This paper reports on a pilot project on embedding formative assessment in a design task using a specific resource - Make Design Learning Visible (MDLV) - in different national settings.  MDLV centres on a model involving seven interactive design skills and five formative assessment strategies. A team of researchers from seven countries in three continents are working collaboratively with a  teacher practitioner from each country. The research utlises a design brief customised for each national setting and relevant for learners aged between 10 and 15 years of age. A structured portfolio supporting an iterative design process structures the tangible evidence of learner responses. The portfolio creates a flexible pedagogic framework for a short design project. The overarching structure and pedagogy of the activity is fixed, but aspects such as lesson timings and choices in the use of MDLV tools and design skills are flexible.  The project portfolio, like the moves in a tango dance, is structured through a sequence of established design tools selected by the researcher team to match certain learning goals in the task. The team also anticipated that teachers might experiment ‘on the fly’ through their direct knowledge of the learners involved as formative assessment gives scope to the teacher to adapt the structure to suit their context, in much the same way as a dancer can improvise within the established choreography of the dance. The focus of this paper is on initial trials in which teachers used, followed or adapted tools and strategies that modified the pedagogic choreography.  Drawing from insights into the intentions and perspectives of both teachers and researchers, the paper explores the extent to which teachers felt able to take ownership of the project, bringing their own knowledge of the learners’ existing experience in order to make the design learning visible.