TY - GEN
T1 - Integrative learning in a Synthesis and Design Studio
T2 - 40th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference: Celebrating Forty Years of Innovation, FIE 2010
AU - Walther, Joachim
AU - Kellam, Nadia
AU - Costantino, Tracie
AU - Cramond, Bonnie
PY - 2010/12/1
Y1 - 2010/12/1
N2 - Engineering education is uniquely qualified to make strides towards both a more integrated curriculum and understanding the benefits of an integrated learning experiences, due to the vast amounts of experience with innovative integrative curricular structures. This paper briefly describes an innovative approach to integrate student learning through a four year Synthesis and Design Studio. This provides the context for a phenomenological research study that investigated the nature of students' integrative learning processes. More specifically, the study examined integrative learning through the lens of students' experiences of the focus on deliberate reflection and engagement in the authentic interdisciplinary setting during an interdisciplinary Studio offered in the Fall of 2009. This study consisted of the interpretive analysis of individual reflection reports written by each student after participating in a range of reflective activities over the course of the semester. In addition, the qualitative data included open-ended responses collected from a mid and end-of-semester survey that was conducted externally. The phenomenological analysis of the students' experiences suggests that their development of a professional way of being as a key aspect of integrative learning that emerged gradually from the complex influences of the interdisciplinary educational experience and can be fostered by deliberate, continuous reflection.
AB - Engineering education is uniquely qualified to make strides towards both a more integrated curriculum and understanding the benefits of an integrated learning experiences, due to the vast amounts of experience with innovative integrative curricular structures. This paper briefly describes an innovative approach to integrate student learning through a four year Synthesis and Design Studio. This provides the context for a phenomenological research study that investigated the nature of students' integrative learning processes. More specifically, the study examined integrative learning through the lens of students' experiences of the focus on deliberate reflection and engagement in the authentic interdisciplinary setting during an interdisciplinary Studio offered in the Fall of 2009. This study consisted of the interpretive analysis of individual reflection reports written by each student after participating in a range of reflective activities over the course of the semester. In addition, the qualitative data included open-ended responses collected from a mid and end-of-semester survey that was conducted externally. The phenomenological analysis of the students' experiences suggests that their development of a professional way of being as a key aspect of integrative learning that emerged gradually from the complex influences of the interdisciplinary educational experience and can be fostered by deliberate, continuous reflection.
KW - Authentic interdisciplinary experiences
KW - Curriculum integration
KW - Deliberate reflection
KW - Phenomenology
KW - Synthesis and design studio
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78751516319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78751516319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/FIE.2010.5673434
DO - 10.1109/FIE.2010.5673434
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:78751516319
SN - 9781424462599
T3 - Proceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE
SP - S2F1-S2F6
BT - 40th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference
Y2 - 27 October 2010 through 30 October 2010
ER -