THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.4. The evolution of educational and learning Theories
3.4.3. Reflective practice and active experiential learning
64 | P a g e Developing problem-solving skills therefore requires confidence in one’s ability to apply appropriate metacognitive and reasoning strategies such as case-based reasoning in design disciplines such as architecture (Hmelo-Silver 2004). However, case-based reasoning is not a purely technically rationalist, linear process either but rather an iterative process of action and reflection.
65 | P a g e Figure 3.4. The four modes of Kolb’s Learning Cycle (Turesky and Wood 2010).
The processing of information gathering and learning differs from individual to individual.
Kolb and Kolb (2005 in Demirbas 2008) state that learning styles define the way in which individuals perceive and process new information. ELT postulates that learning is a cyclical process that starts with experience, continues with reflection and conceptualization that leads to action. Concrete Experience (CE) is defined as learning by experiencing; Reflective Observation (RO) refers to learning by reflecting, Abstract Conceptualisation (AC) is defined as learning by thinking, while Active Experimentation (AE) refers to learning by doing (Demirbas 2008). According to Willcoxson and Prosser (1996 in Demirbas 2008) two bipolar dimensions, the Concrete/Abstract and the Active/Reflective, are exposed within this cycle of four learning modes. The Concrete/Abstract mode refers to the perceiving of new information while the Active/Reflective mode refers to the processing of such new information in a learning activity (Demirbas 2008). Within the ELT framework an individual learning style may be determined by positioning it on each of the dimensions in a test called the Learning Styles Inventory. This positioning on each of the bipolar dimensions corresponds to one of the four learning styles within the ELT framework; namely Accommodating, Diverging, Assimilating and Converging (Demirbas 2008). According to Demirbas (2008), ‘accommodating’ learners generally focus on hands-on experience while ‘diverging’ learners prefer observation over action. They usually generate a broad range of ideas from many points of view through brainstorming, rather than relying on theories and generalizations. ‘Assimilating’ learners
66 | P a g e prefer abstract ideas and concepts over concrete experiences, and look for reasonable soundness in theories, rather than their practical value. At the same time they also prefer to experience concrete situations in a symbolic way in which information is transformed through thought. ‘Converging’ learners are good at finding practical application for ideas and theories and are therefore fond of technical duties rather than social interaction. Where then, in the Kolb model, could the typical architecture student be located?
Demirbas and Demirkan (2008) related student architects’ design process to Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory and found in a study, that most students of architecture could be categorized as ‘assimilators’ and ‘convergers’ (Tucker 2007). Despite this general inclination of architectural students, Demirbas and Demirkan (2008) affirm that learning is most successful when all four modes of learning will be experienced equally. This confirms that a vital balance between the introverted intuitive cognitive processes and the extroverted social processes is necessary in order to effectively resolve architectural problems. Responsive architectural practice therefore needs to emanate from a vital epistemological balance.
Arthur E. Stamps III (1994) affirmed the value of a contextually engaged approach to architectural education with reference to Carl Jung. The Jungian functions of thinking, feeling, sensing and imagining within both the individual (introvert) and the collective (extrovert) learning contexts, were interrogated in order to explain the efficacy and value of architectural education. Stamps III (1994) took a critical stance whereby he posited that: (1) architectural education emphasises feelings and imagination thereby socialising learners to a predominantly artistic paradigm; (2) current societal conditions demand skills other than those that exist within the artistic paradigm, particularly thinking, sensing and extroversion; (3) the development of other skills requires epistemological balance between the artistic and other paradigms; and (4) implementation of epistemological balance can be achieved at all levels of design education.
The major implication of epistemological balance on contemporary architectural education is that there needs to be a much stronger relationship with society and context, which requires a holistic approach to design studio pedagogy.
67 | P a g e 3.4.4. The design studio as holistic pedagogy
The architectural design studio is arguably the prime site for the integration of all of the preceding learning theories due to the complex nature of architectural design problems.
Uluoglu (1990, 2000 in Demirbas 2008) suggests that the design studio can be considered the most important part of design education, as it forms the core of the curriculum to which all other courses are related. This integrated approach to the architectural curriculum focuses the design programme on problems of a tangible and real nature, around which theoretical knowledge is constructed in order to produce meaningful and relevant architectural design solutions. The design studio is thereby transformed from a place in which students are taught how to design, to a place in which understanding of the design activity is achieved through both introvert intuitive cognitive activity and extrovert social interaction. This establishes contextual relevance through experience and reflection. Uluoglu (2000 in Demirbas 2008) affirms that design activity is more than the act of doing, that it is conscious, selective and intelligent rather than impulsive, coincidental and habitual. Here again critical enquiry and engaged practice are strongly supported.
Critical enquiry and engaged practice could be much enhanced due to the ease of information flow and connectivity that has been afforded by the rapid development of information technology. Social media, the worldwide web, open source resources, CAD, Building Information Modelling (BIM) and simulation software have exposed architecture to larger participatory platforms. Such participatory platforms offer opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement that had never been available before. The rapid and advanced development of social networking technology has redefined social space that allows for social and cultural diversity on project work through virtual space and not inhibited by the physical and logistical hindrances of before. Virtual space has allowed ease of collaboration across professional, geographic and cultural domains – this, as a result, has afforded architectural design to many resources and has exposed architectural production to multiple critiques. As a consequence, architects are now required to design for values that may be entirely different from their own, which poses a serious challenge to the traditional introverted model of the 1990s. This requires that architects step out of their artistic silos and start to engage with the realities of a dynamic multicultural and globally connected world in order to remain relevant. Two critical questions emerge from the preceding discussion.
68 | P a g e Firstly, how can architectural education prepare the new generation architectural practitioner to practice optimally within the broader socio-economic context? Secondly, given the artistic and predominantly intuitive inclination of architectural education and practice, how can epistemological balance be inculcated in architectural education?
This thesis proposes a complex integrated approach to architectural education which transcends disciplinary and cognitive boundaries in order to enhance knowledge generation and knowledge transfer within a broader contextual paradigm; this paradigm includes the local and global society. Within such paradigm socio- or geo-sentiment, boundary protectionism and disconnected consciousness cannot be allowed. Neo-humanism is therefore posited as an ideology for the development of a holistic and engaged architectural education model.
3.4.5. Neo-humanism as a strategy for transformative pedagogy within a holistic