Enhancing Learning Methods
17th of Oct. 2019
At Kafrelsheikh University
The courses introduced in this article are representing an enhancement in the teaching and learning methods practiced in Methods of upgrading and conservation besides Architectural theories and criticism courses. The learning techniques focused from one hand on group work as it empowers students to construct collaborative discussions. It enables them to re-perceive scientific debates and arguments from different perspectives. Besides having a productive feedback regarding deliberated topics. Group-work is an essential prerequisite for university students as it enhances their self-learning capacities. Moreover, it improves their leadership and organisation skills. In Kafrelsheikh university group-work is a successful pedagogy and an incentive for continuous self-learning.
From the other hand, the teaching and learning methods adopted public speaking and presentations. It plays an important role in elucidating the students’ opinions regarding different academic topics. Besides being a method where students can assess the efficiency and progress of the adopted learning process. Most of young students or even researchers suffer fears and anxieties regarding public performances. In this context, practicing public speaking in academia is an essential remediation for this phenomenon, where students’ progress could be measured every certain period. Public speaking improves their self-confidence, communication skills and language skills as well. The teaching and learning methods practiced in the faculty of engineering in Kafrelsheikh is considered one of the educational development resulting from exchanging experiences with Hafencity University in Hamburg and Tu Berlin university.
As part of the ‘’Methods of Upgrading and conservation ‘’course, students were asked to respond to two research topics. The first concerned the historical analysis and investigations about the harbor and old docks of Hamburg city. Answering how it had been transformed from an industrial port to a cultural hub known as Hafen city. The students explored the topic from both an urban and architectural scales. The first topic included groups of 5 students studying the regeneration of the waterfront in Hafen city and the urban relations established between different architectural and cultural symbols. The students analyzed the renovation of the Neiderhafen river promenade by Zaha Hadid architects. Describing the methods used for flood protection required for the Elbe riverfronts. More over students were asked to analyze the building rehabilitation practices embodied in the transformation of one of the old docks to the Elbphilharmonie concert hall designed by Herzog and Meuron architects. Describing the relation between the old and new architecture and the main theme of design.
The second topic concerned the analysis of the Topography of terror museum in Berlin. The research included group work of three students. The museum was built on the ruins of the Nazi regime secret security office and headquarters. The building was destroyed during the Second World War, only some of its ruins and prison cells are remaining. The museum experiences outdoor as well as indoor spaces, gathering the ruins of cells and fragments of berlin wall. The new design was accomplished by the architect Ursula Wilms and the landscape architect Heinz W. Hallmann (Aachen), and was opened in 2010. The students needed to reflect the relation between the old ruins and the contemporary design. They were required to establish a comprehensive understanding about how architecture could narrate traumas, wars or destructive events into a work that fuses art, history and human experiences.
The students prepared public presentation, discussing with their colleagues the history of both sites and how they had been transformed to serve cultural events.
After words, students established new groups in class. Each student exchanged his personal experience in the research and shared it with the other students in a collaborative learning process. This phase enabled students to go in further details in what concerns the topic, giving chances to share more information and personal interpretations.
In the course of ‘Theories of architecture and criticism’’ students usually have 2 hours of theoretical knowledge concerning different criticism articles. Successively they change the classroom towards drawing halls were they are divided into groups of 5 students. They discuss the main topics, arguments or conflicts presented in the article between each other. They exchange different point of views and acquire more personal skills in public speaking, leadership and critical reading of events during a two hours section work.
Two group work researches were required from the students, reflecting the outcomes of the German Egyptian exchange in learning and teaching methods. The first adopted the concept of Democracy and Architecture. It focused on implementing a research work discussing the Reichstag dome constructed on top of the Reichstag building in Berlin. The glass dome was designed by lord Norman Foster in 1999. The students were asked to analyze how the architect interpreted the concept of democracy in his architectural design.
A public presentation was implemented by the students in order to demonstrate the view point of the architect in terms of design concept, environmental and technical treatments. The research aimed to examine the students’ capacity to expose, describe, evaluate and perform a basic judgment over the architectural work, which embodies the different steps and typologies of criticism.
The second research work adopted a final product critical reading for two projects through a cross case comparative analysis. The two projects included the Jewish museum in Berlin designed by Daniel Libskind, while the other concerned– the Jewish museum in Jerusalem designed by Moshe Safdie. The comparison tackled the interpretations for the sign language presented by both architects and the sequential reading of events and how it is reflected on the final architectural form of the museums.
After a public presentation introducing the two research topics, the students started a two hours section work. A public discussion between smaller groups organized by the course coordinator arguing different viewpoints of architects, critics and historians tackling both research topics. The group work and public presentations empower the students’ capacities to speak, criticize, and analyze architectural and urban planning arguments.