Professor Kay Stables
Staff details
Kay Stables is Co-Director of the Technology Education Research Unit. She teaches on the MA in Design Education, and contributes to the MA Design Shared Methods and Processes and to the PGCE in Design and Technology. She supervises PhD students whose research lies broadly in the areas of design education and designerly thinking. She has directed and contributed to a range of research projects in the UK and overseas, many of which feature in her co-authored book Researching Design Learning. Recent research has focused on creativity, sustainability, assessment and the development of dynamic digital portfolios of design learning. Kay takes a keen interest in international developments in Design Education, has been a visiting scholar in Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden and has been invited to speak about her research in North America, Australasia, India, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and across Europe.
Teaching
BAEd Design and Technology Secondary; PGCE Design and Technology Secondary; MA Design Education (from 2008); MPhil/PhD
Areas of supervision
Kay Stables’ research student supervision is located in the following broadly defined areas: design education; creativity; design capability; designerly thinking; technology education.
Research Interests
Kay Stables has been researching design and design learning for the last 20 years and was a founder member of the Department of Design’s Technology Education Research Unit – TERU. The main (but not exclusive) focus of her work is on learners within the primary and secondary schools. Her particular research interests are in the development and assessment of design capability, design thinking, design methodologies, sustainability and design, creativity and research methodologies related to designing and pedagogy. She has been invited to speak about her research in North America, Australasia, India, Taiwan and Europe and has a special interest in international perspectives. She has recently been involved in evaluatory work with two European projects; the first involving 10 and the second involving 7 trans-national partners.
Current research includes developing digital assessment approaches to designing (e-scape) and the links between creativity and sustainable design.
She has recently published (with Richard Kimbell) a major text ‘Researching Design Learning’ drawing on 20 research projects and 20 years of research within TERU.
Publications
Book
Researching Design Learning: Issues and findings from two decades of research and development
Kimbell, Richard and Stables, Kay. 2007. Researching Design Learning: Issues and findings from two decades of research and development. Springer, p. 326. ISBN 9781402051142
Conference or Workshop Item
Designerly well-being: Can mainstream schooling offer a curriculum that provides a foundation for developing the lifelong design and technological capability of individuals and societies?
Stables, Kay. 2012. 'Designerly well-being: Can mainstream schooling offer a curriculum that provides a foundation for developing the lifelong design and technological capability of individuals and societies?'. In: PATT26: Technology Education in the 21st Century. Stockholm, Sweden 26-30 June 2012.
The inspiration pitch: where do design ideas come from?
Stables, Kay. 2010. 'The inspiration pitch: where do design ideas come from?'. In: D&T - Ideas Worth Sharing: the Design and Technology Association Education and International Research Conference 2010. Keele University, United Kingdom.
Chicken or egg: links between approaches to gathering data through authentic assessment activity and ways of supporting sustainable assessment of creative performance
Stables, Kay; McLaren, Susan and Bain, Jenny. 2007. 'Chicken or egg: links between approaches to gathering data through authentic assessment activity and ways of supporting sustainable assessment of creative performance'. In: BERA Annual Conference. Institute of Education, University of London 5-8th September 2007.
Evidence through the looking glass: developing performance and assessing capability.
Stables, Kay and Kimbell, Richard. 2007. 'Evidence through the looking glass: developing performance and assessing capability.'. In: 13th International Conference on Thinking: Curious Minds Think and Learn by Exploring the Unknown. Norrköping, Sweden June 17-21, 2007.
Article
Social and cultural relevance in approaches to developing designerly well-being: the potential and challenges when learners call the shots in Design and Technology projects
Stables, Kay. 2013. Social and cultural relevance in approaches to developing designerly well-being: the potential and challenges when learners call the shots in Design and Technology projects. Technology Education for the future: a play on sustainability, pp. 437-446.
Designerly well-being: implications for pedagogy that develops design capability
Stables, Kay. 2013. Designerly well-being: implications for pedagogy that develops design capability. Design Learning for tomorrow: Design Education from Kindergarten to PhD, pp. 1111-1126.
