Understanding the short-and long-term impacts of a biomonitoring and exposure project and reporting personal results back to study participants is critical for guiding future efforts, especially in the context of environmental justice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate learning outcomes from environmental communication efforts and whether environmental health literacy goals were met in an environmental justice community. We conducted 14 interviews with parents who had participated in the University of Arizona's Metals Exposure Study in Homes and analyzed their responses using NVivo, a qualitative data management and analysis program. Key findings were that participants used the data to cope with their challenging circumstances, the majority of participants described changing their families' household behaviors, and participants reported specific interventions to reduce family exposures. The strength of this study is that it provides insight into what people learn and gain from such results communication efforts, what participants want to know, and what type of additional information participants need to advance their environmental health literacy. This information can help improve future report back efforts and advance environmental health and justice.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka Trelleborgs Museums kommunikativa aspekter utifrån de unga vuxnas förutfattade meningar, tankar och idéer kring museet i fråga och ifall dessa idéer förändras eller förblir dem samma efter att ungdomarna fått besöka museet. Publikundersökningen i denna studie har lyckats måla upp en generell bild av situationen, med hjälp av fyra gruppintervjuer med unga vuxna mellan 16–25 år och genom användningen av teorier om identitet, inlärning i museer och fysisk kontext. Studiens resultat har visat att det finns en omfattande negativ känsla kring staden Trelleborg på grund av det bristande kulturlivet för unga vuxna. Som en del av staden hamnar även Trelleborgs Museum under denna negativa skuggan, då de unga vuxnas engagemang med museet är knappt existerande. Dock överträffar museet och dess utställningar ungdomarnas förväntningar. Studien har även visat att museets fysiska kontext har en anmärkningsvärd inverkan på hur ungdomarna upplever museet. Det finns trots allt skillnader mellan de intervjuade i hur museer betraktas av de unga vuxna och när och varför de besöks av ungdomar inom den studerade målgruppen. / The purpose with this study is to investigate Trelleborgs Museums communicative aspects from the young adults' preconceptions, thoughts and ideas about the museum in question and if these thoughts changes or remain the same after that the youngsters have visited the museum. The public research in this study has succeeded to paint a general picture of the situation, with the help of four group-interviews with participants between 16–25 years and using theories of identity, museum learning and physical context. The results of this study have shown that there is a general negative feeling above the city of Trelleborg due to its lack of cultural life for young adults. As part of the city, even Trelleborgs Museum falls under this dark shadow of negativity, since the young adults’ engagement with the museum is barely present. Though, the museum and its exhibitions beat the youngsters’ expectations. The study has also shown that the physical context of the museum has a notable impact on how the youngsters experience the museum. There are after all differences between the interviewed in terms of how museums are considered by the young adults and when and why they are being visited by youngsters in the studied target group.

This thesis deals with the aspect of outdoor education of chemistry in the context of the natural science literacy concept. This concept is approximated here in association with the curricula documents for secondary education level and the Contextual model of learning. Based on the description of individual contexts of the aforementioned model, an alternative variant of an excursion to the Prague Waterworks Museum in Podolí is proposed. The practical part focuses on the comparison of the efficiency of the "classic" conception of a museum excursion and the alternative approach mentioned previously. The whole concept adheres to the pedagogical experimental scheme. The comparison is achieved through three testings in two groups. The first, control group, had a standard excursion led by a museum guide. The second, experimental group, had an excursion led in the proposed alternative approach. Based on the first tests - the pretests, the starting knowledge of the pupils is analyzed. The second testing is executed as posttests right after finishing each excursion. The third testing is a retention test one month after the excursion. Test results were analyzed using statistical methods. The results of the analysis point to the considerable importance of the way the excursion is led and to the great benefit of...

Hobby activities can be viewed through the lens of informal, free-choice learning. A wide range of hobbies combine fun and learning-intensive practices, and can contribute to scientific literacy. Hobby learning involves clear goal orientation, persistence and effort, and often results in more richly and strongly connected knowledge; traits highly valued in both in and out-of-school science learning. In this study, I used koi hobbyists as subjects to discover and explore hobbyists' information-seeking strategies under different learning scenarios. I approached koi hobbyists' learning about koi and their koi hobby in both quantitative and qualitative ways. I designed a Stage of Engagement Model to illustrate koi hobbyists' engagement with their hobby, and adapted Falk and Dierking's Contextual Model of Learning to explain how personal, socio-cultural and physical contextual factors affect koi hobbyists' learning. An instrument was developed to assess koi hobbyists' experience with keeping koi, knowledge about the hobby, motivation/goals, interaction with other hobbyists, and the information-seeking strategies they used under different learning scenarios. I administered this questionnaire to koi hobbyist communities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and online. Based on the quantitative analysis, the results supported my hypotheses that koi hobbyists chose different information-seeking strategies based on personal contextual factors such as previous experience, motivation and learning goals; socio-cultural contextual factors such as interactions with other koi hobbyists; and physical contextual factors such as the nature of the problems they encounter. Koi hobbyists also chose different information-seeking strategies based upon their stage of engagement with their hobby. The long-term potential of this study is to offer insights into how learners construct their knowledge by applying different learning strategies under different personal, socio-cultural and physical circumstances, and to provide a framework for the future study of other kinds of hobbies and hobbyists that will help to promote public scientific literacy. / Graduation date: 2012

