Redesigning the Design Studio to Foster Critical Thinking

Abstract

ISSUE: The design educator can respond to the significant need to enhance critical thinking by creating a studio environment that fosters self‐discovery and synthesis of information and places the responsibility of learning upon the students. GOAL: A studio environment that promotes critical thinking encourages students to explore and analyzes various issues and theories, thereby enhancing of their ability to build a substantiated case for an interior design solution. APPLICATION: Distinctions between problem solving, decision making, concept development, and critical thinking clarify for the student the various roles of these thinking strategies. A comparison between a traditional interior design studio versus one that fosters critical thinking clarifies for the educator the type of environment necessary to promote this order of thinking. The importance of critical thinking is emphasized, and students are more confident and experiential in their approach to interior design. Students are also better able to articulate their rationale for an interior design solution. DESCRIPTION: The major component of critical thinking includes the thorough examination of a problem, resulting in a solution that is supported by education and theory. Differentiating between facts and values, relevant versus irrelevant information, determining the credibility of the source of information and identifying logical fallacies are a few measures one can take to analyze a design problem critically. This analysis evolves into a defense (the justification for an interior design solution). CONCLUSION: Providing a studio environment that enhances critical thinking results in an interactive learning environment. Students actively participate in the learning process, creating in a dynamic educational environment.

Student Interior Design Projects in Saudi Arabia

“…One of the most important elements in critical analysis of a design problem is the systematic examination of it: distinguishing between facts and values, identifying relevant versus irrelevant information, determining the reliability of the information sources and identifying logical misconceptions. This analysis is developed and discussed in the jury defence (Kucko & Caldwell ).…”

Climate in the Interior Design Studio: Implications for Design Education

“…(p. 20) This sense of "confusion and mystery" in the design studio has also been corroborated by researchers outside of architecture. Kucko and Caldwell (1995) addressed the experiential nature of the interior design studio by explaining that interior design students are generally responsible for gathering information Also unique to the studio setting is the close interpersonal relationships that often develop between students and faculty. related to projects, with the instructor serving only as a facilitator in the information gathering process.…”

“…Also unique to the studio setting is the close interpersonal relationships that often develop between students and faculty. In the interior design studio, the professor primarily works independently with each student, making the learning environment atypical in comparison to more conventional classroom settings (Kucko & Caldwell, 1995). An interesting dynamic occurs in the midst of this setting; camaraderie is curtailed to some degree by the fact that student achievement is based on the student's independent performance and creativity.…”