Proposal view
| Proposal Type: | Individual Thematic Poster |
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| Domain: | Knowledge Acquisition and Expertise in Specific Domains |
| SIG: | Instructional Design |
| Equipment |
PC and projector |
| Paper Details |
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| Title | Architecture in the Elementary School: The ARCHIMATH Program |
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| Abstract | The built environment in Turkey has been in a state of constant transformation due to internal migration and population increase. Both planned and unplanned developments in line with modern ideas have accelerated the loss of the local and historic character of the cities. The ARCHIMATH program was developed to initiate a public effort for environmental awareness among elementary school students while improving their mathematical skills. The program covered topics from the elementary mathematics curriculum, and, was based on an introductory course for architecture majors. The program was revised and re-organized after a pilot study and was implemented once more in the selected schools for different groups of students. The final evaluation included subjective views of the teachers taking part in the program as well as the pre- and post-test comparisons of the attitudes of the students towards the built environment. The findings indicated the effectiveness of the course for the development of mathematical ideas and skills and for gaining more positive attitudes towards the built environment. |
| Summary | The effectiveness of the educational programs which integrate design, architecture and education indicate that environmental awareness can be created when students learn to look at their environment. There are many examples of environmental education programs intended to increase the children’s awareness of the built environment by a combination of architecture and mathematics. This study was carried out as part of a project designed to initiate a public effort that could be influential in the improvement of the built environment through the creation of environmental awareness among elementary school students. An integrated mathematics and architecture program was designed to assist in the development of elementary school students’ awareness of the built environment. The main concern of the program was to integrate architecture into the already existing mathematics curriculum without imposing an extra load . The relation between mathematics and architecture is strong and interdependent. Knowledge of mathematics and geometry is vital for both architects and designers. Architecture, on the other hand can be useful in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Designing the built environment can be a concrete example for geometry. This close relationship between the two disciplines and evaluation of the state of the art led us to the integration of these two disciplines in ARCHIMATH, a proposed education program. The goals of the program were to maintain or recall the relationship of mathematics and architecture in the already existing mathematics curriculum without changing its structure while at the same time providing the integration of mathematics education and practical life. Themes in the existing mathematics curriculum that were compatible with architecture formed the basic structure of the program. The ARCHIMATH program did not aim at imposing specific aesthetic rules or values. Neither did it aim at assessing the aesthetic values of the participants. It aimed at creating an awareness of the built environment to enable the students to perceive, comprehend and evaluate their built environment and consequently take responsibility for its well-being as conscious citizens while improving the learning of mathematics. The ARCHIMATH program or integration of architectural education in the existing mathematics curriculum was designed as a semester long program where students met with their teachers once a week. The students explored their ideas through drama, interacted with their environment, developed graphic communication skills and designed projects to develop their creativity. One of the main concerns was the simplicity of the program, which was designed in such a way that high school teachers who were not trained as architects should be able to implement the program with minimum guidance. There were seven topics included in the program: 1. What is architecture? /Understanding Architecture and the Architect 2. Architecture and its Human Dimensions 3 .Architectural Presentation Techniques/Projections 4. Plane-Surface in Architecture 5. Geometry and Architecture 6. Geometric Analysis of the Built Environment 7. Mathematics/Architecture/Aesthetics Three elementary schools in Istanbul were selected as pilot-study schools. Diversity in terms of socio-economic levels was a basic criterion for selection. One of the pilot study schools was a private school located in a well-to-do neighborhood. The second one was a public school located in a neighborhood with very high rate of suburban migration. The third one was a public school located in a neighborhood with high social and economic conditions but in which the social and economic conditions of the students were fairly low. Students from grade four to eight were selected through convenient sampling in accordance with their level of reading skills and development. The program was evaluated through the examination of the activity sheets. At the end of the program, the teachers evaluated the changes that they perceived in the development of their students. According to the reports of the teachers, students were not familiar with an analysis of their environment and had limited knowledge of architecture. Evaluation of the activity sheets revealed that students had difficulty in three-dimensional perception and had little information on their built environment. They also had some misconceptions about certain geometric forms. The teachers reported that this program had an effect on the development of concern for the environment. Architecture and environment seemed to become a part of the student agenda. After the proposed program was carried out in the pilot study schools it was re-evaluated and developed. More activities were added to the program relating to aesthetics, design of spaces, site visits to historical buildings and on site analysis of buildings. In the final evaluation, 30 6th grade students from one of the public schools who had not participated in the pilot study took part. The program was applied to these students as a supplement to their math courses, in which they worked on the activities for an hour each week for 8 weeks. The program was also carried out as an extra-curricular activity for a “design club” for grade 7 students at a private school. The feedback obtained from the teachers who carried out the programs indicated the effectiveness of the program. To detect the change of attitude towards the environment resulting from the ARCHIMATH program, a questionnaire was given to the students before the program and after the completion of the program. The questionnaire was developed by the researchers to measure how children evaluated their environments, how aware they were of the problems and how responsible they felt with respect to the improvement of the built environment. The evaluation of the results showed that there was an increase in terms of reclaiming the environment. The responses indicating awareness for the physical environment, the feeling of responsibility and the assumption of accountability for the actions taken for public service increased by twenty to thirty percent. The change in attitude scale revealed that the archimath program had an influence on students in terms of an increase in awareness and perception of the environment. Feedback obtained from the teachers at the completion of the program also indicated that the ARCHIMATH program had begun to make a change in the students’ attitudes towards the environment. |
| Keywords | Elementary schools Mathematics education |
| Appendices | |
| Authors | ||||||
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| Name | Surname | Institution | Country | EARLI Number | Presenting | |
| Emine | Erktin | Bogazici University | Turkey | Erktin@boun.edu.tr | * | |
| Sema | Soygenis | Bahcesehir University | Turkey | ssoygenis@bahcesehir.edu.tr | ||
