All about...D&T

To plan effective D&T activities, practitioners need first to acknowledge the experiences that children bring with them to the early years setting, their stage of development and their rapid development in a period when most children demonstrate a capacity for learning at a speed which may never be reached again.

Young children may appear to be inexperienced learners, but they have a wealth of experience of which adults are unaware. We are living in a time of rapid technological change and we may see evidence of children's range of skills, knowledge and understanding in design and technology in their role play.

Many young children, even at three or four years of age, use control technology. They can operate a video recorder, know how a telephone is used and understand how to use a soft drinks machine. Children often have strong preferences for one product rather than another, refusing to wear an item of clothing not only on grounds of comfort but for aesthetic reasons. They develop and use their own criteria to evaluate products and to make informed choices at a surprisingly early age.

CHILD OBSERVATIONS

Through observations in the nursery, practitioners can see evidence of a child's experiences and developing understanding of design and technology. Within the nursery, children may experience using toys with control mechanisms -toy tape recorders, karaoke and CD players. They will make and use props for their play that replicate control technology artefacts - video recorders, microwave cookers, cameras and mobile phones.

A child may, for example, rearrange furniture to suit his imaginative needs when constructing a shop, or adapt objects for his imaginative use.

Take also the example of Daisy, aged four. She selected a toothpaste box from the resource box and went to the D&T table. She made a hole in the flap of the box with a single hole punch - the tool of the day - and explored the hinged effect of the flap. From a range of fixtures and fittings on offer, she selected some string and threaded it through the hole in the box. Problems arose when she could not tie the string, so she asked a practitioner for masking tape - something she had used previously but wasn't available that day. With assistance she secured the string with masking tape and waggled the box up and down like a puppet. Again with assistance, she joined a longer piece of string to the first. This transformed the puppet into a dog, which was dragged around the nursery as her companion for the rest of the session.

Such a simple activity demonstrates that Daisy has an awareness of control, input and output. She is able to select the most effective materials for her needs, not only from the range of materials on offer, but also from those that she has used previously. In her designerly play Daisy changes the purpose of the ' play prop' by using additional materials within the process to modifying the artefact, the object she has made, to meet her needs.

ADULT SUPPORT

To be successful, D&T activities depend on effective practitioner support where the practitioner:

* acknowledges and supports children's ideas in all types of activities * shows that they can learn alongside the children and share in their discoveries * views things on both physical and developmental levels through children's eyes, where the world can look very different * has the ability to develop close professional relationships with children * allows children plenty of time in which to carry to out their work, and * is able to teach new skills and knowledge appropriate to an activity while allowing the children as far as possible to make their own decisions.

Activities should never be over-directed, as this will only impede learning by thwarting opportunities for discovery. In other words, D&T should never be about making a dozen identical cards by simply following practitioners' instructions or assembling prepared materials. Nor should children be given total freedom to experiment, as this also will achieve little, leading only to frustration and possibly injury if children use the wrong materials and tools.

Effective questioning is crucial to achieving this balance. Practitioners' questions should aim to develop children's self-questioning skills and so allow them to take an idea further or develop a hypothesis.

To achieve this, practitioners should aim to ask closed questions, such as 'is it...? does it...?', which have only one correct answer, to help children to observe what is happening; and open questions, such as 'why? what? how?' which have many possible answers, to help children work out what is happening. And if you don't know the answer, then say so and speculate as to how someone may some day find an answer.

EVALUATION: LOOKING, SEEING AND UNDERSTANDING

Observation and evaluation promote speaking and listening. They are good starting points for many D&T activities - looking carefully at objects made by others, and using these to stimulate the children's own design ideas through discussing choices and aesthetic preferences. Practical everyday evaluation of technological products may be used as a focus for conversations about design technology. Directing children to look at mechanisms in the bikes they use in outside play may influence their understanding of technology in other areas, such as gearing, which they may see in some of the construction kits used at home or in the nursery.

Asking the right questions helps children focus on what is special about an object, what makes it useful and why they like it.

Investigation through evaluation may be undertaken with any man-made object -pens, chairs, clothes pegs, sandwiches, coats. Everyday items are best suited to this purpose, as children will see that D&T impacts on all aspects of their world. Unusual or unfamiliar objects may provide stimulating and exciting subjects for evaluation, but should be used only in moderation. Evaluation can also lead to making a finished product.

Example:designer shoes

Children were presented with a range of children's shoes. Careful questioning developed their observational skills and understanding of the general and specific purposes of shoes.

* Why are shoes designed differently - shape, size, materials?

* How does design link to purpose - dressing up, running, climbing?

* Why are they made from different materials - purpose, weather conditions?

* What are they made of and why?

* Does the design link to the purpose - fasteners, Velcro, laces, buckles?

* How are they made? (A number of nurseries contacted manufacturers and were supplied with parts for making shoes; one reception class was able to visit a manufacturer).

A trainer shoe was taken apart to illustrate how many parts a shoe is made from. Children made their own shoes from paper joined with masking tape. The range of evaluation skills that the children had developed in this exercise were evident in the level of detail - writing the shoe size and maker's name, making patterns, holes for lacing and straps.

Example: making cards

During the designing and evaluating stage of making cards, you could encourage the children to:

* consider the purpose of the card and how this relates to a particular person's preferences - does mum hate flowers and like football?

* look at cards that have been manufactured and discuss their preferences - do they like the way that it has been folded or enjoy a simple pop-up mechanism?

* identify aspects of cards made by other children which they like * identify aspects of their own cards that demonstrate their skills.

While making the cards, encourage the children to:

* select materials based on their experience and understanding * think about their selection of tools. This may involve considering a range of questions, for example, why snips cut some materials more easily than scissors, or why a hole punch can't make a hole in the centre of a piece of card * think about why the way a card is folded affects how stable it is * consider ways in which a card can be folded to produce a simple movement (demonstrate a pop-up mechanism).

Investigating nursery furniture helped children to think about and make revolving chairs for teddy. Observing the movement of hinges on cupboard doors enabled children to make windows for their octopus's house. (See 'D&T in practice', left).

Design and technology encompasses a very wide area of experience. It can be an exciting and rewarding activity for both practitioners and children. If the opportunities offered to children are carefully considered and planned, and sufficient time is allocated for children to develop their own ideas, they will develop a great enthusiasm.

Further reading

* The Design and Technology Handbook for Pre-School Providers by Iain MacLeod-Brudenell (Wellesbourne DATA, 8 to members, 12 to non-members, plus 1.80 p&p on orders less than 10). From the Design and Technology Association, 16 Wellesbourne House, Walton Road, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire CV35 9JB (tel: 01789 470007).

* Supporting Science, Design and Technology in the Early Years by John Siraj-Blatchford and Iain MacLeod-Brudenell (Open University Press, Pounds 12.99).