In the framework of this master s thesis there has been developed a training programme named "Through the Desert and the Prairie". It is focused on selected mammals and their geographical distribution and habitat. It includes a set of didactic materials and tools for the individual activity of a teacher at the Hluboká Zoo designed for a group of pupils from the 2nd to 5th grade of elementary school. In the work, the objectives, importance and advantages of education in zoos, including the focus on the Hluboká Zoo, are described. It also introduces the biogeography teaching as a part of the Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education, with different concepts of this subject and contextual model of learning. After the brief characteristics of mammals and their anatomy, depending on the environment, more detailed information on selected mammals follows. The created file contains information and tools, which directly on the spot, at the individual mammals exhibits, illustrate their characteristics, interests and adaptation to the environment in which they live. It also describes methodological instructions for teachers and also contains a worksheet including the key. It also includes a map of the zoo with marked key locations of the educational programme. The whole file will be available at the zoo box office. The prior preparation using the materials on the zoo website is also possible.

Considering the context of large city schools, this study explores what variables in a kindergarten classroom may impact the process of children’s engagement with nature. In particular I examine the central role of children and teacher in co-constructing their own unique understanding, knowledge, and attitude towards the natural world. In this study, I examine nature-child’s connection considering the complexity of nature beyond a pre-packaged concept (Louv, 2007) and avoiding a linear identification of a cause and effect relationship between children’s learning experiences and nature, (Kellert, 2005). This qualitative case study is based on extensive classroom observations, in which 20 kindergarten children and their teacher participate. The children’s direct, indirect, and vicarious experiences with nature are documented using digital photography, video-audio recording, and collection of artifacts. I interview the classroom teacher two times and invite the parents to fill up a questionnaire about their children’s experiences with nature outside the school time. I use the techniques and procedure of the grounded theory to analyze the data. A comparative analysis of the five learning episodes demonstrates four major factors that when all woven together encourage and sustain the children’s engagement with nature. These factors are: investigating children’s meaningful and autotelic questions, encountering and experiencing nature in familiar contexts, developing emotional bonding, and having sufficient time. The findings show the crucial role of the classroom teacher in creating five main conditions to engage the children in the process of each inquiry. She offers the children many opportunities to use their prior skills and knowledge, take responsibility of their own learning, and experiment with learning as a process. She often responds positively to the children’s learning endeavours and communicates her high confidence and expectations for them. This study makes an important contribution to the field of early childhood education and environmental education by demonstrating the possibilities and challenges in actively and holistically engaging children with nature in school settings. The findings shed light on our understanding of children and teacher’s sense of ownership and motivation as two driving forces of learning.

Considering the context of large city schools, this study explores what variables in a kindergarten classroom may impact the process of children’s engagement with nature. In particular I examine the central role of children and teacher in co-constructing their own unique understanding, knowledge, and attitude towards the natural world. In this study, I examine nature-child’s connection considering the complexity of nature beyond a pre-packaged concept (Louv, 2007) and avoiding a linear identification of a cause and effect relationship between children’s learning experiences and nature, (Kellert, 2005). This qualitative case study is based on extensive classroom observations, in which 20 kindergarten children and their teacher participate. The children’s direct, indirect, and vicarious experiences with nature are documented using digital photography, video-audio recording, and collection of artifacts. I interview the classroom teacher two times and invite the parents to fill up a questionnaire about their children’s experiences with nature outside the school time. I use the techniques and procedure of the grounded theory to analyze the data. A comparative analysis of the five learning episodes demonstrates four major factors that when all woven together encourage and sustain the children’s engagement with nature. These factors are: investigating children’s meaningful and autotelic questions, encountering and experiencing nature in familiar contexts, developing emotional bonding, and having sufficient time. The findings show the crucial role of the classroom teacher in creating five main conditions to engage the children in the process of each inquiry. She offers the children many opportunities to use their prior skills and knowledge, take responsibility of their own learning, and experiment with learning as a process. She often responds positively to the children’s learning endeavours and communicates her high confidence and expectations for them. This study makes an important contribution to the field of early childhood education and environmental education by demonstrating the possibilities and challenges in actively and holistically engaging children with nature in school settings. The findings shed light on our understanding of children and teacher’s sense of ownership and motivation as two driving forces of learning.