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Architecture classes are helping children in Hong Kong develop critical thinking skills
16 Jan 2019
In one Hong Kong primary school, children as young as 9 have the opportunity to learn about architecture, urban design and planning.
It was made possible by the organisation Architecture for Children, where Hong Kong architect and founder of the design firm Avoid Obvious Architects has been teaching architecture and design skills to schoolchildren for the past 15 years.
But Chan is not priming children to become future architects or trying to convince them to take up a future degree in the field through this venture.
In an interview with CityLab, he explained how his teachings help students to think critically and rationally, all important aspects of decision-making.
He said, “From a design perspective, I think you miss out on learning how to analyse a question. In math or science class, you learn to solve a problem formulaically. But you may not learn how to analyse the problem. Analysis is very important for students. So I think design teaches kids how to creatively think out the reasoning.”
Chan is currently teaching an 18-week course to fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders at the Kwun Tong Government Primary School (Sau Ming Road), a public elementary school in the Kwun Tong district of Hong Kong.
He was invited by school principal Edith Tse to teach the course as part of her efforts to build a tailor-made, five-year, indisciplinary curriculum based on STEM education .
She said, “What’s the essence of STEM education? We think it’s designing and making. Design is decision-making and problem-solving, and both these things are very relevant to daily life.”
Learning about design helps children with important skills like decision-making.
Children learn how to rationalise and make decisions based on new information they didn’t have before.
As Chan explained,”We had a group of students decide to build a hotel at the top of the hill near the school, connected by a tram, because the location afforded excellent views. That’s good reasoning. But the next week, they realised that construction would be difficult, and decided to raze the hill!
“And I told them: “Wait, you had agreed last week that the hill was good for the hotel.” So it’s about teaching the students how to rationalise the process and to keep progressing from your original thinking to taking the next step. Even if these students don’t end up going into the design field, these thinking skills are very important. “
Plus, children get to learn how to draw and hone their mechanical skills, which Chan feels students don’t do enough of these days.
He explained, “The students also learn how to draw as a form of expression. Nowadays, we’re surrounded by iPhones and iPads, but some students lack even simple mechanical skills. I think it’s very important to teach handicraft as a way to solve a technological problem.”
The students also get to build and make models. As one of their projects, Chan had his students study colourful zoning maps of their neighbours, then divided them into teams.
Each team had to pick a site to redevelop, and had group sessions where they drew and discussed planning.
Then, they went on to build cardboard models of their proposals, such as refurbishing an old factory building into a space science lab and building an eco-hotel atop a former quarry.
One of Chan’s students at Kwun Tong Government Primary School (Sau Ming Road) in Hong Kong working on a model. Source: Mary Hui
Learning about urban planning at a young age also teaches kids about sustainability. Even though they might be familiar with the term, they may not fully grasp it until they’re faced with real-world scenarios.
These classes taught by Chan are a great example of how schools can be innovative when it comes to teaching important skills, through creative forms like art and design.
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