Prevention through design integration in AEC education: Empirical assessment of discipline-specific barriers and motivational factors

Prevention through Design (PtD) mitigates risks by integrating safety into early design stages, thereby enhancing building lifecycle safety. Despite its recognized importance, PtD remains insufficiently integrated into Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) education. This study examines discipline-specific barriers and motivators influencing student engagement with PtD, which had not been documented previously. A survey of 178 AEC students revealed low overall familiarity with PtD (11–15 %) and significant differences among disciplines in learning readiness and preferences. Architecture students exhibited the lowest worker safety awareness (56.7 %) and considered it less central to their design roles. Engineering students demonstrated moderate recognition of their worker safety responsibilities (77 %), while construction students, despite acknowledging the highest responsibility (92 %), expressed the least enthusiasm for formal PtD education. PtD's life-saving potential emerged as the primary motivator across all AEC disciplines. Secondary motivators varied by discipline. Construction students preferred learning PtD through tangible outcomes such as cost savings and schedule efficiencies, while architecture and engineering students were motivated by technology integration and career enhancement. Students showed an aversion to traditional reading and writing approaches, indicating a misalignment between conventional instruction and student preferences. Learning preferences differed by discipline. Architecture students favored visual learning strategies, while engineering and construction students preferred kinesthetic methods. These insights highlight the need for technology-enabled, case-based learning strategies that leverage disciplinary motivators and align with preferred learning modalities. Adopting these approaches is critical for equipping future AEC professionals with essential PtD competencies and advancing safer design.