The Effect of Content of Vocational School Textbooks on the Process of Architecture Students Training (Case: Book of Elements and Details)

Since the realm of the artificial environment and community’s judgment of “graceful architecture”, particularly in small cities in Iran, is highly influenced by a prominent part of the professional community of architecture, i.e. architectural technicians. Architectural education, especially in art schools, is of paramount importance as the primary cornerstone of architectural education. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of textbook content on the learning process of students at schools’ level. For this purpose, the extent of consideration of the components of active or inactive content was studied from the perspective of William Romy in the selected sample of the book Elements and Details, and then the current situation was explained. Moreover, the items that should be given more consideration in curricula were identified. The research employs descriptive-analytical method which was performed by content analysis method using William Romy technique to examine the extent of text engagement within books. Based on the teaching experience of the author in curricula of architecture schools, students often experience great difficulties in learning and going through some of these courses, including Elements and Details, despite the fact that their topics are objective and tangible. Due to heavy dependence of courses on official textbooks in art schools, the current study has focused on the efficacy of the book "Elements and Details" of the junior year of architecture and its analysis. The results showed that the text, form, figures and questions of Elements and Details has stimulated the involvement of students to a lesser extent than usual. Also, the inconsistency between the contents of architecture books in art schools has led to disruptions in students' learning process. Based on the findings of the current study, suggestions were made for modifying official architecture books, rendering them more efficient in teach.