Design Based Biotechnical Learning: Distinct Knowledge Forms Supporting Technology and Science Conceptual Understanding

Abstract

Schooling is the means through which literate populations are prepared. Literacies developed in the humanities, sciences, maths, and technologies all reflect different forms of knowledge (Hirst, 1965). Each knowledge form has their own distinctive ways of coming to know, which employs a discrete set of intelligent actions recognized as a Knowledge Acquisition Heuristic (KAH) unique unto that knowledge form. STEM education reform over the past several decades has given rise to design, technological and engineering specifically, as an accepted knowledge form, inclusive of its own discrete knowledge acquisition heuristic. Accepting design as a distinct knowledge form calls for a paradigm shift in technology education that recognizes understanding as the primary learning outcome of design where solving ill-structured design problems, tame or wicked, is the pedagogical framework within which learners design to understand (Wells, 2016a). A logical step toward acceptance entails a pedagogical paradigm shift to (a) recognize design as a unique knowledge form, (b) distinguish problem solving in science from that in design, (c) intentionally teach, with disciplinary fidelity, inherent co-occurring disciplinary concepts, and (d) unpack the instructional strategies used in guiding learners through phases of design toward conceptual understanding. Biotechnology is a content area within the field of technology education that is well suited for explicating the elements of just such a pedagogical paradigm shift where conceptual understanding is the primary learning outcome of design. Biotechnical systems reflect a complex and dynamic set of relationships between the biological requirements and the technological systems necessary to support the biology. Designing biotechnical systems naturally imposes on the designer a need to be knowledgeable of the disciplines inherent within the development of a functional artifact proposal. The biotechnical designer must be able to draw on the full breadth of their disciplinary content and practice knowledge associated with thinking and working across differing disciplinary perspectives. These cognitive demands foster the seamless development of critical thinking necessary for achieving a conceptual understanding of systemic relationships among the biological and technological components. As a pedagogical approach, Design Based Biotechnical Learning engages learners in design with the educational intent of having them achieve deep understandings of targeted technology and science concepts – learners design to understand.