Explaining pattern of individual-centered design process and Architectural design training model based on learners’ cognitive differences

Training in architecture is one of the most controversial issues in educational and artistic centers around the world, as well as training in other fields of art. The structure of architectural education is formed around a nucleus called design. The most important mission of architectural education is to create comprehensive thinking that provides students with the ability to step into the process of architectural design. Ignoring student’s capabilities, tendencies, and conducting similar educational programs are Part of mistakes in teaching architectural design. The characteristics of design learners are the same as the characteristics of all human beings, which are classified as individual differences. It means that design learners differ in their ability, knowledge, insight, and transfer in design activities. It is not possible to provide a specific program for teaching the design process without gaining knowledge of the student’s differences in each educational group and without the required knowledge to guide the capabilities and improve the shortcomings. Thus, individual education seems necessary. This research seeks to provide a design process model based on learners’ differences and their corresponding educational model. The research method is Grounded Theory that seeks to construct a theory through exploration among architectural design instructor. Therefore, 100 questionnaires were distributed among the young teachers of the Islamic Azad University, and Theoretical saturation was obtained with 47 questionnaires fully answered, which is followed by the analyzed results. Through open coding, 83 pivotal followings of 9 major categories were produced, out of 472 Primary components, extracted from theoretical foundations and field studies which are: cognitive differences of the learner, objective mental processes, purposeful educational steps, learner-learner interaction, the formation of design personality, learner personality, adaptive structure of education, design system of thought and specialized empowerment. The core category was designated as a person-centered process after segregating in condition, interaction, and consequence field. The Person-centered design model was developed, using the constructive concepts of grounded theory and spiral paradigm of the design process, which is an action between Individual characteristics in terms of thought, creativity, knowledge, educational goals and experiential learning cycle, can be entered with any level of ability and any style of thinking and learning, but successful getting out of this spiral which has moved forward in time depends on individual abilities of designers. Actions between these components will form the main cycle of the design process, which are: thought, creation, and testing. The mentors’ mission is to recognize these characteristics, their growth, and developing them in line with the design goals. In the end, the educational strategies corresponding to the mentioned concepts were presented in the form of architectural design training models based on the cognitive differences of the designers. In the construction of this model, among the major categories obtained in the construction of contextual theory, 5 categories were used that are operational and can be planned and implemented by the learner. The other four categorizations are conditions, interactions, or hidden consequences in the model, which are inherent in the learner's nature or are acquired through teaching methods.