Involving students in sharing and clarifying learning intentions related to 21st century skills in primary design and technology education

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆

Design and Technology Education supports 21st-century skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and cooperation, yet current project-based approaches often do not realize their full potential. A case study tests formative assessment through a newly developed interactive visualization strategy for 11- and 12-year-old students, enabling shared goal clarification for divergent thinking. Collective drawings and mid-session reflection improve understanding of success criteria, diagnose strengths and weaknesses, and strengthen self-evaluation, with reported gains after reflection.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Creativity and design as a vehicle for 21st-century skills

Limits of current design projects

Formative assessment concepts and definitions

Key strategies for formative assessment

Formative assessment in authentic design projects

Gap: explicit learning intentions and success criteria

Case study approach and interactive tool

Involving students in sharing and clarifying learning intentions related to 21st century skills in primary design and technology education Remke Klapwijk, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Niels van den Burg, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Abstract Design and Technology Education is an excellent vehicle for the development of the so-called 21st-Century skills, such as creativity, critical thinking and cooperation. However, the development of these skills through design projects does not yet reach its full potential. Formative assessment is able to support the learning of 21st-Century skills. In a case study a teacher shares and clarifies the goal of divergent thinking with her class of 11-and 12-year old’s using a newly developed interactive approach. Small drawings were made collectively to visualize the skill. Half-way during the brainstorm session, students were asked to assess their brainstorm results and divergent thinking skills in a collective reflection. The results show that the interactive visual approach led students to understand how to be successful in divergent thinking. They collectively developed expressions to talk about how sound divergent thinking looks and this enabled them to diagnose strengths and weaknesses in divergent thinking. All interviewed students reported an improvement in divergent thinking after the collective reflection. This indicates that active involvement of students in clarifying learning intentions enables the development of relevant feedback. Although this result was only achieved in one class with one particular teacher, it underlines the value of the interactive visualization tool. Furthermore, it shows that the formative assessment strategy of sharing, clarifying and understanding learning intentions and success criteria related to 21st century skills in the context of real-life design projects supports self-evaluation and feedback uptake. Keywords Sharing and clarifying learning intentions, formative assessment, divergent thinking, primary education, brainstorming, self-evaluation Introduction Combined with the growing need for creativity in many occupations, policymakers, companies, educators and parents find it important that education cultivates creativity. Design and Technology activities are an excellent vehicle to develop creativity (Barlex, 2007; Klapwijk, 2017; Benson, 2017) . Through an iterative design process, students learn to develop original and relevant solutions. However, although design activities have the potential to stimulate learners to develop creativity and other 21st century divergent thinking skills, this potential is often not achieved. Schut, Klapwijk, Gielen, Van Doorn and De Vries (2019) observed design fixation among primary school pupils, while Lindfors, Heinola and Kolha (2018) concluded that avoidance oriented students tend to avoid developing solutions during a design challenge. Formative assessment could support the learning process during design projects as it is meant to directly influence the learning process. It is defined as “any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning”(Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2004, p. 10) . Important is “the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there”(Broadfoot, Daugherty, Gardner, Harlen, James, 2002, pp. 2-3) . Formative assessment has profound learning gains especially when teachers include strategies for sharing, clarifying and understanding learning intentions and success criteria (Wiliam 2018; White & Frederiksen, 1998) . Five key-strategies for formative assessment should be used in an integrated way (Wiliam, 2018): Figure 1. Five key-strategies for formative assessment (Wiliam 2018). In the context of authentic design and te

FAQs

How does the study support 21st-century skills in primary design and technology education?

It uses formative assessment to help students share and clarify learning intentions tied to divergent thinking, with an interactive approach that supports reflection and feedback use.

What happens during the classroom intervention?

Students create small drawings to visualize the skill, assess their brainstorming results mid-session, and participate in collective reflection on divergent thinking.

What evidence shows an improvement after the reflection?

All interviewed students reported improved divergent thinking after the collective reflection, indicating that student involvement in clarifying learning intentions enables effective feedback.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