贸易实务》是一门专业基础和核心课,很多经济类专业如电子商务、物流管理、报关和国际货运、国际商务等专业都有开设这门课程,因此在高职以培养职业能力为中心进行教学改革的要求下,对《国际贸易实务》课程基于工作过程进行教学设计很有必要。本文通过阐述《国际贸易实务》课程的设计理念和设计思路,基于工作过程对工作任务进行分解来选取和组织课程内容,旨在培养学生的岗位技能和职业能力。     

电子创新设计课程改革在毕业设计中的探究

针对电子创新设计课程传统教学方式中出现的问题,结合电子信息类本科生毕业设计过程管理特点,提出基于交互式多媒体教学网络的项目递进式技能培养教育方法。实践结果表明,该方法不仅锻炼了学生实践操作技能,而且为后续毕业设计质量的提高奠定了坚实基础。     

Oral versus written assessments: a test of student performance and attitudes

Student performance in and attitudes towards oral and written assessments were compared using quantitative and qualitative methods. Two separate cohorts of students were examined. The first larger cohort of students (n = 99) was randomly divided into ‘oral’ and ‘written’ groups, and the marks that they achieved in the same biology questions were compared. Students in the second smaller cohort (n = 29) were all examined using both written and oral questions concerning both ‘scientific’ and ‘personal development’ topics. Both cohorts showed highly significant differences in the mean marks achieved, with better performance in the oral assessment. There was no evidence of particular groups of students being disadvantaged in the oral tests. These students and also an additional cohort were asked about their attitudes to the two different assessment approaches. Although they tended to be more nervous in the face of oral assessments, many students thought oral assessments were more useful than written assessments. An important theme involved the perceived authenticity or ‘professionalism’ of an oral examination. This study suggests that oral assessments may be more inclusive than written ones and that they can act as powerful tools in helping students establish a ‘professional identity’.     

Design and implementation of a project-based active/cooperative engineering design course for freshmen

A project-based active/cooperative design course is planned, implemented, assessed and evaluated to achieve several desired engineering outcomes. The course allows freshman-level students to gain professional hands-on engineering design experience through an opportunity to practise teamwork, quality principles, communication skills, life-long learning, realistic constraints and awareness of current domestic and global challenges. Throughout successive design reports and in-class assignments, the students are required by the end of the semester to communicate, clearly and concisely, the details of their design both orally and in writing through a functional artefact/prototype, a design notebook, an A0 project poster and a final oral presentation. In addition to these direct assessment tools, several indirect measures are used to ensure triangulation. Assignments are based on customer expectations using a detailed checklist. This paper shows the direct and indirect assessment tools that indicated a high level of achievement of course learning outcomes and a high level of student satisfaction.     

项目设计方法在高职数控技术专业中的应用研究

通过中德职业教育课程体系中项目设计方法的对比,结合实际教学情况,提出了跨课程项目设计的想法,以换热器制造为例将数控技术专业的课程学习设计成一个大项目,其中包含多个子项目,将整个学习的过程贯穿起来,使学生能够学会学习,并具备持续发展的能力。     

An Evaluation of Oral Presentation Competency in Interior Design Education

As digital modelling programmes become increasingly prevalent in interior design education, there is concern that graduates are entering the workforce relying too much on strong graphic presentation skills while lacking the basic ability to speak about design. This study explores the gap between practitioners’ perceptions of importance regarding oral presentation competency and students’ perceptions of their oral presentation performances. Additionally, the study explores correlations between in‐class activities and students’ perceptions of their oral presentation competency. Mixed‐methods of investigation include a Delphi study with a panel of interior design practitioners and a survey questionnaire of both practitioners (n = 102) and currently active interior design students (n = 91) in the USA. An Importance‐Performance framework is employed for comparison. Results identify performance criteria for evaluating oral presentation competency and indicate variances between students’ perceptions of their performance and industry perceptions of importance. Furthermore, students’ in‐class activities including studio critiques and written peer assessments show significant correlation with student oral presentation performance indicating activities already frequently incorporated into a design curriculum may have a greater impact on improving performance than specific oral presentation instruction alone.     

Characterizing the Experimental Procedure in Science Laboratories: A preliminary step towards students experimental design

Many studies have stressed students’ lack of understanding of experiments in laboratories. Some researchers suggest that if students design all or parts of entire experiment, as part of an inquiry-based approach, it would overcome certain difficulties. It requires that a procedure be written for experimental design. The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of a procedure in science laboratories, in an educational context. As a starting point, this paper proposes a model in the form of a hierarchical task diagram that gives the general structure of any procedure. This model allows both the analysis of existing procedures and the design of a new inquiry-based approach. The obtained characteristics are further organized into criteria that can help both teachers and students assess a procedure during and after its writing. These results are obtained through two different sets of data. First, the characteristics of procedures are established by analysing laboratory manuals. This allows the organization and type of information in procedures to be defined. This analysis reveals that students are seldom asked to write a full procedure, but sometimes have to specify tasks within a procedure. Secondly, iterative interviews are undertaken with teachers. This leads to the list of criteria to evaluate the procedure.     

