International Journal of Technology and Design Education

Can simulating the public transit experience of individuals with mild visual impairments promote empathy in design college students, thereby facilitating their design decisions? The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of a mixed empathy intervention (role-playing and experiential prototyping) on improving design students’ empathic ability and design decisions. The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) and a Design Decision Questionnaire (DDQ) were used to evaluate the empathy and design decision-making of design students (n = 51). Paired sample t-tests, Pearson correlation, and linear regression were used for quantitative analysis of the intervention effects, combined with text mining techniques. Key findings include: 1) The empathy intervention significantly improved students' empathy levels (t = − 2.976*); 2) The cognitive empathy level of students was enhanced (t = −2.276*), specifically in terms of cognitive dimensions, depth, and breadth; 3) The empathy intervention significantly affected students' views on the importance of related design elements (t = − 2.958*); 4) Empathy improvement explained around 36.5% of the variation in design decisions. These findings suggest that during a design practice and education method, role-playing and experiential prototyping can not only help students understand the target users but also enhance their consciousness on design service, thus upgrading their design decisions.

This paper develops a Problem-Based Learning as a Service-Based Skills Development (PBL-SBSD) model that aims to meet student curriculum needs by providing them with lifelong skills while solving an identified real-life problem in their community. The paper introduces a six-stage cyclical model combining project-based learning (PBL) and service-based skills development (SBSD) to help promote student curriculum engagement in Design and Technology (D&T). The model enables students to extend their design knowledge in a collaborative problem-solving process involving investigation, planning, construction and knowledge evaluation. The teacher serves as expert practitioner, facilitator and guide while providing students with a leading role in the process. Key to this investigation is how the PBL-SBSD model helps to improve student curriculum engagement, self-efficacy, self-esteem and sense a of community and citizenship. A qualitative case study approach is employed to investigate the impact of the PBL-SBSD model on a chosen cohort of disengaged Year 13 students enrolled in a Building Construction and Allied Trade Skills (BCATS) course as part of their New Zealand Certificate in Education. Data were obtained from student reflections of tasks and captured in daily logbooks including images of artifacts, running journals, annotated sketches, photographs, videos and models. Results showed positive learning outcomes for students participating in the PBL-SBSD project with spill over benefits to service recipients and sponsors.

With the deepening advancement of informatization, higher education has embraced new technology educational tools. However, the superficiality and overemphasis on theory in China’s industrial design education are facing significant challenges. Immersive industrial design instruction offers possibility for enhancing students’ learning experiences, making them more enriching and practical. Theoretical foundations, such as constructivism learning theory, cognitive learning theory, and multisensory stimulus theory, provide guidance for immersive industrial design instruction from the perspectives of the external environment, bodily perception, and psychological states. Technologically, virtual reality, augmented reality, and digital twin technologies drive and support the shaping and optimization of immersive experiences in industrial design instruction. Hence, this study establishes an immersive industrial design education model based on virtual reality technology. In practical terms, experiment participants engage in product design practices through a virtual reality-based immersive teaching platform. Taking the example of surgical bed design within a medical system and interactive operations during certain surgical procedures, participants complete human-product interaction design and interface design by practicing product design, mastering internal structures, dimensions, assembly relationships, color, materials, finishing, and rendering product-environment scenarios. The study employs the UTAUT2 survey questionnaire to analyze and investigate the proposed immersive industrial design teaching platform. The findings confirm that immersive industrial design instruction offers advantages in terms of novelty, usability, and enjoyment. It can stimulate students’ interest in learning, enhance learning efficiency, and thus significantly improve instructional effectiveness, demonstrating higher educational value.

With a focus on the evaluation of conceptual product designs presented in the form of renderings, this paper describes an eye-tracking study in which gaze metrics, design ratings, and overall rankings of designs were measured. To explore the rationales behind fixational eye movements and numeric evaluation outcomes, additional qualitative data were collected through interviews. To investigate the predictive effect of gaze behavior on perceived design quality, we examined how fixation count and total fixation time could predict ratings of five different aspects of design (i.e., degree of innovation, aesthetic quality, realization possibility, functionality, and emotional content). Results showed that as the total time fixating on a design increased, the rating of perceived functionality of this design decreased. Design expertise and visual cognitive style were considered participant variables that are likely to influence design evaluation, and were found to be non-significant. Further analysis of the evaluation outcomes showed that the strength of correlation between the five aspects of perceived design quality varied, and that different aspects seemed not to have an equal impact on the overall rankings of design, with perceived aesthetic quality and functionality being more influential. These two aspects were also most frequently mentioned in the interviews. The findings provide valuable insights into the underlying process of design evaluation. The combined use of eye-tracking, questionnaire, and interview methods enables a richer understanding of image-based design evaluation by enriching the quantitative assessment of eye movement and evaluation outcomes with qualitative data.

