A Case Study of Game-Based Learning in Interior Design Studios

The purpose of this paper is to understand perceptions of interior design students after using game-based learning (GBL) as an approach to address workload distribution, lack of clear assessment criteria, and deficiencies of the master-apprentice model during the process of solving several small-scale design problems along the course of a semester. A literature review of the instructional issues in design studios is presented along with an overview of the activity systems theory as an underpinning theoretical perspective. This research paper explains the research design behind the case study methodology used to perform data collection, analysis measures and organize coding schemes. Findings from the study conclude that GBL fits into the iterative and experimental nature of the design process, helps students focus on the design process through trial and error without a significant risk, changes the studio’s feedback structure, allows students to track their progress while having creative freedom. This paper provides empirical evidence supporting the existence of instructional issues in traditional design studios, provides considerations for using GBL to address these issues, and suggests directions for future research studies in fields of instructional technology, design pedagogy and higher education policy

A game-based design studio: An exploration of an interior design studio environment for implementing game-based learning

The design studio is an active, participatory, and experimental learning environment. Since the 19th century, the studio has been a place for learning through doing with a community of peers seeking knowledge, skills, and a space for unleashing creativity. The advancement in teaching and learning has shown to address a variety of instructional issues in a variety of fields using digital technology and innovative pedagogies. The design studio, despite its many affordances, has been criticized over the past decade for multiple reasons. This three-article dissertation focuses on using the game-based learning (GBL) pedagogy to address three instructional issues in interior design studios; time management and workload distribution, high dependency on the master-apprentice model, and ambiguity of assessment measures of student work. Each of the three articles stands as an independent piece of scholarly work. Yet all articles complement each other in multiple ways

Spatial influences on socialization in preschool classrooms

The main purpose of this research is to understand the direct and specific effects of the physical environment of the preschool classroom on children's social interactions. The physical environment consists of several elements. However, this research focuses on understanding the direct correlation between the provision of private spaces in the preschool classroom and the level of children's social interactivity with each other. The main question of this research is "How does the provision of Intimate Spaces in the preschool classroom effect children's social interaction?". The "Intimate Space" is a spatially well defined behavior setting, within which a group of 2-3 children can interact socially. Therefore, the hypothesis of this study suggests that providing an "Intimate Space" within the preschool classroom can lead to decreased classroom interruptions and contribute to sustaining longer attention spans, which eventually improve the quality and duration of social interactions between children (Moore, 1994). Within a quasi-experiment, children 3-5 years old in a preschool classroom are observed before and after introducing a minor design intervention to collect data on how minimal changes in the physical environment can affect children's social interaction. The spatial organization and the behavioral settings of the physical environment of children are initially rated according to a modified version of a scale developed by Gary T. Moore (Moore, 1994). Children's behavior is also observed before and after the introduction of the intimate space. Behaviors are recorded through using a modified version of a behavior observation schedule developed by Gary T. Moore for early childhood environments (Moore, 1994). The small group of children observed in this study causes for less reliable results since different classrooms and groups of children may introduce other variables within the physical environment and the behaviors of children. Also, this study cannot be guaranteed to provide valid measures if performed among children with physical or intellectual disabilities since these populations are not studied within this research.</p

A game-based design studio: An exploration of an interior design studio environment for implementing game-based learning

The design studio is an active, participatory, and experimental learning environment. Since the 19th century, the studio has been a place for learning through doing with a community of peers seeking knowledge, skills, and a space for unleashing creativity. The advancement in teaching and learning has shown to address a variety of instructional issues in a variety of fields using digital technology and innovative pedagogies. The design studio, despite its many affordances, has been criticized over the past decade for multiple reasons. This three-article dissertation focuses on using the game-based learning (GBL) pedagogy to address three instructional issues in interior design studios; time management and workload distribution, high dependency on the master-apprentice model, and ambiguity of assessment measures of student work. Each of the three articles stands as an independent piece of scholarly work. Yet all articles complement each other in multiple ways.</p

High Glucose Increases DNA Damage and Elevates the Expression of Multiple DDR Genes

The DNA Damage Response (DDR) pathways sense DNA damage and coordinate robust DNA repair and bypass mechanisms. A series of repair proteins are recruited depending on the type of breaks and lesions to ensure overall survival. An increase in glucose levels was shown to induce genome instability, yet the links between DDR and glucose are still not well investigated. In this study, we aimed to identify dysregulation in the transcriptome of normal and cancerous breast cell lines upon changing glucose levels. We first performed bioinformatics analysis using a microarray dataset containing the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) MDA-MB-231 and the normal human mammary epithelium MCF10A cell lines grown in high glucose (HG) or in the presence of the glycolysis inhibitor 2-deoxyglucose (2DG). Interestingly, multiple DDR genes were significantly upregulated in both cell lines grown in HG. In the wet lab, we remarkably found that HG results in severe DNA damage to TNBC cells as observed using the comet assay. In addition, several DDR genes were confirmed to be upregulated using qPCR analysis in the same cell line. Our results propose a strong need for DDR pathways in the presence of HG to oppose the severe DNA damage induced in cells