This document discusses creativity, failure, and innovation in technology education. It provides information about how students at different primary school levels (early, middle, upper) approach design tasks and develop their design thinking. For early primary students, design processes are flexible and initial designs may differ significantly from final products. Middle primary students recognize processes used and how they could be improved. They draw on resources to inform design. Upper primary students identify issues and research alternative designs. The document also covers models of the creative process, techniques to inspire creativity like brainstorming, and how innovation involves new solutions rather than just improvements. Failure is presented as an opportunity to learn.

1. Creativity and Failure
Technologies Education

2. 5:45

3. Students have gained a
variety of experiences
prior to coming to school.
Design experiences relate
to the creation of a range
of products using various
construction materials.
Early primary learners
Years F–2

4. •Fine motor skills are still developing.
•Products designed and developed
are interesting and innovative, if not
always functional.
•Design processes are very flexible.
•Initial draft design ideas differ
significantly from eventual products.
Early primary learners
Years F–2

5. • Design tasks allow students to
draw on information and
knowledge they already have or
can locate easily in the familiar
environment of their school and
classroom.
• They design products
predominantly for their own use
and have some consideration of
the needs of others.
Early primary learners
Years F–2

6. Early primary learners
Years F–2
Students:
•record their design ideas using
simple annotated drawings
•identify the basic features and
functions of their products
•compare their final products
with their initial design ideas
and discuss the reasons for
any differences.

7. Students:
•‘work technologically’ to
design products to meet their
needs and the needs of others
•work cooperatively to create
shared designs
•devise and follow production
procedures to create products
that reflect their design ideas.
Middle primary learners
Years 3–4

8. Students:
•recognise processes that they
have used to design and develop
their products
•determine how they might alter
these processes if they were
undertaking the design task
again
•recognise that different solutions
can be designed for, and are often
used by, different users.
Middle primary learners
Years 3–4

9. Middle primary learners
recognise the need to draw
on a range of resources to
inform the design process.
This may involve resources
such as reference books,
peers and the Internet.
Middle primary learners
Years 3–4

10. Students:
•judge the effectiveness of their
own and others’ products and
processes
•record their ideas in a
Technology project folio that
contains information about
progressive design and
development of their products.
Middle primary learners
Years 3–4

11. Students:
•communicate their ideas
using presentations, models
and technical terms
•consult with others to inform
some of their design ideas
•draw on the practical expertise
of others to inform their design
and construction processes.
Upper primary learners
Years 5–6

12. Students:
•identify and clarify the
issues surrounding
design challenges
•research a range of
alternative design ideas.
Upper primary learners
Years 5–6

13. Creativity

14. Creativity
Creativity is the process of having
original ideas that have value

15. 6:00

16. Creativity is the process of producing something that is
both original and worthwhile. Wallas (1926) presented one
of the first models of the creative process where creative
insights and illuminations may be explained by a process
consisting of 5 stages:
Creativity

17. preparation
preparatory work on a problem that focuses the
individual's mind on the problem and explores the
problem's dimensions
Creativity

18. incubation
where the problem is internalised into the unconscious
mind and nothing appears externally to be happening
Creativity

19. intimation
the creative person gets a "feeling"
that a solution is on its way
Creativity

20. illumination or insight
where the creative idea bursts forth from its preconscious
processing into conscious awareness
Creativity

21. verification
where the idea is consciously verified, elaborated, and
then applied
Creativity

22. 1:22

23. The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas
Linus Pauling
Creativity

24. 2:53

25. There are three groups of creativity techniques:
Aleatoricism introduces chance into the creative process;
Improvisation encourages spontaneity and free thought;
and
problem solving has a wide range of tools and
methodologies that can support creativity.
Creativity Techniques

26. 1:24

27. Problem solving creativity techniques include:
TRIZ;
Brainstorming and Brainwriting;
Six Thinking Hats;
Think outside the box;
SWOT analysis;
USIT;
Five Ws;
Thought experiments; and
Dilemmas.
Creativity Techniques

28. 4:18

29. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be
wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
Edward de Bono
Creativity

30. More general approaches for inspiring creativity include:
Linking (word association);
Black Box (inputs and outputs);
Parallels (past solutions);
Variation (focus on a single tool);
Additive Examples (combinations).
Creativity Techniques

31. 0:57

32. Innovation is the development of new solutions, products,
services, and ways of doing.
Innovation is not just improvement but doing something
different rather than doing the same thing better.
Through Technologies education, students develop the
ability to be innovative, using their design thinking
processes and creativity to develop novel innovations to
solve problems and develop opportunities.
Innovation

33. 3:45

34. 1:14

35. Failure

36. 3:26

37. Griffith University
Dr Jason Zagami
www.zagami.info