Development of Landscape Architecture Design Students’ Pro-Environmental Awareness by Project-Based Learning

Abstract

With a rapid pace of urbanization, urban environment problems have affected large numbers of people and aroused widespread concern. Landscape architecture design helps improve the welfare of urban residents and ecological function of urban green spaces. Course-based influence of college students majoring in landscape architecture is an efficient way to prepare future landscape architects with environmental awareness. This research applied project-based learning (PBL) and zone of proximal development (ZPD) in the landscape architecture design course, and developed the investigation–design–construction PBL modules of the course. The experimental group, 57 college juniors majoring in landscape architecture, received PBL education while learning the course. At the end of the course, a questionnaire was answered by the junior students and the control group, which comprised 60 senior students who received no PBL instruction while learning the same course in the third year. The results indicate that the PBL approach was well accepted by 90% of the experimental group, who were 17.37% more likely to employ pro-environmental design methods in their future work than the control group. It was also found that employing the PBL approach in the landscape architecture design course had a positive influence upon students’ pro-environmental values, knowledge and attitudes.

The design of project-based learning model based on local potential and social constructive investigation and its impact on students' green behavior

“…That it, the PBL learning model based on local potential and constructive social investigations significantly influences student environmentally friendly behaviour. These findings are in line with Xinjun Wang's [40] report, which revealed that PBL has a positive influence on the values, knowledge, and pro-environmental attitudes of students. The same was also reported by Borhan [41], who found that implementing PBL can enhance students' attitudes and behaviours towards the environment.…”

Landscaping Promoting Sustainable Comfort in Cities

“…This development occurs with population growth in a given location, improving the structure of small towns and large urban centers. In planning the landscaping project, solutions must be sought for social, economic and nature destruction problems in large urban centers and also in small towns where there is no awareness of the importance of preserving nature [3,4].…”

“…In buildings with a green roof, the internal temperature of the apartments and collective spaces is pleasant and there is energy savings with less use of air conditioning, increasing sustainability in the landscaping. Plants provide oxygen, make the environment more humid and attenuate noise, reducing the need for investment in acoustic insulation [4].…”

How negative anthropomorphic message framing and nostalgia enhance pro-environmental behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: An SEM-NCA approach

“…A consumer behavior strategy that encourages consumers to abandon the consumption style of wastefulness and actively practice green consumption that respects nature and pursues health is a practical necessity for promoting sustainable economic and social development and a pressing theoretical issue in consumer behavior. Therefore, to solve urban environmental problems, a correct understanding of the pro-environmental behavior of urban residents is required (Lindenberg and Steg, 2007 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ; Xi and Wang, 2022 ), as well as providing urban residents full credit for their contribution to environmental protection. In general, pro-environmental behavior is an action that is taken by humans to protect the environment and prevent its degradation (Stern, 2000 ).…”