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This oral presentation 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 (India, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Sweden and England) in three continents are working collaboratively with a  teacher practitioner from each country. The research utilises a design brief customised for each national setting and relevant for learners aged between 10 and 15 years of age. A 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.  In this presentation we will report on the initial exploratory research with the teachers and plans for the next stage where the research will focus on 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.

pedagogy; comparative; middle years; formative assessment;