TEA – Tecnologia nas
Escolas de Arquitetura
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The Five Structural Elements
How do Architectural Students Understand
Technical Concepts?
Phenomenography as a way to Research the
Understanding by Students of Technical Concepts
Five Structural Elements
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There are five elements that are present in all
structural mechanisms
We are investigating how and what students
realize as the main concepts of structural
systems
We are producing a movie that shows in a
special way how these five elements work in
structural systems
Jogo de Memória
sobre os 5 elementos estruturais
Este material pedagógico foi desenvolvido
com o intuito de facilitar inserção do aluno
de arquitetura no mundo das estruturas.
Este jogo é um dos elementos que compõe
uma serie de procedimentos didáticos que
visam facilitar a percepção dos fenômenos
físicos e geométricos que envolvem os
mecanismo estruturais.
Os 5 elementos estruturais
P
carga
carga
V
reações
reações
L
vão
vão
H
h
horizontais horizontais
altura
altura
Exemplo de combinação
P
+
carga
ou
+
altura
Criacão: Denise Ferraz - musician
Phenomenography as a way to
Research the Understanding by
Students of Technical Concepts
The meaning of ‘methodology’
‘In educational research … ‘methodology’ is taken to be
a discipline whose function is to examine the underlying
rationale for the methods which produce valid
knowledge. In this sense, methodology aims to
prescribe what are justifiable methods and procedures
that ought to be used in the generation and testing of
valid knowledge.’
‘Knowledge is valid only if its production conforms to
the methods and procedures prescribed by the
methodology you have chosen’
(Professor Wilfred Carr)
Roof slab collapse
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‘There was a misconception in terms of supports
definition and a misperception of the five basic
structural parameters in this structural system by the
designers.’ – César Ballarotti
The object of learning
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In this case, the BSP are the object of learning
Students must distinguish critical features of the
phenomenon
Objective: see phenomenon in more complex ways
– not in terms of the designers’ misconceptions
Cannot discern without experiencing VARIATION
Example: How do we learn what ‘tallness’ is?
Constitute in the classroom the necessary
conditions to enable students to experience this
variation (discerning critical features of the BSP)
Phenomenography?
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Phenomenographic research has as its outcome
a set of categories of description that characterise the
variation in the way a phenomenon may be
experienced.
Focus on the students’ experience of the
phenomenon and not the phenomenon itself
Investigating the experience of a phenomena
through the eyes of students
Second order vs. first order research
The nature of the p’graphic
interview
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The researcher and interviewee must establish a
shared definition of the phenomenon
The experiences captured by the interview are
jointly constituted by the interviewer and the
interviewee
The experiences are thematised through a
conversation between two partners about a theme
of mutual interest
The interview is of a semi-structured nature with
only a few key questions predetermined
Useful resources
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Marton, F. (1981). Phenomenography - describing conceptions of the world around us.
Instructional Science, 10(2), 177-200.
Johansson, B., Marton, F., & Svensson, L. (1985). An approach to describing learning
as a change between qualitatively different conceptions. In L. Pines & T. West (Eds.),
Cognitive structure and conceptual change (pp. 233-257). New York: Academic Press.
Marton, F. (1986). Phenomenography - A Research Approach to Investigating
Different Understandings of Reality. Journal of Thought, 21, 28-49.
Bowden, J. A., & Walsh, E. (1994). Phenomenography. Melbourne: RMIT University
Press.
Dall'Alba, G., & Hasselgren, B. (1996). Reflections on phenomenography – Toward a
methodology? (Vol. 109): University of Gothenburg.
Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and Awareness. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Higher Education Research & Development, 16(2), 1997
Bowden, J. A., & Green, P. (Eds.). (2005). Doing Developmental Phenomenography.
Melbourne: RMIT University Press.
Marton, F., & Tsui, A. (2004). Classroom discourse and the space of learning. Mahwah, N.J.:
L. Erlbaum Associates.
Concluding remarks
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Phenomenography as a research approach
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Issues of data collection
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The nature of the phenomenographic interview
Characteristics of the sample
Phenomenographic data analysis
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The importance of non-dualism in phenomenography
The outcome of a phenomenographic analysis
Bringing structure and meaning to an experience
The structure of awareness
From interview to transcript
Fragments of conceptions?
Constituting an outcome space
Useful resources