Dr David Barlex is an acknowledged leader in design & technology education, curriculum design and curriculum materials development. He taught in comprehensive schools for 15 years, achieving head of faculty positions in Science and Design & Technology before taking university positions in teacher education. He directed the Nuffield Design & Technology Project and was Educational Manager for Young Foresight. David is well known for his interest and expertise in developing curriculum materials that support pupil learning from a constructivist perspective. He uses this approach to develop young peoples’ ability to understand and critique the design decisions made by professional designers and those they make themselves in design & technology lessons. This informed the Nuffield Design & Technology publications, which have been widely used in the UK and since emulated abroad – in Russia, Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Professor P John Williams is the Director of the Science and Mathematics Education Centre at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, where he teaches and supervises research students in Technology Education. Apart from Australia, he has worked and studied in a number of African and Indian Ocean countries, in New Zealand, and in the United States. His current research interests include mentoring beginning teachers, PCK and electronic assessment of performance. He is the editor of the Australasian Journal of Technology Education, advisory editor of the International Journal of Technology and Design Education, series editor of the Springer Contemporary Issues in Technology Education series, and serves on the editorial board of five other professional journals. He has authored or contributed to over 220 publications, and in 2011 he was elected to the International Technology and Engineering Education Association’s Academy of Fellows for prominence in the profession.
