Architectural education has received attention from within and even from outside the field, and it has even been presented as a model for all professional education, as i.e. by Donald Schön, since 1983 and 1985. In conditions of globalized capitalism, developing tendencies in education, such as the shift from objectivist to constructivist paradigms, have not left architectural education unaffected. Especially since the global financial crisis of 2008 it is expected to remain under scrutiny: Does contemporary architectural education have the purpose of developing the student’s individual expressiveness, or is it a process of coming to terms with society, and even, developing a ‘world’ citizenry? Is it a process of unifying the fragmented areas of knowledge and interpretations of reality into an articulated and meaningful whole or is it about acquiring instrumental knowledge towards professional mastery? The motivation for this thesis was born in the aporia of how we could situate, in the context of broad questions as the above, the enquiry into ways of investigating better teaching and learning in architecture. This research draws from examples of architectural education in the U.K. and from previous research work undertaken in the U.K., as well as from relevant deliberations from the international educational scene. The thesis distinguishes between pedagogy and didactics within the current discourse, and argues for the priority of didactics in the framing of explanations for architectural education. The main questions are: (a) what are ways to investigate better modes of learning in architecture, and (b) what are presuppositions for establishing a special didactics for architecture. Two methods of enquiry are employed in this thesis. One is argumentative analysis, used on two exemplary cases of a subcategory of the broader discussion, described in this thesis as ‘discussion at the extremes’. The other is philosophical explanation, used to investigate the logical, theoretical and philosophical presuppositions and consequences of architectural education. The ‘Theory of Experience in Education’ by John Dewey and the ‘Theory of Skill Acquisition’ by Hubert Dreyfus, representing the distinct theoretical frames of pragmatism and phenomenology respectively, are proposed for the study of architecture’s two didactic tools, of the Design Studio project and the Live project. The approach is dialogic, attempting to bridge qualities of the two frames into a hybrid descriptive model. The thesis concludes with the proposed component of a descriptive didactics for architecture. At the end, this thesis puts forward the opening of a broader discussion about the prospects for a didactics and meta-didactics of architecture.

While much of the literature in the field of second language (L2) motivational variance has focused on macro-level or societal variables to account for males’ disinterest to learn French, very few studies consider micro-level factors, that is, those within the language learning classroom. To fill this gap in the literature, this exploratory and descriptive study examines, from both the perspective of male Core French learners and Core French teachers, possible pedagogical elements that boys perceive as contributing factors to their demotivation to learn French. A mixed method design was employed and data were collected from a sample of 75 male Core French students and six Core French teachers on southern Vancouver Island. The quantitative data were collected through the use of modified questionnaires, while the qualitative data were gathered using focus group interviews. There are three major findings in the current study. First, male Core French learners reported being disinterested in the topics of study used in the Core French classroom and demotivated by the Core French textbook. Second, male Core French learners criticized the overdependence of written modality exercises implemented in the language classroom, suggesting that the repetitive nature of the written exercises discourages them to learn French. Third, male Core French learners were shown to strongly disfavour the teacher-centered approach most often described by learners. They reported that a more student-centered approach, which incorporated games and a significant increase in speaking and interactive activities, might encourage them to be more motivated to learn French. Based on these findings, implications and future research directions are discussed. / Graduate / dtrerice@uvic.ca

No description available.

