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oa Learning and applying sustainability principles is a challenging educational task
- Publisher: Hamad bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press)
- Source: QScience Proceedings, Qatar Green Building Conference 2015 - The Vision, Apr 2015, Volume 2015, 26
Abstract
In this global era, sustainability has become a wide-ranging term used in local and global scale and applied to almost every facet of life on earth. In academia, finding the appropriate means to learn and apply sustainability principles is a challenging educational task that leads to what is often called ‘sustainability gap’. In this study, students from architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture are taught sustainability principles in a collaboration studio course. The purpose of this study is: 1) to understand the gap between learning and application of sustainability principles in collaborative pedagogic settings, 2) to examine the association between collaborative pedagogic setting and students' predisposition to environmental responsibility while learning and applying sustainability principles, and 3) to explore whether the symbiosis between sustainability and collaboration might be associated with the students' perception of innovation in design. The objective of this study is to provide data that will help bridge the gap between learning and application of sustainability principles. A review of literature relevant to sustainability and collaboration was conducted. A qualitative (participants observation) and quantitative (survey/questionnaires) approaches were used to collect data in this study. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, open coding, independent T-test, One-way ANOVA, and multiple comparison tests were used to analyze the data. The findings show that collaboration between design and allied disciplines might facilitate learning and application of sustainability principles. Similarly, collaborative settings help students understand the predisposition of being pro-environment, responsive and perceptive of the innovation in design. Finally, collaborative pedagogy has facilitated the identification of conspicuous gaps relevant to learning and application of sustainability principles.
- 22 April 2015