Design Process Complete

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

MMSTLC Science Resources (10/07) 1.4 Design-based Student Investigations

Investigation Through Design

Often, student investigations are not simply created to ﬁnd an answer to a question, or toexplore some phenomenon. Rather, science is often used to create solutions to problemsthrough application of scientiﬁc concepts and principles to a real-world situation. This is thework of applied science and engineering.

This activity is designed to examine aspects of a design-based investigation as a strategy forlearning and exploring different phenomena. Design projects often take on a different set ofprocedures that vary somewhat from the standard “scientiﬁc method” to which we are all soaccustomed. Often, such projects may appear to be very much like the investigations we haveall focused on as a way to support authentic student learning. However, there are somesigniﬁcant differences in the process. The following materials are intended to help you betterunderstand the Design Process, and how you might consider using a design activity as a way tobuild understanding and assess student learning,

The Design Process

Design is a process that we use to solve problems, whether we are cognizant of the process ornot. We often try coming up with processes, solutions, etc. without really thinking through allpossible ways to address a problem, and then actually try things out. Sometimes we succeed inwhat we want to accomplish; most of the time we don

ʼ

t. When we don

ʼ

t, we usually tinker withsomething and try it again, or, ideally, try to learn a bit more about the situation or issue we aretrying to address, then tinker and see what happens.In science and engineering, there is a more formal process that takes place, but it is still verysimilar in process to what we do. In a classroom, this process can be represented by thediagram below. Design is a cyclic process that involves research, concept development, designand building, and testing or feedback. Each iteration is intended to help reﬁne the process oradd a new factor to consideration in the design. These steps are outlined in detail on thefollowing page:

MMSTLC Science Resources (10/07) 1.4 Design-based Student Investigations

1. Identify and Deﬁne Design Context.

This is the initial step in any design project, and one that you will want to address speciﬁcally withstudents at the outset of any project. This is also, most likely, going to be developed by you, theteacher, for any project you have students do in the classroom. This includes the following:•

Identifying the goals of the product

. What is it supposed to do or accomplish? (What is thefunction of the item?)•

Identify the context for the product.

Are there specific needs or conditions that you needto work with for the product?•

Deﬁne the design goal/outcome

. State what you are creating, what you will develop to getthere, and what the intended outcome is. This also identifies the guidelines for assessment of the success of the design. This might also address the form of the product, which is what itshould look like.•

Deﬁne the context and conditions for the design.

What are the constraints that you areworking with to complete the design? These might include time, personnel, resources orsupplies, and other constraints about the use of the product.

2. Research and Learn New Content.

Like the student investigations we addressed earlier in this program, one of the critical steps beforethe actual design or investigation can be done is to gather information and build understanding of content relevant to the design. This may take the form of

benchmark lessons

that you, the teacher,lead to help build a common foundation of knowledge and understanding among all students, or it maybe individual or team research that students undertake to gather information and ideas about theproblem.This research can also focus speciﬁcally on the product itself and not just the conditions for the design.Research might examine the following:•

Existing Designs.

What have others designed or considered in the past?•

Conditions for Use.

Where will the product be used and for what purpose?•

Components.

What parts make up the product?•

Materials.

What will the product be made of? What do we need to know about this?Often, a design might include many cycles, each of which is intended to look at a different aspect of aproblem. For instance, design of a building might ﬁrst include design for the basic structure, but thenaddress a different factor, such as heating/cooling, energy, or lighting in the next iteration of thedesign. Doing this can often help you specify what benchmarks and content you need to address witheach cycle.

3. Develop Personal or Team Ideas.

The is where students can generate ideas about the design based on the information gathered in thefirst two steps. You may wish to incorporate an individual brainstorming activity first, so that allstudents can get ideas on paper. Something as simple as a bulleted list of considerations can be usefulhere. Then, if working in groups, it can be useful to have a group “brainstorming/editing” activitywhere ideas from individuals are shared and refined or modified into a group list of ideas. This two-step strategy can often help groups develop better, more thorough lists of ideas, whereas movingimmediately to the group can result in ideas only being generated by the more dominant personalities.Often, students want to immediately jump to this step, and so it is often useful to have a quick set of questions for any students to address at this point about their design ideas. Asking how the questionsidentified in steps 1 and 2 are addressed by their ideas can help students better understand theimportance of these issues.

MMSTLC Science Resources (10/07) 1.4 Design-based Student Investigations

4. Design and Build Models or Artifacts.

This is the step where students will actually design the product, or some model of the product. Thiscan include tangible three-dimensional objects, or sketches or drawing that are very clear about thedesign considerations, dimensions, or other factors in the design. Build in time for such activities, andif groups are involved, the time on task and nature of the task should “ﬁt” the number of peopleworking on the task.

5. Feedback Activities: Testing, Critiquing, and Pin-ups.

The intent of this ﬁnal phase of the design process is to gather feedback that will become theinformation from the actual model or artifact created that is used in the next cycle of the design. Thisfeedback can be generated in a variety of forms, and may include the following activities, individuallyor grouped together to provide such feedback.

• Scientiﬁc testing.

This would include performing any tests or experiments to ensure that theartifact works for the conditions provided, and to identify any possible problems which mightexist that could be addressed in the next iteration of the design cycle. This is a goodopportunity to focus students on data collection and observations.

• Usability / Feasibility testing.

While the above item is intended to deal with the scientificphenomena that are addressed in the project, one of the other aspects of building an item tosolve a problem is doing any testing for usability. For instance, you could design a tool toaddress a specific problem, but if the materials to build that tool cost more than alternativesolutions, it is not likely to be considered as the final design. This type of testing is likely to bedone by analyzing data or making observations about the creation of the object, rather thanspecific testing of a variable using scientific means.

• Critiques.

This can take many forms, but the main goal is to get subjective feedback aboutthe design that might be used to enhance the design in the next cycle. When working withstudents, it it important to frame such feedback in a constructive manner that is notjudgmental of the designer, but rather focuses on aspects of the design. It can often behelpful to use a set of guiding questions that are generated by you, experts, and/or the class.

• Pin-ups.

This is a speciﬁc form of critique that is used often in design ﬁelds, such asengineering and architecture, especially when working with sketches or drawings of an object.This strategy has students post their drawings of the design on the wall around the room,inviting feedback from others. The feedback can be provided on note cards that everyonecompletes during a walking review of each item, a poster sheet next to each design invitingcomments, or verbal feedback if the designer is present. If structured well, you can actuallyinvite students to sketch new suggestions on the design itself. The pin-up method is often arelatively quick way to provide feedback and opinions from others, especially if early in thedesign process.

• Presentations.

Another way to solicit constructive feedback can be to have each design bepresented to the rest of the group. This can provide considerable feedback if students areused to verbal critique, but is usually a time-intensive process that might be reserved for theﬁnal design, else it can drag out the design process considerably.The design cycle then begins again, though the difference is that the second (and all successive)iteration actually has a design to work with. As a result, steps 1 and 3 are often much shorter in theprocess, and more attention is paid to the design, model, and critique.

of 00

Leave a Comment