Abstract

This research presents the teaching methodology called Design-Based-Learning (DBL) and identifies what differentiates it from the traditional methods used in art and design education. This research aims to better understand the contribution of design to education not only as a discipline, but as a strategy for getting the learner to think about his/her environment, about his/her actions and their impact on the environment. This research gives a nuanced description of the dialogue taking place between teacher and learner (any levels, any disciplines or between disciplines). The DBL approach contributes to increasing the learning perspective of students by proposing an active engagement with problems posed and solutions found. DBL offers a dramatic change in teaching approaches by proposing that learners be inventive and in terms of blooms taxonomy, that they operate at the highest levels of the taxonomy. The study reveals that a majority of participants see in the DBL approach a tool that stimulates creativity and that favors critical thinking and problem solving skills. The results show that DBL increases the transfer of learning and the retention of knowledge within a given pedagogical environment. This transfer is facilitated by the development of concrete links between daily life activities of the students and their experiences of creation-invention in class. DBL reinforces the critical spirit, the observational, and problem solving capacity of students through creative stimulation and active engagement with uniquely formulated problems. The DBL approach combines five teaching methodologies that enable students to be actively engaged and responsible of their learning process. The study shows that DBL applied to art and design education favors interdisciplinarity. The transfer of knowledge, and as such constitute an important new pedagogical model. The majority of DBL teachers interviewed in this study insisted that the benefits of the approach outweigh its liabilities. Meredith Davis from North Carolina University is among the several design educators and researchers who support the DBL methodology. This research presentation will conclude with recommendations and suggestions for a future path for research in design education pedagogy. Keys words: apprentissage par l'expérience, résolution de problèmes, enseignement des arts et du design, taxonomie de Bloom, processus de design.