This study provides the educational experience of an architectural design studio in a virtual environment. It aims to illuminate the complications of planning and implementing a VDS and find the balance between flexibility and structure in VDS design. Action research was used due to its ability to document the process and reflect on the methods tested. Five cycles of action research, in addition to a preplan and a pilot cycle, were conducted on a case study. Students’ design quality, clarity of presentations, and engagement with VDS were selected as indicators of a successful action plan. The results highlight that despite the initial challenges, introducing new design mediums and leaving the students free to work with any combination of them (flexibility) fosters creativity and efficiency but poses technical issues and confusion. However, sessions with a loose set of activities without proper instructions resulted in increased confusion. The successful action plan provided a VDS with an intricate balance between a structured set of activities to achieve the educational goals and flexible participation of students to improve the engagement of students. In addition, the students’ grades improved during the research as they got more familiar with the VE and got a sense of the VDS. However, the challenges that are reported in this research may moderate the results and instructors should find proper innovative solutions on the go to make the educational experience rewarding for the students.

This paper explores the impact of a digital fabrication course on the development of digital fabrication skills and creativity. The course focused on open-ended prototyping and aimed to investigate its effects on students’ motivation, enjoyment, and confidence. Students’ creativity levels were measured using a creativity test at the beginning and end of a seven-week course. Additionally, the students shared their subjective feedback on their skills and experiences in designing and fabricating prototypes using digital fabrication tools. The results showed that prototyping activities significantly improved students’ overall creativity and perceived proficiency in 2D and 3D modeling, prototyping, embedded programming, and operating fabrication machines. Students’ confidence increased across most skills, although some of their motivation and enjoyment for certain skills decreased by the end of the course. It was also revealed that collaborative learning was perceived as enjoyable and not always suitable for developing certain personal skills, such as 2D modelling and programming. Future research could investigate pedagogical approaches tailored to individual needs and collaborative configurations for optimal skill development.

Design thinking is a cognitive, iterative process that involves identifying goals, understanding users, and creating solutions. It has changed from a designers’ activity to an all-around approach to the innovation process and become a pedagogical phenomenon. In this article, design thinking method is studied in an educational context among young learners (children aged 5–8) through a literature review. The aim of this review is to gain an understanding of the reasons why and the ways in which design thinking is applied as an educational method in early childhood education and care. Through the review, we aim to find new ideas for teaching craft, design, and technology education with young learners. We present the results of 20 peer-reviewed articles reporting empirical studies of applying design thinking methods in an educational context with young learners. The results show that previous research has identified three themes of reasons to apply design thinking in early childhood education and care: enhancing multidisciplinary teaching, teaching design thinking as a method and supporting children’s developmental domains, and participatory learning. The ways to apply design thinking with young learners also coalesced into three themes: children acting as designers by solving real-life problems, open-ended science problems, and challenges in imaginary play. In conclusion, we consider these findings from the perspective of teaching craft, design, and technology education for young learners.

The AI-generated inspirational images provided a new pathway for design learners to obtain inspiration, but previous research had overlooked the impact of the emotional valence and arousal of AI-generated images on design creativity. This study investigated the effects of emotional valence and arousal of AI-generated images on design creativity through two experiments. Experiment 1 examined the impact of emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative) of AI-generated images on design creativity, while Experiment 2 further analyzed the impact of arousal levels (high, low) of AI-generated images and design problem types (conceptual design problems, knowledge design problems) on design creativity under positive emotional conditions. The results showed that AI-generated images with positive emotional valence facilitated divergent thinking and enhanced the flexibility and originality of creative ideas. In knowledge design problems, AI-generated images with positive emotional valence and high arousal levels enhanced the originality of creative ideas. However, in conceptual design problems, the arousal levels of AI-generated images with positive emotional valence had no significant impact on design creativity. These findings provided insights into how design learners could utilize AI assistance in design.

