Greening the Skills of Architecture Students via STEAM Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Greening the Skills of Architecture Students via STEAM Education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

1. Context:
Starting with the first founded university in Bologna in the 11th Century, higher education has been evolving continuously, yet the pace of this evolution is not as fast as the changes that we observe in practice. Today, this discrepancy is not only limited to the content of the curricula but also the expected skills and competencies. Each and every discipline has been in continuous search of the “right” way of formalization of education both content and skill wise. This project is focused on architectural design education incorporating discussions on the role of STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). It is proposed that STEAM as a holistic approach provides a valuable structure for curricula of architectural design education and related skills and competencies. It is evident that 21st Century skills and competencies should be much different than the ones delivered in the 20th Century due to rapidly developing and spreading new design and information technologies. This project re-positions STEAM in architectural design education by contemplating 21st-century skills (a.k.a. survival skills) of architects.

2. Objectives
ArchiSTEAM project aims to define and embed necessary survival skills enabling learners to work in collaborative and interdisciplinary ways into architecture curricula by means of STEAM approach. The proposed structure of the curriculum helps architecture students to have the necessary knowledge and skills to become proactive members of the knowledge economy and be able to cope with future challenges and sustain their professions. In this regard, as it is explored in the ArchiSTEAM project, skill sets that should be conveyed to students are as important as the knowledge that they should gain through their education. The main objectives defined to realize this aim is listed below:

Assessment of STEAM skills in existing curricula in architecture schools. It is aimed to reveal the best practices on how STEAM skills are addressed and how the generic STEAM module can be developed in this respect.
Delivery of Generic STEAM modules regardless of the discipline aiming to furnish students with survival skills in rapidly changing environment and technology.
Adaptation of developed generic STEAM modules in the existing architecture curricula.
Development of architectural education content matching the learning objectives and outcomes considering the STEAM skills developed during the project.
Development of digital materials for dissemination along with the best practices in proposed courses and the workshops.
3. Main Activities:
Within the scope of this project, to fulfill the stated objectives, a comprehensive field analysis is conducted via research and questionnaires. The outcomes of these analyses are synthesized and a new module including the proposed skills are developed together with the researchers of the partner institutions via gathering activities i.e. transnational meetings, short-term trainings, and online meetings. Then, the outcome of these discussions is reported in a collaborative environment which can be reached from the project website (http://archisteam.com/outputs/). The proposed STEAM approach and related skills are tested through not only the adaptation of the modules into the courses of partner universities but also with the workshops conducted in Turkey, Bologna, and Aalborg with 25-30 students from each country. As a result of the courses and the workshops the proposed module is validated.

4. Results and Impact
Project is aimed to add valuecreate and impact in terms of increase in quality ofin education based on STEAM approach. With this project, an educational epidemic promoting creativity through science, technology, engineering, art and math skills is triggered starting from architectural education. The utilization of this approach throughout the education life of individuals may facilitate the paradigm shift in educational design.
The initial impacts are measured through the workshops and dissemination events conducted in the partner countries. The written and verbal feedbacks from students, instructors and professionals attending the dissemination events reveals that the proposed STEAM modules enables new perspectives in the field of education.

5. Longer-term benefits
The outcome of the project is not only focused on architecture education and covers generic STEAM modules which are applicable to any discipline facing the challenge of adapting itself t rapidly changing conditions. As a result, nextfuture generations are aimed to be capable of adapting new technologies from a creative perspective resulting in innovative perceptions with sustainable skills in the course of lifelong learning. The qualitative shift of future generations competencies will provide added value in local, regional, national and international levels.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 176876 Eur

Project Coordinator

MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY & Country: TR

Project Partners

• AALBORG UNIVERSITET
• ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA