Abstract:

Within the first-year curriculum of the Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Architectural Design, the course Materials for Design has introduced a new instructional framework specifically in its Seminar component, which represents 30% of the course activities. Instead of relying on instructor-centered lectures, these sessions now adopt a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model. This shift redefines the students’ role, promoting their active engagement and fostering the coordinated development of conceptual understanding, practical abilities, and professional attitudes required in the field of interior design.

PBL is structured around the presentation of a realistic problem, included in the course portfolio through the LESSONS platform. Students must analyze the problem, identify what they need to learn in order to understand it, and propose potential solutions. This process promotes the acquisition of key competencies: the ability to create interior designs that meet both aesthetic and technical requirements (CG1), the capacity to experiment with systems and materials to understand how design elements function (CE3), the ability to select materials, technologies, and manufacturing processes according to the needs of interior design projects (CE5), and responsibility and reasoned decision-making (CT05). Rather than aiming for an immediate solution, the problem serves as a catalyst that activates autonomous research, reflection, and critical inquiry.

Work is carried out in small groups of three students, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, idea exchange, and communication skills. The instructor acts as a tutor, helping students identify their learning needs and guiding them toward possible information sources, but without providing direct answers. This structure fosters critical thinking, self-assessment, the ability to manage uncertainty, and the development of personal working methodologies.

The fundamental characteristics of PBL—continuous learner activity, centrality of the problem, competence-oriented learning, cooperative work, tutorial guidance, and the creation of meaningful knowledge—allow material-related content to be integrated into realistic professional situations rather than learned as isolated fragments, as in traditional teaching models. Through this approach, students learn to connect physical and chemical properties, environmental impact, technical performance, and aesthetic criteria within a coherent design context.

The implementation of this methodology has produced positive academic outcomes across all analyzed indicators: an improvement in the average grade, an increase in highest marks, a reduction in the number of failing students, and a higher number of students passing the course in the first assessment period. Furthermore, a significant decrease in course withdrawal rates indicates greater motivation, autonomy, and engagement.

Overall, the adoption of Problem-Based Learning has transformed the Seminar sessions of Materials for Design into an active, critical, and contextualized learning environment, strengthening first-year students’ ability to tackle complex challenges and make responsible decisions—competencies essential to their future professional careers in interior design.

Keywords:

Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Active engagement, Competence development, Collaborative learning, Realistic problems.