Pedagogical reasoning in design education

This paper focuses on the role of metaphor in pedagogical rellsoning in design education. Through metaphorical analysis the conventional design process model is examined in terms of its congruence with students' stages of cognitive development, particularly that related to divergent and convergent thinking. By re-setting the problem an alternative design process model is proposed; an alternative model which breaks the nexus. between the contiguous design stages. The alternative model incorporates a dynamism which allows teachers to apply the design process in a pedagogic sense by providing opportunities to match design activities with individual students' stages of cognitive development.