PhD-Arch Dissertation Proposal Presentation: Kelly Lyons
Title: Building a Foundation for K-12 Architecture Education
Name: Kelly Lyons, PhD candidate in Architecture (PhD-Arch)
Date: Thursday, April 24, 2025
Time: 1:00am-3:00pm ET
Location: Remote on Zoom
Committee Members:
Ramesh Krishnamurti (Chair)
Professor Emeritus
School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon University
Susan Ambrose
Senior Vice Chancellor, Educational Innovation
Professor of Education & History
Northeastern University (Retired)
Sharon Carver
Director, Children’s School
Professor of Psychology (teaching)
Associate Dean for Educational Affairs (Dietrich College)
Carnegie Mellon University
Abstract:
K-12 education is not perfect, nor are our schools—we would be hard pressed to find anyone who thought otherwise. This proposal considers content standards for K-12 architecture education, which may be one way to improve America’s educational system. As K-12 architecture standards currently do not exist, the creation of these standards pose challenges. Such standards would provide the foundation for K-12 architecture education for planning instruction and programs, designing assessments, and evaluating learning that may benefit teachers, architects, and design educators. Possible benefits to students include exploring concepts through a subject all students have experience with; transferring traditional academic knowledge to real-word problems; and deepening understanding of society and cultures. The creation of the standards is predicated on three research questions: What content is taught in architecture education? How were inaugural subject-specific standards developed? and How do the proposed K-12 architecture standards compare to existing K-12 standards?
The first research question relates specifically to the context which is taught in architecture education, including K-12 extracurricular, public high school, and collegiate programs. The method is two pronged: a) career and technical education high school (CTE) standards were compared to collegiate standards (NAAB) for alignment; and b) qualitative interviews and program materials for extracurricular programs were collected to evaluate learning objectives (LOs), assessments, and teacher training materials. The first prong is complete and demonstrates that CTE standards do not adequately align with NAAB standards; this indicates that high school students may be underprepared for collegiate architecture programs. The second prong researching learning objectives of extracurricular programs is in progress; the IRB has been approved, however only a few interviews have been completed to date.
The second research question relates to how inaugural standards in a variety of subjects are developed, followed by applying a process modelled from these results to develop K-12 architecture standards. To understand how inaugural K-12 standards were developed, the method was to review inaugural standards documents (in various subjects) and conduct qualitative interviews to obtain more information than could be obtained from the documents alone. Six key takeaways are identified: 1) committees should be diverse; 2) committees should include an experienced facilitator and writer or writing team; 3) a plan should be established for the writing and review process; 4) committees should work together in person; 5) drafts should be open for public comment; and 6) the public comment period should be repeated as time and resources permit. This research is complete, and the IRB study is closed. The process of developing K-12 architecture standards is in progress, with multiple iterations. What remains to be done is to produce the next draft, based on feedback from previous iterations and other research.
The third and final research question pertains to how the next draft of K-12 architecture standards compares to other K-12 content standards, which will be conducted after the K-12 architecture content standards are revised. Work for the third research question is largely incomplete and remains to be done for the defense.