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Nuffield Primary D&T features in Education Transactions
Tue, 24 June 2008

Nuffield Primary Design & Technology

With the emphasis of the revised curriculum in Wales (2008) on developing skills rather than merely transferring facts – and an increasing focus on developing creative and critical thinking by means of questioning, planning, and problem-solving – design and technology is an ideal subject area for promoting such development. The latest issue of Education Transactions offers an overview of the development of design and technology in the curriculum in Wales, England and Finland.

In the first paper, Gwyn Pritchard analyses how the different stages of the process of designing and making in the primary classroom provide valuable opportunities for promoting the individual’s language development.

The second paper by Aki Rasinen, Pasi Ikonen, and Timo Rissanen describes the development of craft education to technology education in Finnish comprehensive schools since the 1970s.

In the third paper, David Barlex, Director of the Nuffield Primary Design and Technology Project, sets out the rationale for setting up the project in 1996 and analyses its subsequent impact. The last paper, by Louise Davies, Deputy Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association, elaborates on the activities of this professional organisation. The booklet is published in bilingual format, with 56 pages in both languages. Price: £5.00 including p&p. Use the web link below to order your copy.

http: //www.bangor.ac.uk/addysg/publications/transactions.php

And from the Nuffield point of view particularly pleasing to see on the cover images of products designed and made by teachers on in-service courses developed by Paul King in Cardiff.