Exploring pedagogical dualities in landscape planning education: A case-study investigation of constructivist and instructivist learning in the Al-Zabnah coast studio

This study investigates the integration of constructivist and instructivist teaching methods within landscape planning educati{Citation}on at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, through the fourth-year Landscape Planning Studio. Responding to the need for more studio-grounded evidence in landscape architecture pedagogy, the paper examines the Al-Zabnah Coast project as a case-study setting in which students engaged with coastal landscape planning, site inventory, field observation, development visioning, master-plan synthesis, and action-area design. The studio was structured around a dual-cycle pedagogical model: an instructor-guided and group-based cycle that supported site analysis and collective planning visioning, followed by a more student-centered cycle in which students developed individual planning alternatives and detailed interventions based on the group master-planning framework. The study combines studio-structure evidence, teaching-staff observations, student learning experience, and questionnaire data to examine how structured guidance and experiential exploration operated within the same pedagogical sequence. A cross-sectional survey of 14 male students, representing the actual studio cohort rather than a statistically generalizable sample, was analysed using reliability testing, exploratory factor analysis, nonparametric GPA-group comparison, and rank-based correlations. Detailed statistical procedures and outputs are provided in the appendices. The questionnaire showed strong internal consistency, and the factor analysis supported a two-dimensional structure broadly corresponding to instructivist and constructivist components. Students evaluated field-based learning, technology-supported analysis, studio application, and problem-based learning positively, while teamwork and the transition from group-based analysis to individual design inquiry emerged as areas requiring clearer pedagogical support. The study concludes that a balanced dual-cycle model can support landscape planning education by sequencing instructivist clarity and constructivist exploration according to the actual demands of studio learning. The paper contributes statistically supported, case-based evidence on how landscape planning studios can integrate instruction, fieldwork, critique, collaborative analysis, and individual design judgement within a coherent pedagogical framework.