A seminar took place at Department of Architecture on 21st July, 2016, titled “Landscape as Playscape for Children- Case Study Dhaka”. The two-hour event was organized under the course ‘Landscape Design Studio’ from Summer semester 2015-16, and, co-ordinated by Asst. Professor Mania Tahsina Taher. Students and respected faculties from department of Architecture attended the program. Prime objective of the seminar program was to discuss the integral role of playscape as a vital part in children’s learning environment, and also, to discuss the guidelines to design child-friendly environment for children of all age levels and genders. Among the two guest speakers, the first speaker was Dr. Mohammed Zakiul Islam (Professor, Department of Architecture BUET), and, the second speaker was Mr. Shakil Ahmed (Consultant, Dhaka Tribune Newspaper).
Over the years, Dr. Zakiul has acquired in-depth research experience on children’s learning environment in school classrooms and outdoor play-space in different contexts. Besides his 17 years of teaching experience at BUET, he has worked at the Natural Learning Initiative, USA from 2005 to 2008. Dr. Zakiul has also been the principal investigator of the IPEN (International Physical Activity and Activities Environment Network) Adolescent study in Bangladesh, which is funded by the National Institute of Health, USA. In the seminar, he started discussion explaining the theories of child development stages, and then, continued discussing on how these theories can help the designers to understand about the children’s activities in a natural playscape environment. He showed design references of well-designed playscape around different contexts, and referred how the arrangements of these play areas guide the participating children’s activities into playful learning environment.
Mr. Shakil is a former researcher from BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BIED), where he worked with the communications and advocacy team on creating children’s appropriate learning environment at local schools. In his lecture, he prioritized on the importance of children’s participation in playscape to become an integral part of the comprehensive education policy of Bangladesh. He further discussed the four perspectives of educational learning theories, and how they resonate with the thoughts of educational philosophers throughout the centuries, and, in the objectives of contemporary educational philosophy theories.
Later the event had an interactive question-answer session engaging both audience and the speakers. The seminar ended with vote of thanks to the guest speakers for sharing their valuable experiences.
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