Science in technology: technology in science

Two contrasting ideas have been consistently present in the statements published and words spoken as the national curriculum design and technology profile component (D & T) has been fashioned and launched. The first is that D & T is a new subject in the curriculum and the second is that many appropriate teaching methods and materials will build on existing practice. They are both found, for example, in paragraph 1.1 of the non-statutory guidance for design and technology capability (NCC 1990) and were clearly evident in the words spoken by Professor Paul Black and Richard Dorrance at the Bristol "Technology Roadshow" that I attended. These two ideas set up a very clear tension of the "new wine in old wineskins" kind but we need to believe that this tension will turn out to be creative rather than destructive...