Document Type
Thesis, Senior
Degree
B. ARCH
Date
Spring 2014
Keywords
Chen, China, Education, Community
Language
English
Disciplines
Architecture
Description/Abstract
The biggest problem of the state-controlled children’s education in the People’s Republic of China is that the system focuses more on the method of education rather than learning of children themselves. Thus the children lack of internal motivation to learn. Moreover, the typical education in China tend to isolate the students from the neighborhood, lacking a chance for students to really interact and experiement hands on with new knwoledge. However, this problem aspect can be overcame by learning from the western pedagogical strategies, such as the Montessori Education. For this educational approach, the primary goal is to stimulate children’s internal motivation to learn. Children have more freedom to make decisions. What are they going to learn? Where? When? and How? A school building designed to spatialize these pedagogical strategies could rely on architectural tactics which produce the following effects. The school itself becomes a part of the urban infrastructure to connect the school community with the neighborhood, which allows children to have more interaction with its surroundings and the society. Also, within the school, minor learning space is added to create a framework within which children can use to develop their own meaning of learning. At the same time, informal learning spaces are created to extend and enhance children’s learning experiences outside the classroom boxes. In this way, I contend that the school as a learning institution and the architecture that gives it spatial form and urban presence both act as a critique of current practice.
Recommended Citation
Chen, Ying, "A Critique of Chinese Education" (2014). Architecture Senior Theses. 198.
https://surface.syr.edu/architecture_theses/198
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional Information
Thesis Advisers: Terrance Goode, Amber Bartosh, Robert Petrie