Author: Leonard J. Waks
Donald Schon’s Philosophy of Design and Design Education is an article written by Leonard J. Waks that examines and re-introduces the philosophical principles of design educator, Donald Schon. The purpose of this article is to explain “design-like” ideas that should be taught and learned throughout the classroom. Waks splits his article into ten sections: 1.) The Displaced Philosopher; 2.) Dewey’s Experimentalism and Schon’s Design-Constructivism; 3.) Design and the Reflective Practicum; 4.) The Professional Practicum and Reflection-In-Action; 5.) The Concept of Design and the Design Professions; 6.) Design as Frame Experimentation; 7.) Design Education: Teaching and Learning to Design; 8.) Execution as Design: Musical Performance and Teaching; 9.) Learning to Design and Learning to Teach; 10.) Schon’s Epistemology of Practice and a New Design for Education. Through his discussion of Schon’s philosophical new designs, he concludes that Schon’s conception of design frames the role of education and how it impacts professional design fields.
Leonard J. Waks is an author of the book Technology and professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Temple University, in Philadelphia. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin in 1968 and has earned a doctorate in philosophy and organizational studies and has taught at Stanford, Purdue, and Peen State. He is also the co-founder of the National Technological Literacy Conferences and is a general editor of the book series Leaders in Educational Studies. He has published over 100 scholarly journal articles and book chapters, and currently researches emerging education arrangements of the global network society of American Pragmatism.
Waks, J. Leonard. “Donald Schon’s Philosophy of Design and Design Education.” Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001, pp. 37-51.
