Architecture that Dignifies – Looking at the Educational System

Description

When we examine the word “dignity” regarding the built environment, we must look at how the building creates a sense of respect and honor. Buildings placed into communities without thoughtful consideration in how they will make occupants feel is undignified

When we examine the word “dignity” regarding the built environment, we must look at how the building creates a sense of respect and honor. Buildings placed into communities without thoughtful consideration in how they will make occupants feel is undignified design. Design decisions that place the form of a building over its function allows aesthetics to become the primary criteria for judgement. When it comes to well-designed spaces, they should not just be a matter of aesthetics since they can shape our ideas about who we are and what we deserve. We need design that addresses the inhabitants needs, enhancing their overall experience. This is dignified design. We can ensure good design is a fundamental right by understanding the impact that the education system has on architects, and on shaping design to meet people’s needs. In this paper, I will address how a shift in the Architectural Education system could lead to more dignified design

Date Created
2021-05
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Assessing Social Sustainability in US Cities: A Systems Approach

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Description

Brundtland’s definition of sustainability is the ability to “meet the needs of the present<br/>without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (IISD, 2021). But<br/>what if there are no future generations? Social sustainability, the sector of sustainability that<br/>foregrounds

Brundtland’s definition of sustainability is the ability to “meet the needs of the present<br/>without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (IISD, 2021). But<br/>what if there are no future generations? Social sustainability, the sector of sustainability that<br/>foregrounds the well-being and livelihoods of people (and thereby continuation of humanity), is<br/>included in definitions within the sustainability field, but less developed in sustainability<br/>practice. In an effort to bridge this gap of knowledge, 14 U.S. cities and over 100 sustainability<br/>policies were analyzed for their social sustainability performance. An eight-item analytical<br/>framework that deals with differing areas of social equity guided the analysis. Results found that<br/>most cities’ sustainability departments fell short of truly addressing social sustainability<br/>concerns. Out of the eight items, the most frequently addressed were housing security and racial<br/>and gender equality whereas few, if any, cities addressed the more specific social concerns of<br/>immigration, technology and media, or arts/cultural preservation. Future research is<br/>recommended to gain a better understanding of the ways existing cities can improve in this area.

Date Created
2021-05
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The Influence of Walking Speed on Gaze Behaviors

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Description
In this experiment, three cats walked freely in four different conditions (walking on a flat surface in the dark, walking on a flat surface in the light, along a horizontal ladder, and a stone-cluttered pathway) while gaze was recorded. Four

In this experiment, three cats walked freely in four different conditions (walking on a flat surface in the dark, walking on a flat surface in the light, along a horizontal ladder, and a stone-cluttered pathway) while gaze was recorded. Four gaze behaviors were identified based upon head and eye velocity parameters relative to the walking velocity of the cat: constant gaze, fixation, gaze shift away, and gaze shift toward (see Methods). The objective of the study was to determine whether speed influences the phase that these gaze behaviors occur, where phase is defined as the degree from 0-360 of the step cycle. In the step cycle, 0 degrees is defined as the start of swing of the right forelimb. Additionally, speed’s influence on the uniformity of gaze behaviors to the step cycle was investigated in the three cats. The cats performed complex walking tasks, or conditions, as well as simple tasks to determine if speed has a greater effect on gaze behavior timing when walking terrain was difficult. I hypothesized that 1) gaze-stride coordination would be influenced by speed, 2) faster steps would show improved gaze behavior uniformity between subjects, and 3) fast steps during complex walking tasks would show further improvement of gaze behavior uniformity between subjects. To, this end, recorded steps were first split into fast and slow steps based upon step duration parameters (see Methods). These fast and slow steps were confirmed as significantly different from one another using a one-way ANOVA test on a linear mixed effects model (Table 3). Then, a linear mixed effects model was made per walking condition to account for subject effects, and a two-way ANOVA test was performed on the model to compare the phases of gaze behaviors to the speed when they occurred. It was found that speed does not influence the phase that gaze behaviors occur, except for walking on a flat surface in the dark. However, post-hoc tests could not be run to determine which behaviors were affected by speed. (see Discussion). The insignificance of speed suggests that speed is accounted for by the visual center responsible for the control of gaze behavior (see Discussion). Aside from speed’s influence on phase, uniformity was examined using standard deviation (Figure 3 ). It was found that faster steps tend to adopt a “gaze stepping” behavior described in a previous paper (Rivers et al. 2014). In future studies, it would be useful to increase the number of subjects for a similar experiment to improve the robustness of the results to determine if the relationship between speed and gaze behaviors reported in this paper is accurately depicted.
Date Created
2019-05
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Facilitating Student Autonomy in the Collegiate Woodwind Studio

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Description
This thesis presents a new study “Fostering Student Autonomy in the Collegiate Woodwind Studio” which gathered pedagogical techniques that collegiate woodwind professors use to foster student autonomy in their woodwind studios. This study defines “student autonomy” as an end-goal of

This thesis presents a new study “Fostering Student Autonomy in the Collegiate Woodwind Studio” which gathered pedagogical techniques that collegiate woodwind professors use to foster student autonomy in their woodwind studios. This study defines “student autonomy” as an end-goal of education, in which students are “self-monitoring, strategizing, and taking responsibility for and ownership of the learning process.” A survey of questions concerning student autonomy was emailed to each of the appointed woodwind studio professors at ASU. Their responses are presented and analyzed in this thesis. The author hypothesized that the professors would show some understanding of various methods that can achieve student autonomy, but the study results showed that the professors had much knowledge and specific examples on how to achieve student autonomy in their studios. All of the participants cited examples of using indirect teaching, peer-learning, student-selected repertoire with teacher guidance, student goal-setting, and practical autonomy in their woodwind studios to facilitate student autonomy. About half of the participants cited examples of using student-to-teacher rapport, technology-mediated feedback, and diversified autonomy in their studios to facilitate student autonomy. Student-selected repertoire was by far the most popular method through which to foster student autonomy. This study found that further research is needed to prove if there is indeed a positive correlation between students who compose music for their woodwind lessons and their level of autonomous learning.
Date Created
2019-05
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