ED478715 2002-10-00 Learning Science

through Design. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Development Team

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Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest.............................. 1

WHAT DOES LEARNING THROUGH DESIGN ENTAIL?.............. 3

BENEFITS OF LEARNING THROUGH DESIGN......................... 5

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND SUPPORT......................... 6

REFERENCES.................................................................. 7

ERIC Identifier: ED478715

Publication Date: 2002-10-00

Author: Haury, David L.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education

Columbus OH.

Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest.

THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT

ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC

Mention of "hands-on" or experiential learning and skill development in science

education generally brings to mind the emphasis on inquiry in current reform efforts.

Inquiry has been a major focus in science education for three decades (Haury, 1993),

but it is only one component of the active learning in science endorsed by national

science curriculum standards (National Research Council, NRC, 1996). Actively

engaging students in technological design is the complementary strand that has

ED478715 2002-10-00 Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest. Page 1 of 8
received much less attention. The lack of attention to learning science through design is

unfortunate since this neglected counterpoint to inquiry has the potential to profoundly

enrich science teaching. The neglect is also ironic, since the underlying concept is as

ancient as humanity itself. Teaching anything through design taps into the most basic of

human tendencies: designing procedures and artifacts--using "tools"--to meet

environmental challenges, accomplish difficult tasks, reach goals, increase personal

and collective well-being, and generally enrich life. Using technology to meet the

challenges of life is a characteristically human endeavor that predates science by

thousands of years. Sadly, technology as a subject has been largely ignored in U. S.

schools (Project 2061, 1993) and "has no fixed place in elementary education, is

absent...in the college preparatory curriculum, and does not constitute part of the

content in science courses at any level" (p. 41).

Teaching science through design formally engages students in this basic human

approach to meeting life's challenges, and in the process addresses several

longstanding issues in science education, including the following:

* Integrating the sciences with other subject areas in the arts, humanities, and social

studies.

* Forging connections to daily life.

* Facilitating active learning.

* Accommodating a variety of student learning styles.

* Attending to science in the context of technology and society.

* Nurturing imagination and creative thinking.

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Page 2 of 8 ED478715 2002-10-00 Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest.
* Developing skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making.

* Increasing awareness of science-related dimensions in occupations and avocations.

Further, Alexander (Foreword to Davis, Hawley, McMullan, & Spilka, 1997) has pointed

out that, "Whether the objective is a product, a building, a city plan, or a graphic

communication, when children are engaged in the process of designing, they are

learning to identify needs, frame problems, work collaboratively, explore and appreciate

the context within which a solution must work, weigh alternatives, and communicate

their ideas verbally, graphically, and in three dimensions." In short, learning through

design engages students in activities fundamental to a satisfying and productive life in

the desig7ned environment of our culture.

WHAT DOES LEARNING THROUGH DESIGN

ENTAIL?

The design process varies to some extent according to situational circumstances and

the individuals involved, but it generally includes the following steps:

* Identifying and defining problems.

* Gathering and analyzing information.

* Determining performance criteria for successful solutions.

* Generating alternative solutions and building prototypes.

* Evaluating and selecting appropriate solutions.

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ED478715 2002-10-00 Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest. Page 3 of 8
* Implementing choices.

* Evaluating outcomes (Davis et. al., 1997, p. 3).

In describing the abilities to develop among students the NRC (1996) delineated a

5-step framework for design:

* Stating the problem.

* Designing an approach.

* Implementing a solution.

* Evaluating the solution.

* Communicating the problem, process, and solution (p. 137).

Though this framework is elaborated somewhat differently for standards in grades K-4

(p. 137), 5-8 (p. 165), and 9-12 (p. 192), the same 5-step structure is maintained. In the

NRC model there are modest, but significant, deviations from the general design

process: First, four discrete elements in the generalized model are combined into the

single step of "designing an approach" and second, the important step of

communicating the problem, process, and solution is explicitly stated. Some have

questioned the validity and value of depicting the design process in such a simplistic,

linear model (Roth, Tobin, & Ritchie; 2001), but there is widespread agreement that

engaging students in design is an important dimension of science education (American

Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989; Project 2061, 1993).

The concept of learning through design is not new (Royal College of Art, 1976), and

there have been a number of programs in U. S. schools during the past 30 years

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Page 4 of 8 ED478715 2002-10-00 Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest.
promoting the design process. Until recently, however, it could be said that "the use of

design activities in U. S. schools remains an isolated practice that has its strongest

support at the level of the individual teacher" (Davis, et. al., 1997, p. 8). The current

science education reform movement and publication of national standards (National

Research Council, 1996), however, have reemphasized the need to pay greater

attention to design, particularly in the context of technology and engineering. Though

the standards present design as "the technological parallel to inquiry in science" (p.

135), others go further in making a distinction between the roles of analysis and

synthesis, pointing out that analysis is more central to inquiry, but synthesis is more

central to the problem solving strategies associated with design (Davis et. al, 1997, p.