Students exhibit diverse cognitive styles, necessitating tailored educational approaches. However, the integration of Generative AI (GenAI) tools into design education presents challenges in accommodating the diverse cognitive styles of Industrial Design (ID) students. This study aims to identify students’ cognitive styles in a GenAI environment, and examine how GenAI affects the design outcomes and processes of each cognitive style. We investigated the verbal protocols of 30 ID graduate students during conceptual design processes using Midjourney. To better distinguish cognitive styles, we segmented the protocols and encoded them into cognitive maps, ultimately identifying four primary cognitive styles: Associative Focusers, Focused Probers, Treasure Hunters, and Comprehensive Selectors. The cognitive maps also revealed that while GenAI notably enhances the frequency of reflections across all student groups, there are marginal significant differences between the cognitive styles. Additionally, two experts evaluated all design outcomes, finding no significant differences in novelty, diversity, integrity, and feasibility across different cognitive styles, indicating the balancing effect of GenAI on the design outcomes of students with different cognitive styles. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for further research on GenAI’s impact on students, enhance understanding of GenAI’s influence on design processes and outcomes, and offer insights for personalized ID education based on different cognitive.

Spontaneous judgment and decision-making (JDM) are common behaviors that remain ambiguous to be utilized in architecture design studios. A decision-maker (DM) response varies due to individual differences in an architectural design (AD) environment that keeps changing from abstract ideas to concrete design details along the process. The study aims to improve understanding of spontaneous decision-making behaviors based on individual differences during the AD process. Intuitive and deliberate decision-makers (n = 36) identified based on the PID (preference for intuition and deliberation) scale participated as novice (second year) and expert (fourth year) groups of AD students. Electrodermal activity (EDA) was measured along self-assessment during a three-stage time problem of the stratified groups, i.e., deliberate novice (ND), intuitive novice (NI), deliberate expert (ED), and intuitive expert (EI) decision-makers. Differences in physiological changes were observed concerning the stages of AD problem among DM groups. Lesser deviation of EDA was observed among the deliberate style of DMs than the intuitive style. The average EDA of novices peaked during the start whereas the same was found to rise at the end in the case of experts during the time problem. The study discusses individual differences in conditions of spontaneous decision-making behaviors during the AD process based on physiological activation in a time-pressured condition. The study approaches individual differences in design decision-making behaviors from a combined aspect of subject expertise and trait-based conditions along the AD process. It highlights the importance of EDA in future research providing cognitive insights about DM’s behaviors applicable to design thinking and pedagogy.

Creators, creation, and audience are the main pillars of the creative process. This study offers an integrative vision that includes the three main components of the creative process by proposing a seven-stage creativity framework in design education. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, the proposed framework was applied in a major textile design course at Damietta University in Egypt. The paper includes two questionnaire models for the recipients to evaluate the creative outputs and for the students to evaluate the applied framework in general. The study involves an analysis of the experiences and challenges encountered throughout the field application of the proposed framework. The results revealed new dimensions for evaluating creativity and fresh perspectives on the dynamics of the communication process between creators and recipients through their creations/designs. The study's findings could contribute to promoting creativity across the three pillars and advancing design thinking and design education.

This study aimed to examine career-related (CR) views and attitudes in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and determine factors that influence (TVET knowledge, social norms (SN), and self-efficacy (SE)) TVET intention. This cross-sectional study employed a survey as a data collection approach. Responses were gathered from 480 respondents from eight schools in eight districts across Peninsular Malaysia. The study used convenient sampling based on voluntary participation from eight schools, with data distribution and collection assisted by the school administration. SPSS version 21 was used to examine the data, and descriptive, correlation, and regression findings were explained. The overall findings indicated that the respondents’ Realistic, Investigative, and Conventional (RIC) perspectives are more conventional than realistic. Significant differences were found in every perception among the RIC’s three ranked scores (low, moderate, and high). The Kruskal-Wallis H Test only shows the difference as a whole and does not specify the two respondent groups that are responsible for the significant difference; hence the Mann-Whitney U Test was employed as a follow-up test. TVET knowledge (r = .32, p = .000) with moderate strength and SE (r = .536, p = .000) with strong strength were found to have correlations. The study results indicate that RIC are the three personality traits (PT) associated with TVET careers, as those with a high RIC are assumed to be interested in industrial and engineering technology career paths. The study suggests that vocational SE is critical to nurturing students’ interest and intention in TVET; both SE and attitude affect each other.

