Institutions of learning are discrete because of distinctive curricular and co-curricular programs, culture, history, and symbols. Thus, civic learning and identity development may differ across higher learning institutions, particularly in faith-based colleges and universities. This study sought to explore how Gethsemane College students make sense of their learning experiences in relation to civic identity development. I drew on relational developmental systems perspective to explore the mutual and bidirectional relationship between the participants and context. I collected documents and civic identity development narratives of eight graduating student sat Gethsemane College. Using qualitative content analysis and analysis of narratives in narrative inquiry, the findings revealed the mediating role of social identities, faith-learning integration, the influence of founding denomination, campus climate, civic contexts within Gethsemane College, institutional narratives, and pre-college civic experiences in the participants’ civic identity development. The participants civic identity development evolved in college. They transitioned from charitable actions to social change issues such as climate change and racial and environmental injustices. Global citizenship is an influential construct in how the participants think about their civic identities and citizenship. <br>

Sense of place has been used among the literature as a framework for understanding pro-environmental behavior, such as volunteering, and connections to specific areas. It is also noted that sense of place can be fostered through Community-Based Organizations However, there is limited research specific to the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), FL, on the potential influence Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) have on volunteering in the IRL. I examined secondary geographic data collected through the CNH-L: Restoration and Resilience in Coupled Human-Natural Systems: Reciprocal Dynamics of a Coastal 'Lagoon in Crisis' project funded by the National Science Foundation Grant Award Abstract No. 1617374. The sample includes 1,005 sense of place participant responses from community members, organizations, and citizen scientists of the IRL. I examined the spatial relationship between participants' interest to volunteer relative to twenty selected CBOs to determine if these interests are higher in areas with an environmental community presence (i.e., CBO) in the IRL using the Multiple Ring Buffer Analysis tool in ArcGIS Pro. Out of 1,005 total responses, 731 sense of place points, or 73% of points, were within 10-miles of CBOs in the IRL. A Two-Sample t-Test assuming Unequal Variances and Regression analysis were conducted to compare future volunteering responses, yes or no, within the 10-mile buffer radius. Results indicate that there is not a statistically significant spatial relationship between the participants' interest to volunteer relative to CBO locations. Statistically significant results from the Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test comparing past and future volunteer responses suggest a relationship between past experiences and future interest. Therefore, recommendations for future studies include modifying the survey questions to investigate the participants' motivation to volunteer in addition to integrating the participant's reason for selecting the sense of place location with the analysis to further understand the participants' connection to the area.

Town planning and political interaction of citizens are the main factors that affect civilizations on the most basic level. My study comes from an understanding of a need for a society to develop politically active citizens that are ascetic in nature, less they wish for a more despotic government. This study makes an attempt at understanding the basic elements that make civic structure of a city at the scale of a block. These elements are broken down into: Site, Boundary, Axis, Residence, Commerce, and Civic. The major focus being on Civic and the engagement of making a virtuous citizen through the study of the self and the formal decisions that make the Architecture. Civic structure comes after the forming of the city and its managerial needs, so before civic can reside within a city other formal decisions must be made to create structure for the greater need of the civilization. I will attempt to layout the structure needed and my projection of this structure and the preceding Civic Life that comes from this architectural study. / Master of Architecture

This thesis examines the historical geography of Scottish natural history societies active during the period 1831-1900. It argues that the work of the societies described and constituted an important set of relations between science and Scottish civil society that has not been investigated hitherto. The institutional practices of natural history, including fieldwork and display, involved encounters between scientific and cultural expectations which were played out in relation to different audiences and in a variety of sites and spaces. A central concern of Scottish associational naturalists was to transpose science into the language of civic pride and progress. At the same time, members of these societies were anxious to maintain epistemic credibility in relation to a scientific culture itself in flux. The task of appealing both to a local public and to a scientific constituency took different forms in different civic and scientific contexts. The thesis attempts to detail this historical geography with reference to the societies' activities of display, fieldwork, publishing and collective scientific endeavour. The work is based on assessment of primary sources, published and unpublished, and a variety of secondary material. The thesis is organised to reflect the features central to the past geographies of Scottish natural history as associational civic science. The first substantive section (Section II, Chapters 2-5) analyses the efforts of society members to persuade local publics of the relevance and the benefits of associational natural history. Fieldwork involved a series of situated negotiations and affiliations between the language and practices of leisure, aesthetic taste, moral improvement and science. Through public events and built spaces natural history was promoted as an expression of civic culture and as a set of practices capable of transforming urban society. At an individual level, supporters of civic science championed an image of the naturalist as public servant and votary of nature, an image that linked scientific conduct to civic identity. The second substantive section (Section III, Chapters 6-7) examines the influence of the meaning and methods of later-nineteenth-century science on the organisation and activities of Scottish natural history societies. Initiatives to standardise the work of local scientific societies are considered alongside the efforts of individual members to secure a scientific reputation. In addition, the changing relations between the research activities of the societies and the emergence and consolidation of scientific disciplines are investigated alongside the maintenance of an inter-disciplinary ethos. In Chapter 7, engagement with evolutionary ideas is examined, uncovering the ways in which Darwinism was deployed to reinforce, and also to modify, an inductivist view of science and to argue for the continuing relevance of associational natural history to local civil society. In conclusion, the thesis reveals the historical geography of nineteenth-century Scottish natural history to be a dynamic narrative of intellectual and institutional activity conducted in different social and scientific spaces, and it suggests that these practices of local science were an important constituent of civic society and, in part, of national natural knowledge in nineteenth-century Scotland.

