Purpose: This paper aims to examine the barriers to adopting collaboration in architectural design studios from the instructors' perspectives and explore strategies to overcome barriers. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 coordinators in architecture and interior architecture design studios to gather…

What difficulties do architecture students encounter in the structural design for their final master project? How do they address these difficulties? This paper presents the topic and focuses on these two research questions by examining the students' experience, using thematic analysis with a qualitative approach. We obtained the data through…

Practical problem solving is not common in many mathematical classes in Malaysian upper secondary schools. Usually, students receive the mathematical concepts through abstract materials (students cannot see some of them in their daily life). Thus some students believe that 'mathematics is not necessary for human life'. In this article, the…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of planned, sudden shifts in lived experiences, in influencing learner capabilities towards improved problem-solving for sustainable development outcomes. The authors responded to employers of engineering and built environment graduates observing limited "real-life" problem-solving skills,…

This research aims to produce a Learning Trajectory Based Instruction (LTBI) that can help the ninth grade students understand the concept of congruence of the two-dimensional shape by examining Lawang Sewu as one of Central Java historical buildings. LTBI is defined as a teaching and learning trajectory that uses Hypothetical Learning Trajectory…

How do cross-bracing, geometry, and base isolation help buildings withstand earthquakes? These important structural design features involve fundamental geometry that elementary school students can readily model and understand. The problem activity, Designing an Earthquake-Resistant Building, was undertaken by several classes of sixth- grade…

For a structural engineer, effective communication and interaction with architects cannot be underestimated as a key skill to success throughout their professional career. Structural engineers and architects have to share a common language and understanding of each other in order to achieve the most desirable architectural and structural designs.…

As part of a 3-year longitudinal study, 136 sixth-grade students completed an engineering-based problem on earthquakes involving integrated STEM learning. Students employed engineering design processes and STEM disciplinary knowledge to plan, sketch, then construct a building designed to withstand earthquake damage, taking into account a number of…

The Beat the Flood challenge involves designing and building a model flood-proof home, which is then tested in "flood" conditions. It is set on the fictitious Watu Island. The children form teams, with each team member being assigned a responsibility for the duration of the task--team leader, chief recorder, and resource manager. This…

The third annual conference of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) was held at Trinity College Dublin on 11-12 November 2009, and was attended by over 300 delegates. The theme--"Research-Teaching Linkages: Practice and Policy"--was timely and generated some fascinating papers, workshops and…

At the University of Newcastle (Australia), architecture students' design projects, a central feature of the professional program, are based on design problems requiring integration of information from varied disciplines and therefore, rigorous planning and scheduling. The problem-based learning approach has helped improve student outcomes and has…