It has been proposed that for ecotourism to be the sustainable response to mass tourism, it should not only support local communities and their environments but also educate visitors. This study aimed to understand visitors' perceptions of personal impacts, including personal learning, in an ecotourism setting and why these impacts differed between visitors. To fully comprehend the nature of personal impacts, I took a primarily qualitative approach, using participant observation and a series of survey questionnaires. This study reveals that the visitor's construction of personal meaning is achieved through the interaction between the visitor's prior knowledge, quality social interaction on the tour and the fulfillment of the desire for an 'authentic' experience. With this finding, I suggest considering learning in an ecotourism setting as personal change and provide practical suggestions for encouraging all visitors to achieve personal understanding. / Master of Science / The Village Ecotourism Network (JED) in Bali, Indonesia is an ecotourism operation that provides tours of local Balinese villages to visitors. JED aims to promote sustainable tourism in Bali and counteract the growth of mass tourism currently occurring on the island. In this study, I focused on the visitor’s experience during these tours and sought to answer two questions: 1. What outcomes do visitors achieve on JED programs? 2. Why are these outcomes different for different visitors? To understand the visitor experience, I accompanied the visitors during their tour, recorded my observations of the experience and asked visitors to fill out survey questionnaires. After compiling and analyzing the data, I found that visitor outcomes derive from the interaction between the visitor’s prior knowledge before the tour began, quality social interactions during the tour and the fulfillment of visitors’ desire to experience ‘authentic’ Bali.

This project involved the adaptive reuse of Maw Garage at 112 King Street. The building was transformed into an interpretive centre for Winnipeg’s Exchange District. As museums are faced with challenges of being relevant in today’s context, museum planners have started to shift their attention toward new approaches for the design of these environments. The purpose of this project was to investigate the evolving nature of the museum, and to determine how its role in society could be modified to better accommodate its audience’s needs. Society’s understanding of heritage in regard to the way we interpret, relate to, and connect with objects, each other, and environments has changed. A thorough review of literature resulted in a broad understanding of post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories. Combined with knowledge gained from the analysis of three precedents and programming, these theories enabled the development of a contemporary museum that challenges stereotypical ideas of the museum. This design proposal illustrates one possible way in which post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories could be used to design a new museum. Although the solution presented here is specific to Winnipeg’s Exchange District and the Heritage Winnipeg client, conceivably, the same theories could be used to design interpretive centres elsewhere in North America.

This project involved the adaptive reuse of Maw Garage at 112 King Street. The building was transformed into an interpretive centre for Winnipeg’s Exchange District. As museums are faced with challenges of being relevant in today’s context, museum planners have started to shift their attention toward new approaches for the design of these environments. The purpose of this project was to investigate the evolving nature of the museum, and to determine how its role in society could be modified to better accommodate its audience’s needs. Society’s understanding of heritage in regard to the way we interpret, relate to, and connect with objects, each other, and environments has changed. A thorough review of literature resulted in a broad understanding of post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories. Combined with knowledge gained from the analysis of three precedents and programming, these theories enabled the development of a contemporary museum that challenges stereotypical ideas of the museum. This design proposal illustrates one possible way in which post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories could be used to design a new museum. Although the solution presented here is specific to Winnipeg’s Exchange District and the Heritage Winnipeg client, conceivably, the same theories could be used to design interpretive centres elsewhere in North America.

The diploma thesis on topic Development of professional competencies of Primary School teachers considers the research question: "What is the significance of teacher training and its length in the development of the professional competencies of primary school teachers?". The aim of the thesis is to introduce and analyze effective ways of developing the professional competencies of primary school teachers in the combined form of study. Contextualize the importance of practice and its length in the development of professional competencies. To deal with specific cases, ie cases of significance of practice and its length in the development of professional competencies of primary school teachers. With the support of professional literature, the basic theorems related to the topic of work are defined in the theoretical part: teacher, competencies, key competences, pedagogical knowledge and skills, constructivist approach in education and methods of professional development of teachers. Attention is paid to theory, practice and its position in teacher education. Reflection, cooperation and portfolio are mentioned here as effective means of professional development of teachers, ensuring the interconnection of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. The practical part is focused on qualitative...

