From: IN%"[email protected]" "Industrial Design Forum" 7-SEP-1993
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To: IN%"HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx" "Howard Lawrence"
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Subj: Developing a Greener Technology Curriculum
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Subject: Developing a Greener Technology Curriculum
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_________________________________________________________________________
"DEVELOPING A GREENER TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM".
MIKE LLOYD, O2
IDATER '93 CONFERENCE, LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY.
September 2nd 1993.
An old Chinese curse says "may you live in interesting times".
What is becoming interesting about these times is the fact that man's
technological development has reached a stage where it is having a
noticeable effect on the planet.
What is even more interesting is the response to this - with the
leading advanced economies taking an ecological approach and siezing
the opportunities for wealth creation and social advancement this
allows.
Despite social, economic and political pressures, however, green
issues play an embarrassingly small role in the technology
curriculum.
This paper:
+ Puts forward O2's vision for the future of technology
education,
+ Questions the current practice of technology education
+ and proposes that the technology curriculum should take
advantage of environmental factors by:
* Educating children to consume intelligently
* Extending the so called design process to include "Impacts"
* Teaching sustainable design methodologies
* and by adopting a more human centred approach to technology
learing
Examples of green design concepts are presented along with case
studies of students work in secondary and higher education.
The environment, as an education issue is becoming increasingly
difficult to ignore.
Informed anticipation suggests that our students will live in a world
of ever increasing choice, but this will only come about if
technology is developed along sustainable lines.
In order to create the right conditions for this, education as a whole
needs to nurture a spirit of "respect and responsibility" for the
environment.
I would like to take this opportunity to propose that the technology
curriculum is developed along the following lines:
FIRSTLY, WE NEED TO EDUCATE AN INTELLIGENT CONSUMER
All of our students are, and will be, affected by technology, so it is
essential that we teach children to control the ways in which
technology affects their lives.
We need, therefore, to teach children how to make informed and
intelligent choices about which technologies to use in the goods and
services they are likely to encounter.
Children should continue to develop an informed concern about the
environment along with a spirit of educated enquiry about the
lifecycles and impacts of the goods and services they will use.
They will need to learn to ask questions about products, services and
work, and the effects of these on the environment.
An understanding of relationships between diverse groups and entities
would help develop ecological thinking and holistic approaches to
education would help this process.
SECONDLY, WE NEED TO EXTEND THE "TECHNOLOGY CYCLE" TO INCLUDE "IMPACT"
A generally accepted model of technological activity has been:
Input --- Process --- Output
Taking environmental factors into account means extending the cycle to
include "Impact":
Input --- Process --- Output ---IMPACT
THIRDLY, WE NEED TO TEACH SUSTAINABLE DESIGN METHODOLOGIES.
Design is an important ingredient in the technology curriculum but
students should be made aware that their design activity is only the
starting point of the whole lifecycle of a product.
Students should also be taught design principles for sustainable
technologies; below are some practical examples that have been
developed by O2 for the 1991 "O2, New Ways" exhibition:
Two years ago O2 presented its "New Ways" exhibition at the heart of
western consumerism - Seibu department store in Tokyo. The
exhibition presented design concepts that, above all else, addressed
real human needs, sustainably. Technology education too, should
address real needs and I question the value of key fobs and jewellery
clamps.
OPTIMUM MATERIAL CHOICE
Where appropriate, products should be designed from recycled and
reclaimed materials. O2 design concepts show that recycled plastics
can be used for street furniture, containers, tables, chairs,
lighting etc. Material choice, like optimum disposal, is context
dependent. Selecting materials that are environmentally appropriate
is complex. Members of O2 have, however, developed software for
classroom use that enables ecologically sound materials selection to
be made.
LONGEVITY
Products should be designed to last as long as possible and for easy
maintenance and change of worn out parts: The bristles on a dish
washing brush, Eg. usually clog up and flatten out after a while.
Normally the whole brush is thrown away. The handle, however,
remains useful. The appropriate solution is to design the head of
the brush so it detaches from the handle, enabling the user to keep
the handle for use with a new set of bristles.
