EFFECTS OF ACTIVE STRATEGIC TEACHING MODEL (ASTM) IN CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

Improving creative and critical thinking is one of the most important objectives in architectural education. The present research has been performed to investigate the effects of active strategic teaching model (ASTM), on creative and critical thinking skills of architecture students. This quasi-experimental study is of a causal-comparative type and was done as two-group experimental research (control and intervention) using pre-test, post-test method during 2014-2016. The statistical society of the research consists of students of Architecture Design Studio 4 at Tabriz Islamic Art University. The students of control group were carried out with conventional method while the intervention group received active strategic model. The creative and critical thinking skills were compared in both groups in specific dimensions based on reviewing the design process. The statistical analysis was conducted by SPSS software and descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square and ANOVA were used. However, interpretation of the results weren't causal. In this review, the majority of students could obtain proper results dependent on the amount of their efforts which indicate the relative success of both methods. But, comparing the mean differences of the results in two groups shows a significant difference in enrichment of critical and creative thinking skills of the intervention group in comparison with the control group. In fact, using ASTM led to develop the critical and creative thinking skills as one of the main missions of architectural education and finally led to more and also sustainable achievements in creative procedure of architectural design.