Developing spatial literacy through design of built environments: Art and crafts teachers’ strategies

Abstract

Designing built environments demands the ability to make translations between your visions, visual representations of these, and the full-scale environment that is to be built. Pupils working on architectural tasks face these challenges of translation. How can the teacher come to their aid? Research on teaching strategies for the architectural studio has sought to articulate the entire design process, something that leads to overarching strategies but less hands-on, detailed descriptions. This article offers greater in-depth insight into the strategies teachers use to enhance pupils’ spatial literacy. In semi-structured interviews, six lower secondary school Art and crafts teachers described their teaching practice related to architectural tasks. From the teachers’ detailed moves, we have identified five teaching strategies and placed them in a visual model that demonstrates what role they may play in aiding pupils in the process of designing built environments. By articulating these strategies, we hope to contribute to the development of the vocabulary used in and about teaching design and architecture.