Research projects SEC

Research projects SEC

Theme: Knowledge and Design in Education

Projects

The Science Education research at Delft University of Technology focuses on the relation between design activities and technological and scientific knowledge. Design is seen as a process in which both previously learnt knowledge is used, thereby deepening and more embedded in other knowledge, and new knowledge is gained in the same process. This insight can be useful for science education in that it suggests that the design process is an opportunity for learning new concepts, but also to deepen and broaden the already learnt concepts. For technology education it means a possible contribution to science education as well as the suggestion that doing design projects does not only result in learning how to design but can also be used as a strategy to learn technological concepts and deepen and broaden the understanding of already learnt technological concepts.

This idea is elaborated for each of the school subjects, for which the Science Education group educates teachers for lower and upper secondary school. In addition some research is dedicated to design in primary education as a strategy for concept learning.

The Delft Science Education research has a preference for Design-Based Research because of the relation with the teacher education programme. Design-Based Research does not work with experimental settings that still need ‘translation’ to realistic classroom situations, but directly aims at designing interventions of which it is expected that they will work. Careful evaluation of those interventions is expected to result in knowledge development and thus forms a research contribution to the field.

The Science Education group is also involved in the organisation of the international Pupils’ Attitudes Towards Technology (PATT) conference. In 2009 the PATT-22 was held in Delft. Electronic Proceedings of this conference are available online. A book with selected and revised papers will be published by Sense Publishers.

The Programme leader (Marc J. de Vries) also serves as the editor-in-chief of the International Journal for Technology and Design Education, published by Springer.

He is also the chairperson of the TUDelft Network for Design Education.

Apart from this primary focus, ad-hoc topics can be part of the research activities. Not only staff, but also students can be involved in the research programme.

The Science Education research is closely related to the research done by the Science Communication group. Together the two groups are responsible for the Science Education and Communication (SEC) master education programme.

Those who are interested in cooperating with us, or students that are interested in participating in the programme, can contact the Programme leader, Marc J. de Vries.