关于《住宅空间设计》课程教学的思考

《住宅空间设计》是我院环艺设计专业的一门主课程,针对本专业的培养要求和环境艺术设计专业的特性,本课程的教学要突出实践技能的培养,使学生通过课堂学习和项目实训熟练地掌握室内家居设计的过程和创意表现的专业技能。本文主要针对《住宅空间设计》教学过程中存在的问题提出个人的建议与观点。     

Active Learning in the Experimental Study of Food

ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper was to describe some major changes made in an experimental foods course by incorporating active and cooperative learning techniques and a student research project. An interactive learning environment for dietetics, food science, and nutritional science students was designed in Project LEA/RN (Learning Enhancement Action/Resource Network). Group activities and 15-min lectures replaced 50-min lectures. Quizzes and out-of-class assignments replaced written examinations. A group laboratory project replaced individual reports. The average class score (85.6%) was better than previous semesters (81.5%). Increased interaction improved students' abilities to solve problems in food science and to articulate oral and written critiques of research results.     

基于项目教学法的初中英语实践案例设计与实施

用项目教学法开展初中英语实践活动,教学的项目由教师设计,学生是实施项目的主体,教师在项目实施的过程中是指导者和帮助者。项目活动的开展采取课堂与课外相结合的方式,由教师带领学生通过合作探究,开展项目活动,指导学生完成各项项目作业,从而掌握知识、开发智能、培养自主学习能力。     

Scaffolding Students’ Online Critiquing of Expert- and Peer-generated Molecular Models of Chemical Reactions

In this study, we developed online critiquing activities using an open-source computer learning environment. We investigated how well the activities scaffolded students to critique molecular models of chemical reactions made by scientists, peers, and a fictitious peer, and whether the activities enhanced the students' understanding of science models and chemical reactions. The activities were implemented in an eighth-grade class with 28 students in a public junior high school in southern Taiwan. The study employed mixed research methods. Data collected included pre- and post-instructional assessments, post-instructional interviews, and students' electronic written responses and oral discussions during the critiquing activities. The results indicated that these activities guided the students to produce overall quality critiques. Also, the students developed a more sophisticated understanding of chemical reactions and scientific models as a result of the intervention. Design considerations for effective model critiquing activities are discussed based on observational results, including the use of peer-generated artefacts for critiquing to promote motivation and collaboration, coupled with critiques of scientific models to enhance students' epistemological understanding of model purpose and communication.     

Students Acquiring Expertise through Student-Centered Learning in Mathematics Lessons

This article reports the results of a study that investigated junior high school students’ experiences with learning in mathematics lessons that were based on self-guidance, use of technology, and minimalist instruction. The study was part of a ClassPad project and data were obtained from reports written by the 23 students after the ClassPad project ended. A model describing the student’s process of mastering doing and learning mathematics through acquiring expertise processes was constructed by using grounded theory method. The mastery of doing and/or learning was reached either with satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Two different learning profiles, one concluding with students feeling satisfied with their learning and the other concluding with students feeling unsatisfied, illustrated the students’ typical processes. The findings further revealed that when the teacher’s role was minimized and the students had the opportunity to self-guide their learning in an environment with various materials and easy-to-use technology, student-centered learning occurred.     

A prototype of workflow management system for construction design projects

1 Introduction 1 In recent years there is a growing understanding of the importance of effective design management to facilitate a coordinated building design within budget, and to ensure the smooth operation of a project [1]. Therefore, it becomes a certain tendency that management of construction design project should combine with information technology (IT) to approach information share and process integration. Since the application of computer-aided design technology (CAD) in China at la…     

Experiential Learning through Community Co‐design in Interior Design Pedagogy

The profit‐driven tendency of interior design trends and styles today has developed in line with the decrease of social awareness in design. The majority of interior design students also decide to pursue interior design education for its marketable and profitable purposes rather than seeing interior design as a field of opportunity to contribute to the social welfare of their communities. Hence, the objective of this research is to implement community service through co‐design in interior design pedagogy. The article describes the learning and design methods used based on human‐centred design approaches of co‐design and analyses the resulting benefits from this approach. Findings reveal that the process of collective creativity and collaborative development with the community enables a direct experience of learning and fosters a deeper connection and understanding of users. They also promote novel multidisciplinary design innovations, accommodate the community's potentials in the society and stimulate a reflexive impact, allowing students to reflect on their future role as interior designers in bringing positive changes to their community against the profit‐driven tendency of contemporary designers today.     

初中英语阅读教学对教师文体知识的要求

阅读教学是中学英语教学的主要内容和形式。学生的词汇、语言知识和阅读技能的获得主要是在阅读中进行的。因此,初中英语教师要具备文体知识,并且在阅读教学中使用文体分析方法培养学生对英语篇章的观察、理解、和欣赏能力,帮助学生了解各类不同文体的特点,学会运用阅读技能更快、更全面地获取文中信息,并最终提高英语表达能力。