Thesis advisor: Ana Martinez-Aleman / Civic engagement is an activity that supports communities at local and national levels (Colby et al., 2000; Putnam, 1993; 2000). Within higher education, there has long been a desire to produce civically engaged graduates that will serve as leaders in addressing current and future societal problems. The task of developing young Americans that become socially aware, community-minded, and publicly involved requires a full understanding of the college learning environment for today's students. In recent years, the undergraduate environment has changed rapidly, with various digital social media presenting a new social and technological context for college students. Scholars have begun to explore the ways in which these social media have impacted the college environment, yet many areas for research have yet to be addressed. This exploratory qualitative study draws upon this growing literature base and social capital theory to ask: How do students understand the connection between social media use and their civic engagement while in college? This study presents data from six focus groups (n=35) and seven individual interviews conducted with students from campus organizations engaged in one of three pre-selected areas of civic engagement (Adler & Goggin, 2005). This study found that the students derived a great deal of civic value from their use of social media. These new media provide students with a constant stream of information that promotes both knowledge acquisition and the organization of others around common interests. However, findings from this study also indicate a number of challenges associated with the use of social media for civic learning and engagement, including the need to continuously filter an overwhelming amount of information and the intimidating nature of public civic debate online. The added value of social media in the development of civic behaviors speaks to a new way of thinking about ways to cultivate civic engagement. As colleges and universities continue to explore means to promote civic engagement as a learning outcome, the digital environments of students must be considered. A broad understanding of social technologies, along with a working knowledge of platform-specific features will help practitioners and scholars to better plan developmentally beneficial interventions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The present text is based on a key note lecture (‘Civic Education, Democracy and Political Participation’) delivered at the symposium Globalization of School Subjects – Challenges for Civics, History, Geography and Religious Education, Karlstad University, 13–14 December, 2012. Drawing on recent developments in research on political participation and civic engagement, the text starts out with a discussion about different ways of understanding political passivity. Subsequently, the text turns to a brief analysis of ways in which schools may provide young people with political skills and competencies needed in a democratic society. Three dimensions of political citizenship are highlighted: political efficacy, political literacy, and political participation; and the analysis focuses on the impact of a number of different school-related factors on these three ‘citizenship competencies’.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes special study report entitled: Water and architecture. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes special study report entitled : Water and architecture. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Social scientists claim young United States (U.S.) citizens have become disengaged in civic life which jeopardizes democracy (White et al., 2007; CIRCLE & Carnegie, 2003, p.8). As a nation, the U.S. has failed to teach students the skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary for democratic life (White et l., 2007). Social scientists claim young U.S. citizens have become disengaged in civic life since the 1980s (Colby, 2007; CIRCLE & Carnegie, 2003, p.4). Compared to past generations, young citizens in the United States are less engaged in political life and lack an understanding of what it means to be an active and engaged citizen (Colby, 2007; White et al., 2007; CIRCLE & Carnegie, 2003, p.4). The idea of engaged citizenship has become narrowly defined as the simple act of voting, limiting the possibilities of citizens in improving society through community involvement (White et al., 2007). However, social scientists and social science educators have witnessed an increase in volunteerism of young U.S. citizens since about 2000. Along with this increase in volunteerism, other empirical evidence has painted a more positive picture of young Americans’ civic engagement (Zukin et al., 2006). While researchers admit that young U.S. citizens are less politically engaged, young citizens demonstrate an interest in civic engagement (e.g., volunteering and participating in social campaigns) (Zukin et al., 2006). Historically, kindergarten through twelfth-grade (K-12) social-studies education has responded, through a civic-focused curriculum, to the needs of the United States. The nation’s colleges and universities have also traditionally focused on the education of the country’s future civic leaders, paying particular attention to teaching citizenship for the common good while iv promoting civic duty and responsibility. In comparison, little attention has been focused on the civic education of the community college student. The primary focus of community colleges has been to stimulate local economies and provide training for workforce development. In addition to workforce development, community colleges have provided access to under-prepared students who are interested in completing a four-year degree at a university, where civic leadership has been integrated into the curriculum. This research study followed a qualitative phenomenological approach that investigated the attitudes and perceptions of community college students and their civic and political engagement. The researcher collected data pertaining to civic engagement from three sources: open-ended qualitative questionnaires, student focus-groups, and a drawing activity completed by students. This research study was conducted in a large urban community college located in the southeastern region of the United States. Wilson Community College is a pseudonym used to conceal the identity of the college that was used in this research study

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