What makes an idea be worth sharing…or maybe recycling…or maybe shredding? What do we want learners to ‘take home’?
Stables, Kay. 2010. What makes an idea be worth sharing…or maybe recycling…or maybe shredding? What do we want learners to ‘take home’? Design and Technology Education: An International Journal, 15(3), pp. 7-9. ISSN 1360-1431
Educating for environmental sustainability and educating for creativity: actively compatible or missed opportunities?
Stables, Kay. 2009. Educating for environmental sustainability and educating for creativity: actively compatible or missed opportunities? International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 19(2), pp. 199-219. ISSN 0957-7572
Designing matters; designing minds: the importance of nurturing the designerly in young people
Stables, Kay. 2008. Designing matters; designing minds: the importance of nurturing the designerly in young people. Design and Technology Education: An International Journal, 13(3), pp. 8-18. ISSN 1360-1431
Exploring key discriminators of progression: relationships between attitude, meta-cognition and performance of novice designers at a time of transition
McLaren, Susan V. and Stables, Kay. 2008. Exploring key discriminators of progression: relationships between attitude, meta-cognition and performance of novice designers at a time of transition. Design Studies, 29(2), pp. 181-201. ISSN 0142694X
Technology Education in South Africa: Evaluating an Innovative Pilot Project
Stables, Kay and Kimbell, Richard. 2001. Technology Education in South Africa: Evaluating an Innovative Pilot Project. Research in Science Education, 31(1), pp. 71-90. ISSN 0157244X
Book Section
Introducing the Book
Stables, K and Keirl, S. 2015. Introducing the Book. In: K Stables and S Keirl, eds. Environment, Ethics and Cultures: Design and Technology Education’s Contribution to Sustainable Global Futures. Rotterdam: Sense, pp. 3-13. ISBN 978-94-6209-936-4
Learning and Teaching Design and Technology: Meeting needs, developing capability
Stables, Kay. 2010. Learning and Teaching Design and Technology: Meeting needs, developing capability. In: K Subramaniam, ed. The epiSTEME Reviews: Research Trends in Science, Technology and Mathematics Education Volume 3. New Delhi: MacMillan Publishers India Ltd, pp. 249-274. ISBN 023-033-242-0
Research as a design task
Kimbell, Richard and Stables, Kay. 2009. Research as a design task. In: Alister Jones and Marc de Vries, eds. International Handbook on Research and Development in Technology Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 599-614. ISBN 978-90-8790-878-2
Transforming assessment: assessment of learning becomes assessment for learning
Stables, Kay and Bain, Jenny. 2009. Transforming assessment: assessment of learning becomes assessment for learning. In: Alister Jones and Marc de Vries, eds. International Handbook of Research and Development in Technology Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 493-508. ISBN 978-90-8790-877-5
Designerly Thinking Beyond Design
Kimbell, Richard and Stables, Kay. 2008. Designerly Thinking Beyond Design. In: Kajsa Borg and Viveca Lindberg, eds. Kunskap, lärande och bedömning i estetiska och praktiska ämnen [Knowledge, learning and assessment in aesthetical and manual school subjects]. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, pp. 188-198. ISBN 9789176566565
Observational techniques for examining student learning activity in Technology Education
Stables, Kay. 2008. Observational techniques for examining student learning activity in Technology Education. In: Howard Middleton, ed. Researching Technology Education: Methods and techniques. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 135-154.
Unorthodox methodologies: Approaches to understanding design and technology
Stables, Kay and Kimbell, Richard. 2006. Unorthodox methodologies: Approaches to understanding design and technology. In: M. deVries and I. Mottier, eds. International handbook of technology education: Reviewing the past twenty years. Sense Publishers, pp. 313-330. ISBN 9077874062
Report
Assessing Design Innovation: a research & development project for the DfES and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
Bain, Jenny; Kimbell, Richard; Miller, Soo and Stables, Kay. 2004. Assessing Design Innovation: a research & development project for the DfES and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Project Report. Technology Education Research Unit, UK.