STEAM Approach for Architecture Education

Abstract

Starting with the first founded university, 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. 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. Each and every discipline has been in continuous search of the ``right'' way of formalization of education both content and skill wise. This paper focuses on architectural design education incorporating discussions on the role of STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). The study presents the outcomes of the ArchiSTEAM project, which is funded by EU Erasmus+ Programme, with the aim of re-positioning STEAM in architectural design education by contemplating 21st-century skills (a.k.a. survival skills) of architects. Three educational modules together with the andragogic approaches, learning objectives, contents, learning/teaching activities and assessment methods determined with respect to the skill sets defined for 21st-century architects.