Oppnåelse av dybdelæring i et teknologiog design-prosjekt

The present case study examines a group of teacher students performing a Technology and Design project primarily intended for strengthening their competencies in electricity and electronics. The project was based on a traditional schema; a challenging task, design and problem-solving phases, decision making and finally assembling/building a real functioning product. The main purpose of the investigation was focusing on the type of competencies the students gained; transferable competence or rote learning, i.e. whether the project would facilitate deeper learning or not. The project was partly open-ended, where the students might conclude in different ways regarding their final circuit design. The motivating effect of having to alternate between calculations and circuit-testing, searching for faults, discussing with each other and finally succeeding, seemed to have a very positive effect on the overall learning outcome. At the end of the project the students had to solve a complete new circuit-construction challenge, with specifications differing from the ones in the original project, i.e. a new context. The demands for knowledge were similar to-, but higher than the first project, and they had to apply their newly acquired competency in a very different manner. All the student groups managed to solve the task in maximum 45 minutes. This tends to give evidence for deeper learning as an outcome of this particular project.