OPTIMAL ENERGY/MATERIAL CONSUMPTION
Products should be designed to use the minimum amounts of materials in
their manufacture, and minimum amounts of energy in their use.
MULTI-FUNCTION
Where possible, a product should perform more than one function. A
vice that rotates through a horizontal axis and does the jobs of
metalworking, woodworking and softjaw vices saves on materials and
energy.
OPTIMAL DISPOSAL
Clearly, the disposal of a product is a very important design
decision. Environmentally responsible disposal is context dependent
and therefore difficult to make generalisations about. It is better,
however, to design for reuse than for recycling. If one is,
nevertheless, to design for recycling, products should be made from
as few materials as possible and should be made easy to dismantle.
The above design principles are a first attempt at greening the
practice of design and they are constantly being developed.
The practice of design generally, however, is also going through
significant change and O2 believes that design is becoming a creative
catalyst for other professions and disciplines.
The parameters of design are also expanding rapidly and an
interdisciplinary approach is developing, therefore a serious rethink
about the rigid and prescribed design methodology put forward in
National Curricula.
There have been suggestions that technology education can act as the
"webbing" used to integrate subjects and again a holistic approach is
appropriate.
"HOW SHOULD CHILDREN LEARN TECHNOLOGY ?"
There is a need to develop a more human centred approach to learning
technology in secondary schools, before a greener technology
curriculum can be expected to have an effect.
Some practical steps have been taken in the USA to counter the
"FACTORY" or "PROCESSING" organising principles widely used in
secondary education.
A modular approach to technology education pioneered in the US have
created effective learning environments on a human scale. Classrooms
hav a corporate feel and, most importantly, children take ownership
of their learning.
Ecologically responsible technology education is in its infancy. I
would however, like to take this opportunity to show some examples of
students work that incorporate some of the principles discussed:
During a LIFECYCLE ANALYSIS project, students took apart an every-day
household electrical item and looked at where the materials came from,
how they were produced etc.
They also looked at what parts were most likely to fail in use, or
wear out and then worked out how the products could be designed to
allow for easy repair and optimal disposal.
Students, during a FUTURE TRANSPORTATION project, were asked to
describe the vehicle they thought that they would be driving when they
reached the age of 40.
Green issues played a central role in deciding not only how vehicles
were powered, but what kind of road systems would be used. Solutions
included, predictably perhaps, greater use of bicycles and
pedestrianised areas, and the use of smaller vehicles for individuals
getting to and from work. Less predictable, was this proposal for
the use of elevated or suspended monorails to take the place of roads.
What counts here is that the students became aware that the system, of
which the product is merely a part, counts more than the product
itself.
O2 recently ran a POVERTY and ECOLOGY project with undergraduates at
Goldsmith's College. The brief was to formulate design solutions that
would help deal with particular aspects of poverty and the
environmental destruction it causes.
Solutions included a poster designed by an Ethiopian student to try to
help her compatriots make simple crockery.
Another student worked with Child Poverty Action Group to find ways of
using design to help alleviate child poverty in Latin America. This
solution involved children being given waste cardboard and skills
such as cutting, forming, laminating and lacquering, which would
allow them to make products such as food trays.
IN CONCLUSION - Mankind has always used technology to overcome
problems and take advantage of opportunities.
It is only in recent times, and in Western cultures, that the teaching
of the relationship between mankind and the environment has
diminished.
O2 does not take a Malthusian stance but it is important,
nevertheless, that we do not take for granted that planet saving
technological solutions will just appear - someone, somewhere has to
make it happen and we all have our parts to play.
The great ecological thinker, Schumacher, said that education is the
greatest resource we have. It is the hope and belief of O2 that a
more human focussed era in education will emerge sooner rather than
later, and that long term vision is not blurred by short term issues.
There is little in education of which we can be certain, but we can
be sure that the environment is one issue that won't go away.