Technologies curriculum is synonymous with practical learning opportunities that provide students with vocational pathways, apprenticeships, and/or traineeships, in addition to tertiary education. As with any curriculum learning area, a base set of terms that reflect the key knowledge and skills are crucial for students to communicate effectively their understanding and achievement in that learning area. Technologies curriculum is no different. Vocabulary and language acquisition has been well researched in English and non-English language studies, and while there is some understanding of the use of technical language and vocabulary development in the research literature, this has been more prevalent in the vocational educational space. There remains limited understanding of the development and use of technical language, specifically technical vocabulary or terminology, which is posited by the authors to be central to successful problem-solving in the Technologies school curriculum. This paper provides an early insight into the use of technical language and vocabulary by young primary school students (ages 8–10), while working collaboratively on practical Design and Technologies problem-solving activities. By exposing students to three practical problem-solving activities involving students working collaboratively, the authors strove to understand how technical language/vocabulary influenced students’ collaborative problem-solving outcomes. The three activities were models of machines of varying difficulty: simple windmill, complicated tower crane, and complex steerable boat. This study found that the effectiveness of language use, technical vocabulary and problem comprehension strategies should be considered important factors in producing higher quality models and enhancing students collaborative problem-solving skills, especially in complex design-based engineering activities.

This conceptual replication study, building upon Bartholomew (2020), addresses a notable gap in the literature by investigating the potential of using learning by evaluating (LbE) as an interview primer for individual assignments in design coursework. While peer feedback commonly involves both giving and receiving feedback, LbE uniquely focuses on the benefits of giving feedback to engage students actively in learning, reflection, and critical thinking. In this study, the LbE process is utilized to foster student insights that may be transferred to their own work in the preparation and conducting of qualitative research interviews. Conducted as a quasi-experimental study in an entry-level design thinking course with a large sample of undergraduate students (n = 325) this research explores specific ways that exposure to LbE as an evaluative process enhances students’ abilities to perform qualitative research interviews, even without explicit teacher feedback. Findings, consistent with previous studies on LbE, indicate that students exposed to the intervention prepared a higher proportion of open-ended questions in their interview guides, demonstrating improved preparation for each interview. However, the transfer of preparation to performance revealed that certain skills such as asking probing questions and prompting for information, beyond the scope of the preparation of an interview guide, may have contributed to the observation that interview lengths did not significantly improve. Methodologically, this study employed random sampling, and a comparisons of treatment and control group interview guides and interview duration were conducted through independent samples t-tests. The significance of these findings suggest that LbE is an effective pedagogical strategy, specifically for individualized student work, expanding upon findings of previous studies. Educators and researchers may find this exploration of peer feedback through LbE on design thinking and qualitative research interviews to be of particular value as they seek to optimize the impact of peer feedback in enhancing student learning experiences.

Worldwide, engineering design is seeing an increase in pre-college settings due to changing educational policies and standards. Additionally, these projects can help students develop critical skills for a broad range of problem settings, such as design thinking and reflection. In design and other contexts, reflection is a mental process where someone returns to previous experience and uses this revisiting to aid in new actions. While there is substantial research studying design practices at the collegiate or professional level, the design practices of younger students remain understudied. Moreover, past research on reflection has tended to focus on how to support reflection or what impact reflection has and not how students engage in reflection strategies. We had 105 middle school students in the Midwestern United States design a green-energy home using a computer-aided design (CAD) tool, Energy3D. Students were instructed to use Energy3D’s design journal to reflect on their design process throughout the project, enabling students to employ different reflection strategies. Energy3D unobtrusively captures students’ design actions, including journal interactions; these were used to identify students' reflection strategies. Three features of journal interaction were developed, i.e., frequency of interaction across sessions, intensity of interaction, and relative frequency of journal use over other actions. We used k-means cluster analysis on these features and discovered four groups representing different strategies. Regression was used to understand the relationship between reflection strategies and design outcomes. Finally, we draw out implications for supporting pre-college students' productive beginnings of engagement in reflection and future study directions.

This study investigates and contrasts the final year (capstone) engineering projects at three public universities in Southern Africa: Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The research examines their practices, structures, assessment criteria, and challenges through qualitative case studies, utilizing collaborative autoethnography. The findings highlight the crucial role of capstone projects in engineering education and identify significant challenges such as project selection, limited funding, and assessment methods. A comparative analysis reveals local relevance, cross-cultural differences, and the potential of industry-linked projects to enhance regional engineering education. Despite funding and time constraints, the study underscores the need for innovative collaborations to improve project quality and strengthen industry partnerships. These insights contribute to understanding effective engineering education practices, fostering curriculum improvements, enhancing project selection, and refining assessment strategies within Southern African universities. By comparing final year projects across these institutions, the study provides valuable insights into program effectiveness, revealing opportunities for advancement and innovation. This research aims to improve educational practices, consider cultural influences on final year projects, align graduate skills with industry demands, share best practices, address challenges, inform policy and curriculum development, and stimulate collaboration.

