Review: Design Epistemology and Curriculum Planning.

Abstract

This fascinating book sets out to explore design epistemology in the context of curriculum planning and is a response to the Expert Panel which considered the future of Design and Technology (D&T) in the English National Curriculum. Ever since Aristotle proposed his intellectual virtues of epistêmê, technê and phronêsis, the concept of epistemology in education has invoked substantial philosophical debate. Much discourse pertains to the validity of knowledge types such as ‘knowing that’ and ‘knowing how’ (Hetherington, 2011; Stanley & Williamson, 2001) with further debate focussing on the role of knowledge in education relative to what are often described as transferable or 21st century skills or competencies. Part 1, the introduction to this book, eloquently frames design epistemology as “what designers know and how they know it” (p.6) and although not yet well understood relative to other ways of knowing, positions designerly ways of knowing as a critical construct in contemporary education.