Bringing product design to a diverse young public

Authors: Humphries-Smith, T. and Abate, G.

Journal: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, E and PDE 2018

ISBN: 9781912254026

Abstract:

This paper reports on an evaluation of an outreach provision in STEM education, specifically Product Design, run by Bournemouth University, being offered to around 18 schools in its local area, in the South of the UK. The paper cites a number of studies indicating that outreach provision is very diverse globally, as well as in the UK, often erratically funded and rarely properly evaluated. The outreach provision evaluated here has the advantage of having maintained longitudinal data over its 5 year life to date. The paper reports on the evaluation of qualitative feedback received from school teachers and quantitative data collected on numbers of pupils who attended the workshops who chose a design related subject for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level study which is typically commenced in school year 9, age 12/13 years. While it is acknowledged the data is not perfect for considering impact solely on those from lower socio-economic backgrounds the provision was also aimed more generally at increasing numbers of young people taking up STEM related further and higher education. The conclusions reached from the evaluation demonstrate the importance of outreach activities in improving education for the public, and thus, to increasing diversity in the product and design engineering professions, which in turn may provide a partial answer to the recognized skills shortages.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/30678/

Source: Scopus

Bringing Product Design to a Diverse Young Public

Authors: Humphries-Smith, T. and Abate, G.

Editors: Childs, P., Green, S., Hall, A., Bohemia, E., Kovacevic, A., Winslow, J. and Buck, L.

Conference: International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education

Dates: 6-7 September 2018

Journal: The 20th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education

Abstract:

This paper reports on an evaluation of an outreach provision in STEM education, specifically Product Design, run by Bournemouth University, being offered to around 18 schools in its local area, in the South of the UK. The paper cites a number of studies indicating that outreach provision is very diverse globally, as well as in the UK, often erratically funded and rarely properly evaluated. The outreach provision evaluated here has the advantage of having maintained longitudinal data over its 5 year life to date.

The paper reports on the evaluation of qualitative feedback received from school teachers and quantitative data collected on numbers of pupils who attended the workshops who chose a design related subject for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level study which is typically commenced in school year 9, age 12/13 years. While it is acknowledged the data is not perfect for considering impact solely on those from lower socio-economic backgrounds the provision was also aimed more generally at increasing numbers of young people taking up STEM related further and higher education.

The conclusions reached from the evaluation demonstrate the importance of outreach activities in improving education for the public, and thus, to increasing diversity in the product and design engineering professions, which in turn may provide a partial answer to the recognized skills shortages.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/30678/

Source: Manual

Bringing Product Design to a Diverse Young Public.

Authors: Humphries-Smith, T. and Abate, G.

Editors: Childs, P., Green, S., Hall, A., Bohemia, E., Kovacevic, A., Winslow, J. and Buck, L.

Conference: International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2018)

Abstract:

This paper reports on an evaluation of an outreach provision in STEM education, specifically Product Design, run by Bournemouth University, being offered to around 18 schools in its local area, in the South of the UK. The paper cites a number of studies indicating that outreach provision is very diverse globally, as well as in the UK, often erratically funded and rarely properly evaluated. The outreach provision evaluated here has the advantage of having maintained longitudinal data over its 5 year life to date. The paper reports on the evaluation of qualitative feedback received from school teachers and quantitative data collected on numbers of pupils who attended the workshops who chose a design related subject for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level study which is typically commenced in school year 9, age 12/13 years. While it is acknowledged the data is not perfect for considering impact solely on those from lower socio-economic backgrounds the provision was also aimed more generally at increasing numbers of young people taking up STEM related further and higher education. The conclusions reached from the evaluation demonstrate the importance of outreach activities in improving education for the public, and thus, to increasing diversity in the product and design engineering professions, which in turn may provide a partial answer to the recognized skills shortages.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/30678/

Source: BURO EPrints