College of Engineering

A Master thesis was discussed in Department of Architecture Engineering / College of Engineering / University of Mosul entitled “The Role of Syllabus in Stimulating Visual Thinking for Architectural Students (Analytical study for some Iraqi architectural departments)” on Monday, Sep. 6, 2021, submitted by postgraduate student (Maha Nahedh Taha Al-Qemaqchi).Education plays an important role in the development of architecture because provides the architecture student with the basic apparatuses that prepare him/her to practice the profession effectively. There is no doubt that its components, methods, and procedures play a significant role in forming a clear vision of knowledge and experience that an architecture student should have. One of the most essential resources is the curriculum, which incorporates in its content the cognitive framework, the skills and knowledge that make up the basic school syllabuses and support the architectural profession. These syllabuses work together to support the student’s cognition, improve his/her directed thinking performance, and are related to one another to develop knowledge and strengthen their roles in the profession.Because analyzing and measuring the components of academic syllabuses and dealing with them objectively is challenging, the study used the (Linkography) approach to identify the nature of their content. This method provides indicators that can be used to examine the pattern of academic subjects being linked to one another within the same curricula in order to identify curriculum differences between architectural schools.As a result of skills-based lessons prevalence in the first three stages and of theoretical lessons prevalence in the final two stages, the analysis revealed a clear distinction in the syllabuses between the first three stages and the last two stages. It showed that several academic subjects do not have links to others, reducing the quality of curricula. According to an analysis of the relationship between linkography indicators and visual thinking tests, there is a clear direct relationship between the escalation of test results throughout successive school years and the sequential growth in the number of lessons and links. This suggests that the cognitive development given by syllabuses has resulted in the growth of visual thinking performance and the ability of students to solve issues visually.