The Relationship between Students' Mimetic Approaches and Learning Styles in Architectural Design Education

Abstract

Architects' attitudes most likely get from the common values obtained during their education and these values are acquired within the period of architectural education i.e., from the first year to the last year. In this sense, design problems are mostly defined with the help of mimetics and it is believed that thinking through mimetics enables the student to explain and understand an unknown situation relative to a familiar situation. So, believing that each student in the design studio uses certain language codes and develops them with knowledge, in this paper the design preferences of four architecture students at three different stages of their education are cross-sectionally analysed using the method called "Metaphorical Reasoning: Context and Depth" and the design approaches of each student are revealed. As shown in this study, some students have an excellent ability to use abstract concepts and have been able to switch between resources (between-domain sources and within-domain sources) very boldly. In the process, the accumulation of knowledge and education changed their mimetic behaviour, and the abstract concepts of some novices became more complex as their education progressed. On the other hand, some other novices who took tangible design approaches remained almost unchanged until the end. Considering that these different mimetic approaches of students are related to their learning styles, Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) method was used and learning styles of four students were revealed. The learning styles of the students obtained by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) method support all the findings.