The Order Effect of Associative and Rule-Based Reasoning Strategies in Design Learning

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of associative reasoning (AR) and rule-based reasoning (RbR) strategies in students’ creativity. An experimental comparison was conducted to test the impact of the order in which students used specific reasoning strategies in a series of design tasks. The results provide insights into the order in which these forms of reasoning can be introduced to students in design studio education. The results indicate that when students first conduct a free exploration of the given design problem before asked to use one of the reasoning strategies above their creative performance is higher. It is proposed that familiarization with a given problem freely prepare students for a structured design exploration following either rule-based or associative reasoning strategy. We conclude that the creative performance gets better when students first explore the design problem on their own before getting introduced to a specific form of reasoning strategy.

Keywords Design instruction, Reasoning strategies , Structured design , Design problem , Associative reasoning