USING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN A STUDIO ENVIRONMENT TO FOSTER INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION

While problem-based learning is not a new pedagogical innovation, the application of it to a studio-based construction management curriculum is relatively new and untested in American construction management education. The success of this pedagogy is directly related to the proper development of the problem to be addressed by the student(s). It is only through a carefully created problem that students are able to maximize learning outcomes.

Outside of the study of architecture and other subjective design-based curricula, the application of problem-based learning in a studio environment is new and unfamiliar to most faculty members. The studio environment is full of potential and possibility, but only if the faculty member is able to effectively engage with the students in that environment to make the learning experience something more and different than could be achieved in a typical lecture class. By focusing on the role of the instructor, this paper will discuss means and methods of creating problems for construction management students to address in a studio-based environment, part of which includes interdisciplinary collaboration with architecture and interior design students.