Abstract:

In 2014, The Egyptian Ministry of Education carried out the latest strategic plan for developing pre-university education that promotes using Active Learning technique, especially in the primary stage. The main objective of this research is to set up a reference guide for enhancing the current situation of Egyptian Primary Public School design that shows a great controversy between Architects, Designers, The General Authority for Educational Buildings and the proposed strategies assigned by the Ministry of Education. Accordingly, Three main parts have been incorporated, the theoretical, the analytical and the empirical ones. In the theoretical part, a comparative evaluative study is introduced between the local design strategy (Teacher-Centered Learning) and the global design strategy (Student-Centered Learning). The Analytical part includes a detailed comparison between two local Egyptian international schools and one global school. The main purpose of this part is to analyze them by using the latest classification of design patterns by Prakash Nair and Randall Fielding for Active learning school Environment as an assessment tool focusing on the key elements in architectural design to enrich the realms of students experience; Spatial, psychological, physiological and behavioural aspects and its corresponding attributes upon the extent of interaction between students and teachers with their surrounding Environment. While in the Empirical part, various methodological approaches including non-participation observation to local users (main involved users of target groups) in addition to a series of questionnaires are discussed. The result of the study reveals a Comparative Evaluative study between the two strategies and concluding the best practice for Active Learning Primary School design to be compatible with the Egyptian future strategic plans and culture.

Keywords:

Active Learning, Interactive Learning Environments, Holistic Learning, Modern Education, 21st Century schools, Collaborative learning, School facilities