SENSORY PREFERENCES OF STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE

ABSTRACT

The diversity of learning styles and sensory preferences of students should be reflected in the teaching and learning processes using student-centred methods, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to achieve an active and effective education. The UDL method has been tested and implemented at the Faculty of Architecture, the Slovak University of Technology (STU) in Bratislava, mainly within the subject Universal Design (UD) during the winter semester in 2017. The aim of our research was: (1) to verify the preferred learning styles of students in connection with their sensory perception, (2) to draw attention to the multisensory qualities of selected architectural spaces. Students were actively involved in the research and they had to fill the questionnaire on modal preferences of learning, based on their sensory perception. The results of the questionnaire showed that some students prefer aural or written information, others prioritize visual information, and many of students are multimodal as they equally use multiple perception modes. To reflect this diversity, the various tasks in different modes of presentation and elaboration were offered to students. In addition, our research was focused on multisensory perception of architectural space, therefore group of students were analysing their multisensory experience of selected spaces.

Keywords: learning styles, sensory preferences, multisensory architecture, Universal Design