Mike Lloyd 100112,1574@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
17:36:44.26
To: IN%"HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx" "Howard Lawrence"
CC:
Subj: Developing a Greener Technology Curriculum
Return-path: <[email protected]>
Return-path: IDFORUM <@PSUVM.PSU.EDU:[email protected]>
Received: from Jnet-DAEMON by ARCH.PSU.EDU (PMDF #12866) id
<01H2OBHB909W8ZDUX2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>; Tue, 7 Sep 1993 17:36 EDT
Received: From PSUVM(MAILER) by PSUARCH with Jnet id 0289 for HRL@PSUARCH; Tue,
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Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1993 17:27:00 EDT
From: GL250267@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Developing a Greener Technology Curriculum
Sender: Industrial Design Forum <[email protected]>
To: Howard Lawrence <HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-to: Industrial Design Forum <[email protected]>
Message-id: <01H2OBHB909W8ZDUX2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
X-To: IDFORUM@xxxxxxxxxxxx
_________________________________________________________________________
"DEVELOPING A GREENER TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM".
MIKE LLOYD, O2
IDATER '93 CONFERENCE, LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY.
September 2nd 1993.
An old Chinese curse says "may you live in interesting times".
What is becoming interesting about these times is the fact that man's
technological development has reached a stage where it is having a
noticeable effect on the planet.
What is even more interesting is the response to this - with the
leading advanced economies taking an ecological approach and siezing
the opportunities for wealth creation and social advancement this
allows.
Despite social, economic and political pressures, however, green
issues play an embarrassingly small role in the technology
curriculum.
This paper:
+ Puts forward O2's vision for the future of technology
education,
+ Questions the current practice of technology education
+ and proposes that the technology curriculum should take
advantage of environmental factors by:
* Educating children to consume intelligently
* Extending the so called design process to include "Impacts"
* Teaching sustainable design methodologies
* and by adopting a more human centred approach to technology
learing
Examples of green design concepts are presented along with case
studies of students work in secondary and higher education.
The environment, as an education issue is becoming increasingly
difficult to ignore.
Informed anticipation suggests that our students will live in a world
of ever increasing choice, but this will only come about if
technology is developed along sustainable lines.
In order to create the right conditions for this, education as a whole
needs to nurture a spirit of "respect and responsibility" for the
environment.
I would like to take this opportunity to propose that the technology
curriculum is developed along the following lines:
FIRSTLY, WE NEED TO EDUCATE AN INTELLIGENT CONSUMER
All of our students are, and will be, affected by technology, so it is
essential that we teach children to control the ways in which
technology affects their lives.
We need, therefore, to teach children how to make informed and
intelligent choices about which technologies to use in the goods and
services they are likely to encounter.
Children should continue to develop an informed concern about the
environment along with a spirit of educated enquiry about the
lifecycles and impacts of the goods and services they will use.
They will need to learn to ask questions about products, services and
work, and the effects of these on the environment.
An understanding of relationships between diverse groups and entities
would help develop ecological thinking and holistic approaches to
education would help this process.
SECONDLY, WE NEED TO EXTEND THE "TECHNOLOGY CYCLE" TO INCLUDE "IMPACT"
A generally accepted model of technological activity has been:
Input --- Process --- Output
Taking environmental factors into account means extending the cycle to
include "Impact":
Input --- Process --- Output ---IMPACT
THIRDLY, WE NEED TO TEACH SUSTAINABLE DESIGN METHODOLOGIES.
Design is an important ingredient in the technology curriculum but
students should be made aware that their design activity is only the
starting point of the whole lifecycle of a product.
Students should also be taught design principles for sustainable
technologies; below are some practical examples that have been
developed by O2 for the 1991 "O2, New Ways" exhibition:
Two years ago O2 presented its "New Ways" exhibition at the heart of
western consumerism - Seibu department store in Tokyo. The
exhibition presented design concepts that, above all else, addressed
real human needs, sustainably. Technology education too, should
address real needs and I question the value of key fobs and jewellery
clamps.
OPTIMUM MATERIAL CHOICE
Where appropriate, products should be designed from recycled and
reclaimed materials. O2 design concepts show that recycled plastics
can be used for street furniture, containers, tables, chairs,
lighting etc. Material choice, like optimum disposal, is context
dependent. Selecting materials that are environmentally appropriate
is complex. Members of O2 have, however, developed software for
classroom use that enables ecologically sound materials selection to
be made.
LONGEVITY
Products should be designed to last as long as possible and for easy
maintenance and change of worn out parts: The bristles on a dish
washing brush, Eg. usually clog up and flatten out after a while.
