Design & Technology (D&T) education plays an important role in a child’s learning particularly in areas of cognitive development and in the area of non-verbal thought and communication (Cross, 2007). In his book, Designerly Ways of Knowing, Cross argues for the inclusion of design in general education based on the following arguments:

1. Design develops innate abilities in solving real-world, ill-defined problems.

2. Design sustains cognitive development in the concrete/iconic modes of cognition.

3. Design offers opportunities for development of a wide range of abilities in nonverbal thought and communication.

There are parallels between these justifications for design in general generation and works of Bloom (1956), Krathwohl et al. (1964) and Fink (2003) as they suggest that ‘learning to design’ takes learning to a higher level cognition beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge. To add on, Cross (2007) also suggests that design ability is a form of natural intelligence that aids pupil in their spatial cognitive development.

Learning in D&T is unique as it taps on pupils’ implicit acts of questioning, ‘self-talk’ and internalising self-thought. Through designing, pupils stretch their cognitive abilities through thinking creatively and critically. The uniqueness is best summed up by Schon and Wiggins (1992) who argue that the notion of designing is an educational process of its own right. This can be attributed to the fact that design knowledge is built upon experience, interaction, reasoning and problem-solving skills. It is difficult to pin down exactly where such knowledge is tapped upon during the course of a pupil designing as this involves implicit brain activity.