4). The differences between inquiry and design also relate to differences in the

purposes of science and technology: "scientific inquiry is driven by the desire to

understand the natural world, and technological design is driven by the need to meet

human needs and solve human problems" (NRC, 1996, p. 192).

BENEFITS OF LEARNING THROUGH DESIGN

As noted by Roth, Tobin, and Ritchie (2001), the act of designing focuses student

attention on doing something rather than knowing something, which changes the school

learning context to a more natural condition that resembles learning situations outside

schools, learning on a "need-to-know" basis. Design involves learning along the way in

the process of pursuing goals, goals that can be set by students themselves and

pursued at their own pace (p. 27).

Another benefit of design activities is the opportunity to naturally weave together skills,

processes, and knowledge that are typically taught separately in the discrete subjects of

traditional curricula. Design activities engage students in "enterprise" rather than "school

subjects"(Davis et al, 1997, p. 4), an approach that introduces students to the

integrated, synthetic problem solving required of adults in their work and daily lives.

Design activities also provide an experiential context for students in the early grades to

gain familiarity with the materials and forces of nature before they are able to engage in

direct scientific inquiry (Davis et. al, 1997, p. 74). Young students can examine familiar

objects from zippers to can openers and cars to study design problems and evaluate

effectiveness.

Roth (1996b) has also pointed out that design activities give rise to questions for which

teachers do not have predetermined answers. Questioning patterns can be directly

based on student experiences and their thinking relative to the challenges and concerns

emerging from the design process. Student understanding and reasoning, then, can be

evaluated on context-specific criteria associated with the design activity rather than

semblance to predetermined "answers."

Finally, learning to frame and solve the problems associated with design activities

prepares students for the lifelong challenge to frame questions, gather information,

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ED478715 2002-10-00 Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest. Page 5 of 8
learn, and develop competences as they solve problems in the context of daily life

(Roth, 1996a, p. 45).

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND SUPPORT

Formal attention to learning through design is an emerging field in education, and there

are few sustained programs with resources and proven practices to lead the way. There

are, however, widely scattered programs, case studies, and information sources where

science educators can gain direction and assistance. For reports on the implementation

of engineering design projects in 24 secondary-science classrooms following an

inservice professional-development course conducted at a university engineering

college, see Carlsen (1998). Several detailed case studies of learning through design

are presented by Roth, Tobin and Richie (2001). Following is a brief compilation of

resources that can point the way to learning science through design.

"Learning by Design from Theory to Practice"

J. L. Kolodner, D. Crismond, J. Gray, J. Holbrook, & S. Puntambekar

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/edutech/projects/lbd_icls98/icls_LBD.html

"LEGO/logo: Learning Through and About Design"

M. Resnick & S. Ocko

http://llk.media.mit.edu/papers/1991/ll.html

"NASA Earth-to-orbit Engineering Design Challenges"

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http://www.terc.edu/TEMPLATE/Products/item.cfm?ProductID=10

"Science by Design" Series

High school challenges published by the National Science Teachers Association.

Individual titles include: "Construct-a-glove", "Construct-a-boat",

"Construct-a-greenhouse", and "Construct-a-catapult".

http://ra.terc.edu/publications/Alliance_Access/Vol5-No1/design.ht ml

"Science, Design, and Education"

http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~crusbult/methods/

REFERENCES

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). "Science for all

Americans: A Project 2061 report on literacy goals in science, mathematics, and

technology". Washington, DC: Author. [Available online at:

http://www.project2061.org/tools/sfaaol/sfaatoc.htm]

Carlsen, W. S. (1998). Engineering Design in the Classroom: Is It Good Science

Education or is It Revolting? "Research in Science Education", 28 (1), 51-63.

Davis, M., Hawley, P., McMullan, B., & Spilka, G. (1997). "Design as a catalyst for

learning". Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

National Research Council. (1996). "National science education standards".

Washington. DC: National Academy Press. [Available online at:

http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/]

Project 2061. (1993). "Benchmarks for science literacy". New York: Oxford University

Press.

Roth, W-M. (1996a). Art and artifact of children's designing: A situated cognition

ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov

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perspective. "The Journal of the Learning Sciences", 5, 129-166.

Roth, W-M. (1996b). Teacher questioning in an open-inquiry learning environment:

Interactions of context, content, and student responses. "Journal of Research in

Science Teaching", 33, 709-736.

Roth, W-M, Tobin, K., & Ritchie, S. (2001). Re/Constructing elementary science. New

York: Peter Lang.

Royal College of Art. (1976). "Design in general education. Part one: Summary of

findings and recommendations". London: Author.

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This digest was funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S.

Department of Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0024. Opinions expressed in

this digest do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or the U.S.

Department of Education.

Title: Learning Science through Design. ERIC Digest.

Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)

(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);

Available From: ERIC/CSMEE, 1929 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1080. Tel:

800-276-0462; Fax: 614-292-0263; e-mail: ericse@osu.edu; Web site: www.ericse.org.

Descriptors: Design, Elementary Secondary Education, Experiential Learning, Hands

on Science, Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Approach, Science Instruction, Teaching Methods

Identifiers: ERIC Digests

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