Normally the whole brush is thrown away. The handle, however,
remains useful. The appropriate solution is to design the head of
the brush so it detaches from the handle, enabling the user to keep
the handle for use with a new set of bristles.
OPTIMAL ENERGY/MATERIAL CONSUMPTION
Products should be designed to use the minimum amounts of materials in
their manufacture, and minimum amounts of energy in their use.
MULTI-FUNCTION
Where possible, a product should perform more than one function. A
vice that rotates through a horizontal axis and does the jobs of
metalworking, woodworking and softjaw vices saves on materials and
energy.
OPTIMAL DISPOSAL
Clearly, the disposal of a product is a very important design
decision. Environmentally responsible disposal is context dependent
and therefore difficult to make generalisations about. It is better,
however, to design for reuse than for recycling. If one is,
nevertheless, to design for recycling, products should be made from
as few materials as possible and should be made easy to dismantle.
The above design principles are a first attempt at greening the
practice of design and they are constantly being developed.
The practice of design generally, however, is also going through
significant change and O2 believes that design is becoming a creative
catalyst for other professions and disciplines.
The parameters of design are also expanding rapidly and an
interdisciplinary approach is developing, therefore a serious rethink
about the rigid and prescribed design methodology put forward in
National Curricula.
There have been suggestions that technology education can act as the
"webbing" used to integrate subjects and again a holistic approach is
appropriate.
"HOW SHOULD CHILDREN LEARN TECHNOLOGY ?"
There is a need to develop a more human centred approach to learning
technology in secondary schools, before a greener technology
curriculum can be expected to have an effect.
Some practical steps have been taken in the USA to counter the
"FACTORY" or "PROCESSING" organising principles widely used in
secondary education.
A modular approach to technology education pioneered in the US have
created effective learning environments on a human scale. Classrooms
hav a corporate feel and, most importantly, children take ownership
of their learning.
Ecologically responsible technology education is in its infancy. I
would however, like to take this opportunity to show some examples of
students work that incorporate some of the principles discussed:
During a LIFECYCLE ANALYSIS project, students took apart an every-day
household electrical item and looked at where the materials came from,
how they were produced etc.
They also looked at what parts were most likely to fail in use, or
wear out and then worked out how the products could be designed to
allow for easy repair and optimal disposal.
Students, during a FUTURE TRANSPORTATION project, were asked to
describe the vehicle they thought that they would be driving when they
reached the age of 40.
Green issues played a central role in deciding not only how vehicles
were powered, but what kind of road systems would be used. Solutions
included, predictably perhaps, greater use of bicycles and
pedestrianised areas, and the use of smaller vehicles for individuals
getting to and from work. Less predictable, was this proposal for
the use of elevated or suspended monorails to take the place of roads.
What counts here is that the students became aware that the system, of
which the product is merely a part, counts more than the product
itself.
O2 recently ran a POVERTY and ECOLOGY project with undergraduates at
Goldsmith's College. The brief was to formulate design solutions that
would help deal with particular aspects of poverty and the
environmental destruction it causes.
Solutions included a poster designed by an Ethiopian student to try to
help her compatriots make simple crockery.
Another student worked with Child Poverty Action Group to find ways of
using design to help alleviate child poverty in Latin America. This
solution involved children being given waste cardboard and skills
such as cutting, forming, laminating and lacquering, which would
allow them to make products such as food trays.
IN CONCLUSION - Mankind has always used technology to overcome
problems and take advantage of opportunities.
It is only in recent times, and in Western cultures, that the teaching
of the relationship between mankind and the environment has
diminished.
O2 does not take a Malthusian stance but it is important,
nevertheless, that we do not take for granted that planet saving
technological solutions will just appear - someone, somewhere has to
make it happen and we all have our parts to play.
The great ecological thinker, Schumacher, said that education is the
greatest resource we have. It is the hope and belief of O2 that a
more human focussed era in education will emerge sooner rather than
later, and that long term vision is not blurred by short term issues.
There is little in education of which we can be certain, but we can
be sure that the environment is one issue that won't go away.
Mike Lloyd 100112,1574@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx