The Research Gap: How to Assess Knowledge Components in Design & Technology

How do we effectively assess knowledge in Design and Technology education? It's a question with surprisingly few research-backed answers, despite its critical importance to teaching practice.

I talk about  this assessment gap in the second episode of my sub-series on D&T research. I remind listeners that D&T knowledge encompasses both conceptual understanding ("knowing what") and procedural application ("knowing how"), forming the foundation upon which capability is built.

The limited existing research highlights two common assessment approaches: identifying technological objects and materials with justification, and describing product functions while understanding the relationship between form and function. I illustrate this with a propelling pencil example, demonstrating how students need vocabulary to articulate the tension between physical characteristics and functional requirements.

Teacher expertise emerges as perhaps the most crucial factor in effective knowledge assessment. Research clearly shows that teachers must possess secure subject content knowledge to design meaningful tests—a challenge in today's educational landscape with fewer specialist D&T teachers. I extend this requirement beyond content knowledge to include pedagogical understanding of assessment methodologies and curricular knowledge about D&T's structure.

For classroom application, I explain that formative assessment can be integrated within larger assessments as targeted checkpoints, allowing teachers to identify misconceptions efficiently. Interestingly, research reveals no particular assessment format (multiple-choice, essays, flowcharts) proves superior to others—what matters most is purposeful design aligned with learning goals.

Considering your own teaching practice, how might targeted knowledge assessments enhance your students' overall learning? The limited research presents an opportunity for practitioners to contribute to our collective understanding. Share your effective assessment strategies and join the conversation about balancing knowledge assessment with capability development in D&T education.

Chapters

• 0:00 Podcast Introduction
• 0:33 Assessing Discrete Knowledge Components
• 1:28 Limited Research on Knowledge Assessment
• 4:14 Teacher's Role in Assessment
• 6:14 Formative Assessment Approaches
• 8:00 Assessment Formats and Conclusion
• 9:35 Closing and Call to Action

Transcript

Alison Hardy: 0:06

you're listening to the talking dnt podcast. I'm dr allison hardy, a writer, researcher and advocate of design and technology education. In each episode I share views, news and opinions about dnt. In the previous episode I talked a little bit about a framework for assessment in terms of helping us think about what the research says about design and technology. This is the second episode of the sub-series of the series about what the research says about design and technology, and this episode I'm going to focus specifically on assessing the discrete knowledge components in D&T. So again, let's not get too hung up on this word of knowledge. If you listen back to a previous episode and I talk about what the research says about the structure of knowledge in design and technology, that encompasses knowing what and knowing how, the conceptual and the procedural, the cognitive and the action, and it's those two things that are absolutely key to design and technology and that's what I'm focusing on in this episode. This is not about assessing design and technology capability. That's going to come in the next two episode. So what does the research say? Well, not a lot actually. So I probably could stop there, couldn't I?

Alison Hardy: 1:31

There's limited research on whether different methods of assessing knowledge in dnt work. There's loads on dnt capability, but not so much on this. Where it has been done and it's sort of been analyzed, as in the different forms that are used, not necessarily whether they are effective or good it's been about identifying technological objects which might be um pieces of equipment that children use different processes, different materials. Okay, it might be a little bit further about. This is a bag that children are going to carry to schools. It needs to be able to go in the washing machine, it needs to have some different components and they're going to use it for about six months. Suggest some possible materials that could be used for the main body of the bag, and so what that's asking them to do is to do some recall, but they've got to make some decisions and justify it.

Alison Hardy: 2:44

Another common focus in the research I'm saying common focus in the limited research is about describing the functions of products or processes and explaining their appropriateness. So if I think back to some of the categories of knowledge, what we might think about in there is that children are able to describe the main function of a product. They're able to think about its physical nature, its functional nature, and they know that they're slightly different. Those things different mean do mean different things, and so they're aware of the tension sometimes in a product, the way it functions and the way it appears, it handles or is made. So I'm looking at a propelling pencil I've got on my desk and its function is to hold the rubber at the top, hold the pencil lead and be able to propel the lead out as necessary and also to be held, whereas the physical nature is, it's got to have some strength so it can be held and it's got to be able to be disposed of and it's got to be light. I mean, that's kind of putting it very, very simply. And so children need to be able to have some language to be able to think about the function of an object and its physical nature of the object. So that's something else that gets assessed in terms of subject knowledge.

Alison Hardy: 4:15

So when you're thinking about designing assessments for knowledge, whether formative or summative, you need to think about what is it that you are assessing and why? Okay, really, assessments in this sort of aspect of assessing design and technological knowledge are thinking about they're revealing whether pupils have learnt specific aspects of the curriculum. Okay, and that's not, as in just recall about materials or processes, but it's that extra bit, as I've just said, that physical and functional and the combination between the two. And then what the research does say about the role of the teacher in assessing subject knowledge is it says very clearly that teachers need secure subject content knowledge to design effective tests. So this is where we've got this current situation, in england particularly and it may well be happening elsewhere that we have more and more non-specialists or we have less and less um undergraduate routes into design and technology. So teachers don't necessarily have a breadth of subject knowledge and then they're designing assessments, tests based potentially on weak subject knowledge, which may well have come from flawed textbooks, but that's a whole other conversation. And so all of that influences the quality and the focus of knowledge assessments. But I think it goes further, that it's not just about having the secure content knowledge, it's having secure pedagogical knowledge about assessment and the different ways of assessing, and also then having secure subject curricular knowledge in knowing how the curriculum is structured in design and technology and why, so you know why you're assessing these things. So that's something about the role of the teacher.

Alison Hardy: 6:16

So if we think about formative assessment of knowledge components and knowledge aspects, it can occur at different stages. It doesn't happen to happen at the beginning or in the middle. It can occur at different stages. It doesn't happen to happen at the beginning or in the middle. It can happen quickly, sharply. It may happen within a larger summative assessment, and this helps us think about when we're integrating formative assessment. And so you might think about checkpoints or stages on specific knowledge components. So you might want to check things, to give feedback on pupils' understanding of specific materials, knowledge or specific properties, which allows you then to think about misconceptions or knowledge. We know there's research about doing this. Okay, and again, you have to have secure subject knowledge. That's what the research says, and it can become an integrated part rather than being a completely separate part, and that becomes really, really important. And so it's about creating opportunities within a larger assessment for focus feedback on specific knowledge elements. It doesn't have to be grandiose, ok, but it is thinking about how you do it In terms of the formats of formative and summative tests about knowledge assessments.

Alison Hardy: 7:38

There's no strong evidence that multiple choice or an essay question or completing a flow chart or something like that is any better than any other. There's no. There's no research that says that. The research that has been done says that there is no evidence that that one form is better than another. But it's back to, as a teacher, having an awareness of different formats of assessment of knowledge and therefore thinking about the purpose. And it's also thinking about the approach of are you assessing a breadth or a depth of knowledge. So let's just summarise here knowledge assessment is focused, it's specific and it's usually discrete.

Alison Hardy: 8:27

But as a formative assessment it's thought about where it's positioned and why it's positioned, because sometimes the formative assessment is useful in helping identify knowledge gaps that the children have before. That impacts on their capability and I'll come on to that in a future episode. So thinking about how you design those and how you put those in is really important. So think about that balance within your teaching, about assessing knowledge and developing capability. You know, how might targeted knowledge assessment in your assessments in your teaching improve overall learning? And do you do a variety? Okay, so that's short, sharp hit about knowledge assessment because there isn't much research out there. So if you're doing some in your classroom, then do let me know. You know, if you're checking out which ones work, which ones work better, then let me know and let's kind of add that to the research database In the next episode I'm going to look at formative assessment in terms of design, about design critiques and peer assessment. Okay, so again, thanks for listening and again, do let me know if you're doing anything. In particular. That's about how you're assessing knowledge in design and technology.

Alison Hardy: 9:51

I'm Dr Alison Hardy and you've been listening to the Talking D&T podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast, then do subscribe, on whatever platform you use, and do consider leaving a review, as it does help others find the podcast. I do the podcast because I want to support the D&T community in developing their practice, so please do share the podcast with your D&T community. If you want to respond to something I've talked about or have an idea for a future episode, then either leave me a voice memo via SpeakPipe or drop me an email. You can find details about me, the podcast and how to connect with me on my website, dralisonhardycom. Also, if you want to support the podcast financially, you can become a patron. Links to SpeakPipe, patreon and my website are in the show notes. Thanks for listening.