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This study explores how theoretical elements of design knowledge relate to notions of creativity found in literature. The results of this exploration are further applied to analyze four different cross-curricular design and technology projects in Norwegian primary and lower secondary school. All of the school projects examined were intended to be open-ended providing students with opportunities to be creative and develop their own solutions to the given task. The processes in the groups and the outcomes of the groups' work are analyzed with regards to technological knowledge and how this relates to the students' creativity in terms of producing genuine solutions. The analysis shows that in some of the projects the variety of solutions produced by students is limited. In these student groups the solutions and procedures bear a high degree of resemblance to each other. The findings further suggest that students' limited conceptual technological knowledge constrains their ability to be creative and to produce genuine solutions. The results also reveal that the projects showing less student creativity tend to be more controlled by the teacher and less open-ended than presupposed. A suggestion based on the findings is that the key conceptual technological content should be identified and introduced by the teacher prior to or during the project start. Discussing and exploring concepts and principles explicitly with the students before or during the project period may enhance their possibility to be more creative.

Technology and design is seen by many as having a potential for students to work with science and mathematics in practical contexts. The view is particularly evident in the Norwegian curriculum, where technology and design is defined as an interdisciplinary topic involving Science, Mathematics and Art & Crafts. This paper reports from a video study of the use of mathematics and science in student projects in technology and design. It was found that the projects contained very little conceptual knowledge from mathematics and science even when their purpose was to do so. In this paper, we analyse four selected episodes in the material, and discuss the underlying cause for why science and mathematics do not form part of the activity. These underlying causes are conceptualised as: (i) concepts and procedures not being necessary for the purpose, (ii) problem solving better accomplished by other means, (iii) focus on product quality, and (iv) not the right type of knowledge. These reflect fundamental characteristics of the nature of technology rather than to pedagogy, and the results suggest that technology and design as a domain of knowledge should be represented in the curriculum in its own right and not as an arena for learning science and mathematics.Berit Bungum is Associate Professor at The University's Resource Centre for Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She has long experience with teacher education in physics, and currently works with in-service training for teachers and development of teaching projects in science and technology.

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