Genau wie Borges’ Bibliothekar, der in den Meilen sinnloser Kakophonien, sprachlichen Kauderwelschs, zusammenhanglosen Zeugs von aus 25 orthografischen Symbolen zufällig zusammengestellten Kombinationen in den physisch normierten Büchern einer zyklisch und periodisch gedachten Bibliothek nach Sinn sucht, bewegt sich ein Musiker beim Komponieren auch in einem endlichen System von Kombinationsmöglichkeiten musikalischer Zeichen. Jede Menge an Tönen, sei sie durch die Schranken des Tonraums von Γ–ee oder die Hörgrenzen des Rezipienten definiert, ist endlich, wodurch die Anzahl der einzelnen Kombinationsmöglichkeiten dieser Klänge an sich – und durch einen zugrundeliegenden Regelkanon verschärft – beschränkt ist. Was negativ als Einschränkung gedeutet werden könnte, wurde als Chance zur vollständigen Darstellung kompositorischer Handlungsoptionen in Kompositionslehren genutzt. Auf der Grundlage des endlichen Systems an Kombinationsmöglichkeiten wurden Modelle entwickelt, die einen im Sinne des zugrundeliegenden Regelkanons richtigen Satz garantieren. Im Hinblick auf die Vermittlung endlicher Kombinationsmöglichkeiten scheint dabei die Evolution von der Idee einer ›Tavola del Contrapunto‹ über die Lehre von Intervallklassen über bestimmten Solmisationsstufen im Bass zur Oktavregel nur folgerichtig und die Entwicklung einer Generalbass-Maschine bzw. die Aussage, dass eine Vielzahl von Kompositionen, die an verschiedenen Orten Europas von unterschiedlichen Personen komponiert wurden, sich in Hinblick auf die ›Modulation‹ genau glichen, nur konsequent. / Similar to Borges’ librarian, who searches for meaning in the miles of meaningless cacophonies, linguistic gibberish and incoherent stuff that consists of 25 randomly combined orthographic symbols within the physically normed books of a library thought to be cyclic and periodic, a musician also moves inside a finite system of possible combinations of musical characters during the act of composing. Every quantity of tones – no matter if defined by the barriers of tonal space from Γ to ee or by the recipient’s auditory threshold – is finite. Hence, the amount of individual possible combinations of these tones – additionally tightened by an underlying canon of rules – is also limited. What could be negatively interpreted as a limitation was rather understood as a chance for an exposition of all possible compositional actions within contemporary treatises. Ultimately, models were developed that were built upon this concept of a finite system of possible combinations and ensured a correct composition in terms of an underlying canon of rules. Regarding the finite possibilities of combinations, the evolution starting with the idea of a »Tavola del Contrapunto« via the doctrine of classes of intervals above particular steps of solmization to the rule of the octave seems to be logical. The development of a »thorough-bass-machine« or the statement that a multitude of compositions, composed in different places in Europe by different people, resemble each other exactly with regard to their »modulation« is only consequent.

L’éducation musicale académique n’est officialisée au Sénégal qu’à partir de 1976, dans l’intention de démocratiser l’accès à la culture à l’école. Le but est de former un citoyen sénégalais enraciné dans sa propre culture et ouvert vers le reste du monde. Mais la concrétisation de cette noble ambition a presque échoué en raison d’une « ouverture » qui a pris le pas sur « l’enracinement ». Car la formation des professeurs d’éducation musicale est calquée sur les contenus de cours légués par les français et basés essentiellement sur la musique classique européenne inconnue des sénégalais. Ce qui crée une tension par rapport à la culture musicale populaire des élèves. Dans les écoles, rien n’est prévu pour l’enseignement de cette discipline, au niveau des moyens et matériels didactiques. Les professeurs d’éducation musicale sont confrontés aussi à un problème de rapport au savoir académique dans une société de tradition orale très islamisée avec un système de castes, d’où des préjugés culturels et religieux à propos de la musique. Dans ce travail, nous étudions l’éducation musicale sénégalaise sous ses aspects socioculturels, politiques, politiques, scolaires et économiques. / Academic music education is formalized in Senegal until 1976, with the intention of democratizing access to culture in the school. The goal is to train a Senegal citizen rooted in their own culture and open to the rest of the world. But the realization of this noble ambition almost failed due to an ‘’openness’’ that has overtaken the ‘’rooting’’. Because the pattern of musical education training for teachers is imitating the courses contents left by the French and based mainly on European classical music unknown by the Senegalese. What creates a voltage compared to the popular musical culture of students. In schools, nothing is provided for teaching this subject as for as the resources and educational tools are concerned. Music education teachers are also facing a problem report to the academic knowledge in a society of highly Islamized oral tradition with a caste system, where cultural and religious prejudices about the music. In this work, we study the Senegalese musical education in its socio-cultural, political, academic and economic aspects.