About Gill Hope
I am:
- A teacher - currently Year 1 Co-ordinator and with responsibility for Design and Technology at Halfway Houses Primary School, a First School on the Isle of Sheppey catering for approximately 450 children aged 4-9 years.
- A researcher - I am a part-time doctoral research student with Goldsmiths College, University of London, with Professor Kay Stables, Pro-Warden of Goldsmiths College and Professor Richard Kimbell, Director of the Technology Education Research Unit. I hope to complete my Ph.D. by the the end of Summer 2002.
Research interest
- Young children's use of drawing to explore design ideas.
- The drawing as an analogy for the object being planned
- The usefulness of the container / journey metaphor to explain designing to children
- Collating knowledge about young children's design drawing
"Drawing as a tool for thought - beginning design drawing with young children" is the provisional title of my Ph.D. Thesis.
Published works
- "Beyond "Draw one and make it" - Developing Better Strategies for the Use of Drawing for Design in Key Stages 1& 2" presented at the Design and Technology International Millennium Conference, London, April 2000
- "Beyond their Capability? - Drawing, Designing and the Young Child" The Journal of Design and Technology Education Vol.5 No.2 Summer 2000
- "Why Draw Anyway? - the Role of Drawing in the Child's Design Toolbox" presented at the International Conference on Design and Technology Educational Research and Curriculum Development, August 2000
This year:
- CRIPT Conference, July 2001 - presentation of research paper ("The Emergence of Understanding of the Relationship between Planning and Designing amongst Young Children") and exhibition of children's work
- DATA Conference, July 2001 - conducting workshop of design drawing with young children as well as presentation of research paper ("Taking Ideas on a Journey: a model for explaining Design Drawing to Young Children") and exhibition of children's work
- IDATER Conference, August 2001 - presentation of research paper ("Participant Research in Design and Technology from the Perspective of a Design and Technology Participant Researcher") and poster to illustrate the similarities between the processes of designing and researching ("Ideas on a Journey: Design and Research")
- Article for publication in Early Years Journal, Autumn 2001
"Drawing as a Tool for Thought" web site - proposal
There is very little knowledge about the development of young children's understanding of design drawing. In fact, the content of this NGfL site comprises new knowledge about the subject, arising from my PhD study. Nearly all research into children's drawings (and hence nearly all articles and books) are about drawings as pictures - finished products, not plans for future construction in another medium. This is despite the introduction 10 years ago of National Curriculum requirements for Design and Technology.
My next web project is to build a site to co-ordinate what is known about young children's design drawing.
My aims in creating such a site are:
- to increase and disseminate knowledge about young children designing
- to make life easier for others who are interested in this subject
- and to create a readily accessible international forum for exchange of knowledge
If you have conducted or are conducting research, at whatever level, into this area of knowledge, then I would like to hear from you. This is not just an "academics only" site. Teachers accrue a lot of knowledge about children's learning which is never disseminated to a wider audience. ITT students conduct case studies and dissertations which are read only by their examiner. Even MA projects remain sitting on shelves unread, despite the depth of analysis, not to mention the hours of labour, which have gone into them.
Original work only, please. All contributions to the site will be credited to the author. Please allow me, as site coordinator, the right of judgement as to suitability of any contribution.
Subject bibliography - I am posting my personal bibliography. If you know of a published work to add to it, please let me know. I need: Author, title, date, publisher (+ publisher location), title and editor if it is an article or chapter within a larger work, a brief (50 words max). of the key concepts and how useful you found it. That way we can build up a subject knowledge database.