sh. mirshahzadeh

There is a large gap between education in architecture schools in Iran and modern educational methods in advanced industrial countries. Iran educational methods are still the same as in the past, which unfortunately have not kept pace with the changes of the new era, and this can be one of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of architectural education in Iran. The architecture schools need to be changed due to the changes in the educational system and the increasing needs of students to communication and modern technologies. In other words, the pervasiveness of new technologies has affected the educational system and the educational environment must continuously adapt to the improvements and developments of today's world. The most important goal of the educational system is to educate capable and competent individuals and produce extensive knowledge to meet the changing needs of the modern world for life and a growing society. In fact, the educational system must constantly strive to respond to the educational innovations and evolutions and prepare students for a rapidly changing world. The need for change, modernizing and updating the educational spaces is important in parallel with the new educational flow in architecture and urban planning faculties. This research comparatively examined the curriculum, spaces and new educational technologies in the architecture education system in selected universities of the world. The purpose of the research was to identify solutions for reforming the university architecture education system in Iran.

The present study was descriptive, analytical and applied. Content analysis was based on an inductive approach. The research sample was purposefully selected from among the leading architectural schools in the world, which were selected by valid evaluations. The research method was comparative with qualitative approach and based on the stages of George Bereday's comparative Method in education: Description, Interpretation, Juxtaposition and Comparison. The data and documents were collected from library studies, books and articles, web-based information that were categorized and analyzed in tables and charts format and the common qualitative characteristics of the top schools of architecture in the world were determined.

Analyses performed on the samples showed that the use of new educational technologies would play a central role in the curriculum of the educational system and was effective in improving the level of education and learning of students. Also, some of the innovations of this field were recognized in the top universities of the world. Among the most important of these innovations were frequent revisions of the curriculum, working in workshop environments with advanced equipment, holding educational trips, preparing students for the job market, holding lectures and exhibitions with the presence of contemporary architects, working in work environments with real employers and prominent architectural offices.

A comparison of the strategies of MIT, Harvard, Rice, Sci-Arc and Cooper Union universities showed that MIT and Harvard offer the most flexible curriculum among the universities, while using a suitable educational environment with advanced and up-to-date architectural equipment and facilities. Rice University increases the creativity of students with the possibility of apprenticeship in the offices of prominent architects and holding classes and courses about current and future architectural issues and challenges. With the approach of creating flexibility and dynamism in the teaching method, Sci-Arc School emphasizes the innovative innovations and creative solutions in architectural design, holding lectures and exhibitions with the presence of world-renowned professors and architects, and emphasizing the interaction between professors and students. Cooper Union School, in addition to providing a suitable educational environment, focuses on the sociability of gathering spaces and increasing social interactions between the general public, students and professors. As a result, the university architecture curriculum must be in line with new developments in the education process. Technology and its advanced tools and critical thinking are considered as essential and vital factors for success in architecture education. It is necessary to take a step towards improving the quality of architecture education by using technologies and making all necessary changes to revise and reorganize the educational system.

Educational spaces, which take up a large part of students' daily time, are not created merely to meet educational needs, but should include the various aspects of student interaction and the physical environment that give rise to a sense of belonging to the school. This feeling will connect the person with the place. Students who are studying in these educational environments can understand the meaning of it, they can communicate better with that environment. Today, the study of the sense of belonging in schools has received less attention and mostly the educational needs of students have been taken into account. Addressing this special issue and examining it among high school students is very important because of their awared behavior. At the present, the relationship between students and the school environment is very important; therefore, the purpose of this article is understanding the effective components of the environment. It seems that one of the factors influencing this relationship is the meaning of the environment.

The data collection was don based on a survey method, using both questionnaires and direct observation and mapping observations. The research method according to open-ended questions is a combination of consecutive ones. The analysis stage also relies on the results of the questionnaire to identify their relationship with the characteristics of space.

Data collection was done through survey and open and closed questionnaires and direct students’ behavior observation. The questionnaire was developed and analyzed in 6 qualitative sections.

The results of the research indicate that the effect of form-spatial school features on student's belongingness is higher than other environmental factors, due to semantic capabilities. In other words, in various levels of environment’s meanings, the fourth and fifth levels of meaning, which are considered to be the symbolic meaning, are more important than other levels of meaning for students, and its cause is largely rooted in the value and emotional meanings of space. In fact, there is, a completely direct relationship between the semantic levels of changed function of non-profit school space and the ideal situation of students in educational spaces. In other words, the emotional and perceptual components of the school environment can better communicate with the student's mental state if they use the symbolic levels of meaning in space.