The government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia proclaimed a new curriculum for reconstructing the education system. The programme aimed at changing the predominantly-used teacher-centred instructional strategies to student-centred, active learning methods. This motivated the main research question of this study namely What are Ethiopian students’ learning styles and attitudes towards active learning approaches? The specific research questions that were investigated were: • What are the learning styles of students in Grade 10 public and private schools and at second year university level, and do these students prefer certain learning styles? • What are the attitudes of students at Grade 10 public and private schools, and at second year university level in respect of active learning approaches? • Do significant relationships exist between the students’ learning styles and their attitudes towards active learning as regards the four dimensions of the Index of Learning Styles (ILS), namely active-reflective, sensing-intuitive, visual-reflective and sequential-global? • Are there significant differences in the students’ learning styles and their attitudes towards active learning in respect of gender, different education levels and types of schools? In order to answer these questions, the study made use of an exploratory, descriptive design. By means of questionnaires data were collected from a purposefully and a conveniently selected sample of 920 students from Grade 10 government and private schools and second year university students in Hawassa, Ethiopia. The sample comprised of 506 males and 414 females, 400 students from Government schools and 249 from private schools, and 271 from the university. The data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics (means and correlations) and inferential statistics (analysis of variance). The results indicated that the majority of the students’ learning styles were balanced between the two dimensions of the ILS scales. As secondary preference, they tended towards moderate categories, and a small section of the students preferred the strong categories of the scales. Secondly, the study determined that the sampled students in general, demonstrated a positive attitude towards active learning. Thirdly, by means of the study a significant relationship was ascertained between the students’ attitudes towards active learning and the active-reflective dimension of the ILS. Fourthly, significant differences were indicated in the students’ learning styles and attitudes towards active learning in respect of their gender, their education level and the types of schools. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

The government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia proclaimed a new curriculum for reconstructing the education system. The programme aimed at changing the predominantly-used teacher-centred instructional strategies to student-centred, active learning methods. This motivated the main research question of this study namely What are Ethiopian students’ learning styles and attitudes towards active learning approaches? The specific research questions that were investigated were: • What are the learning styles of students in Grade 10 public and private schools and at second year university level, and do these students prefer certain learning styles? • What are the attitudes of students at Grade 10 public and private schools, and at second year university level in respect of active learning approaches? • Do significant relationships exist between the students’ learning styles and their attitudes towards active learning as regards the four dimensions of the Index of Learning Styles (ILS), namely active-reflective, sensing-intuitive, visual-reflective and sequential-global? • Are there significant differences in the students’ learning styles and their attitudes towards active learning in respect of gender, different education levels and types of schools? In order to answer these questions, the study made use of an exploratory, descriptive design. By means of questionnaires data were collected from a purposefully and a conveniently selected sample of 920 students from Grade 10 government and private schools and second year university students in Hawassa, Ethiopia. The sample comprised of 506 males and 414 females, 400 students from Government schools and 249 from private schools, and 271 from the university. The data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics (means and correlations) and inferential statistics (analysis of variance). The results indicated that the majority of the students’ learning styles were balanced between the two dimensions of the ILS scales. As secondary preference, they tended towards moderate categories, and a small section of the students preferred the strong categories of the scales. Secondly, the study determined that the sampled students in general, demonstrated a positive attitude towards active learning. Thirdly, by means of the study a significant relationship was ascertained between the students’ attitudes towards active learning and the active-reflective dimension of the ILS. Fourthly, significant differences were indicated in the students’ learning styles and attitudes towards active learning in respect of their gender, their education level and the types of schools. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Grade 12 learners in one Namibian secondary school participated in a study of science process skills implied in their International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) physical science syllabus. The study aimed at finding out learners’ ability to identify science process skills in their physical science syllabus, criteria used to identify skills and whether any relationship existed between learners’ achievement in performing skills and learners’ ability in identifying the skills. Four physical science syllabus topics were taught. Learners performed and identified science process skills in learning and assessment tasks. A One Group Pretest-Posttest research design was used in a combined qualitative and quantitative research method. Data revealed that learners identified science process skills. Science processes performed during learning experiences were used as criteria to confirm presence of the skills. Learners’ achievement increased in performing and identifying science process skills after intervention activities. There seemed no relationship between learners’ achievement in performing and learners’ ability in identifying science process skills. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

Grade 12 learners in one Namibian secondary school participated in a study of science process skills implied in their International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) physical science syllabus. The study aimed at finding out learners’ ability to identify science process skills in their physical science syllabus, criteria used to identify skills and whether any relationship existed between learners’ achievement in performing skills and learners’ ability in identifying the skills. Four physical science syllabus topics were taught. Learners performed and identified science process skills in learning and assessment tasks. A One Group Pretest-Posttest research design was used in a combined qualitative and quantitative research method. Data revealed that learners identified science process skills. Science processes performed during learning experiences were used as criteria to confirm presence of the skills. Learners’ achievement increased in performing and identifying science process skills after intervention activities. There seemed no relationship between learners’ achievement in performing and learners’ ability in identifying science process skills. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

<p>In this dissertation, I investigate the authentic learning experiences of students participating in the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program at Purdue University within the framework of authentic education. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the study assesses the performance of new and returning students across five key outcomes that measure authentic learning during a single semester. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant main effects for time of assessment and type of student on performance, with an overall improvement in all outcomes observed from mid-term to final evaluations and returning students typically outperforming new students. Interaction effects between time and type were also examined, revealing subtle yet complex dynamics in students’ learning trajectories. The findings hold implications for enhancing authentic learning, especially in engineering design contexts, and offer insights to guide future implementation of and improvements to authentic education initiatives, particularly the EPICS program. Despite certain limitations, the research opens avenues for future investigations into diverse aspects of authentic education in STEM and beyond.  </p>

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