Pedestrian Bridge Application in a Fundamentals of Structural Analysis Course Inside an Architecture Bachelor Program

Maria Giulia Ballatore,Anita Tabacco,Dan Crocker,Fabrizio Barpi

doi:10.3991/ijep.v11i5.20151

Abstract

The paper presents an application of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) methodology in a structural analysis course taught in English of the third year Architecture bachelor program at Politecnico di Torino (Italy). This experimentation regards a class which is composed mostly of international students, that is, a heterogeneous audience with different background. In general, students struggle with the technical aspects typical of structural analysis course. PBL has been found as a possible solution to this problem in Engineering programs. The aim of redesigning the course is to support students’ learning while evaluating the PBL application in a non-technical context with an international audience. This article describes the structure and the results of the PBL implementation. In particular, the participation has increased compared to the previous academic year in terms of presence during the lectures, interest in the subject, interaction between the lecturer and the students, and exams’ results. These results are encouraging and confirm the validity of the PBL methodology as actually applied.

Highlights

Fundamentals of Structural Analysis (FSA) is a third-year mandatory course of the Architecture bachelor program at the Politecnico di Torino
The course participation has increased compared to the previous academic year in terms of presence during the lessons and interest in the subject
The students' requests are mainly addressing discussion about alternative computational solutions and specific material characteristics. This remark stimulated the lecturer to implement in theoretical lessons some active learning activities. These results suggest a positive relationship between Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and FSA in a non-technical program, such as an Architecture program

Summary

Introduction

Fundamentals of Structural Analysis (FSA) is a third-year mandatory course of the Architecture bachelor program at the Politecnico di Torino This bachelor's degree has two different tracks: one taught in Italian, with around 450 students (divided into three parallel groups), and one in English, with almost 75 students. One of the aspects that non-technical students typically find hard is the shift from the theoretical concepts to the qualitative evaluation that this topic requires. This shift is unusual for students in general, but even more for the architectural ones that in their study are not comfortable with this approach. The lecturer needs to guide the shift in the learning techniques [13]

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