Analyzing the Tacit Strategies of Novice Designers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problem‐solving strategies of students as they attempted to design a solution to a technological problem. Ten grade 7 students, who had received no prior technology education instruction, were formed into single‐sex dyads and provided with a design brief from which they designed and made a technological solution. The natural talk between the subjects was taped and transcribed. A description of their designing‐in‐action was added to the transcript. Actions were coded using an empirically derived scheme grounded in both a general problem‐solving model and theoretical models of the design process. Segments coded as designing were analyzed using descriptive statistics. This analysis provided the data for mapping, that is, visually representing, the design process used by the subjects. Results showed that novice designers do not design in the way described in textbooks. Their strategy is not linear but highly iterative. Subjects developed their ideas using three‐dimensional materials rather than two‐dimensional sketches. They were unlikely to generate several possible solutions prior to modelling, but developed solutions serially. The act of modelling stimulated the generation of additional ideas. Evaluation occurred repeatedly throughout their designing.