Mathematics determines whether students’ study and work in STEM disciplines such as electrical and electronics. However, there is insufficient data to support this claim. It is also premature to assert that the effect of motivation and instruction factors in mathematics on students’ achievement in electricals and electronics is equivocal. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of mathematics achievement, learning motivation, and instructional factors on pre-service teachers’ electrical and electronics achievement. Self-administered questionnaires and achievement tests were used to collect data through a cross-sectional design. Although the results showed that instructional factors did not significantly mediate the relationship between mathematics achievement and electrical and electronics achievement, mathematics achievement and instructional factors substantially positively affected electrical and electronic achievement. Furthermore, the results indicated that pre-service teachers who excel in mathematics would likely excel in electrical and electronics because they benefit from instructional practices that activate cognition through direct instruction, facilitation of discourse, challenging tasks, and cognitive autonomy. Consequently, it is recommended that mathematics teacher educators create stimulating and engaging learning environments for their pre-service technical teachers. This will likely improve their performance in electrical and electronics.

The nature of engineering design thinking needs to change drastically to address the climate crisis, as the technologies and activities that damage the environment are generated by engineering design. Current engineering design practices, as well as engineering design education (EE) pedagogies, are driven by formal knowledge structures, such as mathematical models and optimization techniques, that are far removed from concerns about the environment. To adapt engineering design thinking for sustainability, a clear characterization of the thinking roles played by various design components, including the role of formal structures in sustainable engineering design, is needed. As a first step towards developing this characterization, we investigated the way sustainable micro-hydro power systems were designed by two grassroots technology designers. Our analysis indicated that artifact-based imagination (mental simulation of material structure and dynamics), including artifact-based reasoning (manipulation of imagined artifacts), and synthesis (of requirements and constraints) were key to integrating the eco-social context into the design. Formal structures played a supportive role to these core design thinking processes. To examine the validity of this analysis, we studied two engineering design cases from other areas, exploring whether the patterns we identified using the micro-hydro turbine cases extended to these cases. Results suggested that artifact-based imagination and reasoning and synthesis are common threads across different kinds of engineering design. Based on this finding, we suggest that the ongoing redesign of EE—to support ecological sustainability—needs to focus on artifact-based imagination and synthesis of eco-social factors, in addition to formal structures.

Increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) self-efficacy is necessary for closing the gap in STEM fields. There is a lot expected of students studying in STEM fields. However, studies have frequently mentioned the importance of design thinking in developing self-efficacy in STEM teaching. It has been highlighted as an important predictor of creative problem-solving. Based on this, in a Turkish sample, this study investigated the relationships between self-efficacy in STEM teaching, design thinking, and creative problem-solving of STEM teacher candidates. A total of 522 candidates participated in the study. The results showed that creative problem-solving mediated the relationship between design thinking and self-efficacy in STEM teaching. This information is vital for helping better assess the variables affecting the self-efficacy in STEM teaching of candidates entering the STEM pipeline. The discussion then revolves around integratingdesign thinking, the necessity of a human-centered approach, and creative problem solving, associated with 21st-century competencies into STEM education.

Technology has catalysed significant changes in modes of learning and instruction methodologies, encompassing various practices such as distance, online, and blended delivery of instruction. Design education, rooted in traditional studio models that rely on continual interaction and reflection over student projects, has faced challenges in embracing these approaches seen in other disciplines. While online and blended learning methods present transformative possibilities for instructors, the distinctive characteristics of design education pose barriers to their seamless adoption. This scoping review delves into the landscape of scholarly research concerning technology-enhanced practices in design studio pedagogy, examining trends, gaps, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on studio research and practice. Conducting an extensive review and content analysis of 156 articles spanning various design domains, including architecture, urban design, interior design, industrial design, and visual communication design, this study meticulously documents the practices, and research approaches employed. It also outlines prevalent research themes regarding how technology can augment the learner experience in undergraduate design studios. Following a brief summary of the literature on technology-enhanced approaches in design education, we introduce the review methodology and analysis. Subsequently, we present findings regarding trends and topics in technology-enhanced studio practices. Finally, we offer discussions and recommendations for research and practice to enrich the teaching and learning experience in the design studio context.

