Design Education in China: New Proposals to Address Endemic Problems

This paper is concerned with identifying the problems that pervade design education and the practice of design in China so that a way forward can be proposed to make improvements that will enable the Chinese design industry to become more competitive after entry into the World Trade Organisation. The authors gathered data from their own experiences and observations in situ, as well as surveys they commissioned. They found that there are numerous endemic, fundamental problems in the practice of design education across the whole education sector. Fortunately, many Chinese design educators and managers of design companies are cognizant of these problems and are motivated to institute changes, even though they are unsure of what these changes should be or how they should be implemented. The authors conclude by making their own recommendations for effecting improvements in design education and professional development.     

TELEVISION AND HISTORY TEACHING IN SCHOOLS

A principal teacher of History in an Aberdeenshire school describes the way in which he is using the YTV School Series, ‘How we Used to Live’ to support the teaching of history for less able pupils. This account is based on a talk originally given at Aberdeen College of Education.     

Knowledge exchange in clusters: The contingent role of regional inventive concentration

Geographic clusters confer advantages to collocated firms, in particular access to local know-how. This article argues that the access to local know-how is contingent on the extent to which inventive activity is concentrated in the cluster. We draw on sociological theories of generalized exchange to argue that contrasting logics of exchange emerge in geographic clusters that have opposing effects on the extent to which firms benefit from collaborating with local organizations and source local knowledge. A longitudinal data set of 1903 firms engaged in nanotechnology research is used to examine the relationship between firm co-authorships on scientific articles with firms and public research organizations (PROs) and firm inventive performance. Results indicate that when cluster-level firm inventive concentration is high, collaborations with local firms are associated with lower inventive performance. We also find that firms source less local knowledge for their own inventions when firm inventive concentration is high. In contrast, concentrated inventive activity among PROs increases the positive relationship between collaborations with local PROs and firm inventive performance. Results also show firms source more knowledge from local PROs when local PRO inventive concentration is high. The findings suggest that inventive concentration both helps and hinders spill-over of cutting-edge knowledge.     

Heritage education in informal contexts. Motivation and self-concept / Educación patrimonial en contextos informales. Motivación y autoconcepto

The objective of this study is to analyse differences in motivation and social self-concept in students participating in three different programmes of heritage education in informal contexts. A total of 667 secondary school students from the mining and industrial area of Bizkaia participated in the study. The results show differences in motivation between experimental and control groups before and after their participation in the inter-generational programme. Differences were also found in social self-concept after participation in the inter-generational programme and a follow-up class, after participation in the Dolores Ibarruri programme and after visiting the Mining Museum. With regard to gender, no differences are found in motivation either before or after participation, although differences are found in favour of females in social self-concept.     

Strategic interactions: Games of the Ju|’hoan

Three strategic games played by the Ju|’hoan—a board, a card, and a gesture game—complicate the rhetorics that suggest an evolutionary or psychological significance of play. They are mostly played by adults, although every individual adult does not necessarily engage in each game. The Ju|’hoan card and board game practices were transmitted through contact across large parts of Botswana and Namibia, while the gesture game n!àì has been known in other San communities. It suggests that the significance of strategic games is more likely found in its potential for social interaction (i.e., allowing to overcome cultural divides) than in evolution and psychology. Within the anthropological literature, strategy games were thought to be absent in egalitarian societies, such as that of the Ju|’hoan. Here, the roles of power, competition, and winning were thought to be disruptive and unwanted. A closer examination of the details behind the Ju|’hoan games shows that not only were strategy games adopted and adapted from neighboring societies but that the game of n!àì was developed by the Ju|’hoan into a competitive one. The evolutionary or psychological significance of play is informed by studies on individual play, children’s play, and games with informal rules. When considering strategic games throughout history, it is their role of facilitator rather than the playing practice itself that makes games relevant across languages, cultural divides, and sociopolitical boundaries.