PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION OF STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES IN SIMPLE SYSTEMS

The Bologna Declaration began the rapprochement of the higher education in the European Union countries. Since then, the learning process of the students is quantified by means of the ECTS credits (European Credit Transfer System) which are focused on their workload. The methodology considers the student as the centre of the educational progression, being necessary to maintain a balance between their theoretical, practical and autonomous assignments. Therefore, classroom and practises should be harmonised in order to acquire the required competences. In particular, the use of teaching laboratories in the university strengthens the theory classes by completing them with experimental techniques and, besides, the practical activity helps to develop the social and communication attitudes of the students.

In the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), the Architecture School of Toledo (EAT) has been created very recently. Due to this, it misses a laboratory of structures that could allow the students to complete their training on the basic mechanical properties of materials and their influence on different structural parameters. The best understanding of these concepts is especially fundamental for the architects’ preparation and their future professional life. This has motivated the proposal of designing a simple and inexpensive laboratory for developing specific practical activities related to the structural behaviour of different materials. The equipment should be projected for complementing the teaching activities of the subject “Estructuras I” from the Degree in Architecture of the EAT-UCLM. Taking into account the structural design and analysis, the scope is to define and set up a series of activities that will help to comprehend better the concepts of equilibrium, stiffness, strength and stability. The definition of complicated instruments will be avoided in order to escape from learning difficulties due to their sophistication. As a result, the cost of the tools and basic material should be minimal since the practices are expected to be manufactured with our own resources.