Previous research has demonstrated that stereotypes associated with the female gender can impact technology and engineering education results. However, it remains unclear whether these stereotypes affect other relevant factors in technology and engineering education performance. The research used quantitative methods to investigate the correlation between technology and engineering self-efficacy, creative thinking attitudes, and project-based learning value, moderated by gender stereotypes. A total of 262 junior high school students were involved in the research. Correlation analysis showed that dimensions of creative thinking attitudes were positively correlated with project-based learning value, and technology and engineering self-efficacy was positively correlated with creative thinking attitudes and project-based learning value. Moreover, gender stereotypes can effectively moderate individuals’ creative thinking attitudes and technology and engineering self-efficacy in technology and engineering education environments based on the project-based learning approach. Therefore, teachers should create an inclusive learning environment, utilizing authentic teaching methods and diverse materials to showcase gender achievements, thereby highlighting the potential of both genders. In addition, it is possible to create a more equitable environment to minimize the impact of gender stereotypes on students .

The use of persuasion has become ubiquitous within digital technologies to maximize revenue, gather users’ personal data, and increase engagement. However, literature has highlighted the phenomenon of dark designs which influence users into acting against their best interests. It has been argued that to address the issue of dark designs in the digital context, there is a need to integrate formal ethics education within design pedagogy and practice. Recent years have seen the introduction of ethics in university level curriculums, but there are few reports of integrating ethics within school education. To address this gap, we developed an educational module on persuasive digital design with integrated content on ethics for Class IX school students. This module was introduced to 419 students enrolled in five public schools in Delhi (India) as part of an introductory digital design course. Two classroom activities were conducted to observe the impact of this educational intervention. In the first activity, it was observed how the impact of ethics education reflected in students’ design outcomes. In the second activity, it was found that students became more critical in their normative assessments of designs after being introduced to ethical concerns. The findings show that ethics education integrated within digital design curriculums can cultivate ethics sensitivity. We discuss the implications of these findings for the development of ethics-focused design pedagogy.

This systematic literature review focuses on the research published on K-12 maker education in the early 2020s, providing a current picture of the field. Maker education is a hands-on approach to learning that encourages students to engage in collaborative and innovative activities, using a combination of traditional design and fabrication tools and digital technologies to explore real-life phenomena and create tangible artifacts. The review examines the included studies from three perspectives: characteristics, research interests and findings, previous research gaps filled, and further research gaps identified. The review concludes by discussing the overall picture of the research on maker education in the early 2020s and suggesting directions for further studies. Overall, this review provides a valuable resource for researchers, educators, and policymakers to understand the current state of K-12 maker education research.

Although educational robotics competitions have become a popular research field in STEAM education, there is a lack of studies concerning the design process that student teams follow to build their solutions. This study aims to propose and evaluate We!Design!ForSTEAM, an approach for supporting design thinking in the context of STEAM and robotics competitions for elementary school students based on a card-based design game. The proposed methodology is derived from participatory design approaches. It is based on 40 design cards, which aim to empower elementary students to empathize with the problem and ideate creatively and efficiently for identifying solutions. It was applied in 6 sessions with the participation of 31 elementary students preparing for an open educational robotics competition. Questionnaires and focus groups were used to gather data from the students who argued that the proposed approach allowed them to explore the problem in an unexpected, creative, and productive way. They managed to identify complex problems and produce innovative solutions utilizing a structured design process with ideation probes. Weaknesses of the framework, primarily focused on time management, were also identified and reported. We suggest that the proposed approach is a first step to creating design thinking methodologies for elementary students in educational robotics and STEAM.

In multidisciplinary technology education, teachers work together to support pupils in designing with technology. The different forms of support are based on establishing pedagogical infrastructures for pupils’ learning of technology. Although previous studies have identified the main forms of pedagogical infrastructure, how they can be leveraged in collaborative technology education remains elusive. This study adopts the perspective of teaching teams in exploring the kinds of pedagogical infrastructures involved in the collaborative planning and implementation of support for learning by collaborative designing (LCD). The data consist of semi-structured interviews with 11 technology education teaching teams. The participants were 21 experienced in-service teachers who worked in primary, secondary, and general upper secondary schools. A multiple case study approach was applied to identify the differences between the teaching teams in the planning and implementation phases. The data were analyzed following the principles of qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed that the application of pedagogical infrastructures varied during the teaching teams’ process of collaboration. In the planning phase, support was mainly based on establishing material-technological infrastructures. In the implementation phase, teachers often leveraged scaffolding and epistemological infrastructures. Pedagogical infrastructures were mostly targeted for the early stages of the LCD process, as well as in the stage of experimenting and testing design ideas.