Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-105) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2006. / A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Education (Environemntal Education).

Working with an organization outside the public school system that was creating schoolyard gardens, I began to think about culture and cultivation inside and outside of schooling practices. The liveliness of schoolyard gardens presented possibilities for enlivening educational discourses. With two participants I planted a container box "schoolyard" garden outside Lamoureux Hall, which houses the Faculty of Education. Utilizing aspects of place-based pedagogy, ecoliteracy, ecopedagogy and a metissage of a/r/tography, eco-art and writing as a method of inquiry, we tended the garden and dwelled upon ideas of nature, culture, and their intersection in a particular place. Our garden experiences left cyber footprints in virtual space as blog spots on a thesis blog site1. The garden and the inquiry it generated outside is brought back inside the Education building as a Masters thesis. The garden grew in different and unpredictable ways due to intense construction on site entwining the planter boxes with unforeseen variables. 1http://escapelot.wordpress.com

This dissertation, through the utilization of inferential statistical analysis, analyzes the perceptions of administrators, faculty and students from selected regional vocational education facilities regarding the effect of environment on a student's ability to learn. Surveys were used to gather the perceptions of the administrators, faculty and students of the selected schools. The information gathered was then processed, tabulated and analyzed to ascertain whether or not the perceptions of the three groups differed significantly. The five target schools identified were regional vocational technical high schools in the greater Boston area.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-222).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-222). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education)) - Rhodes University, 2007.

<p> Hawaii Island has the highest incidence of rat lungworm disease (RLWD) of all the Hawaiian Islands and the mainland United States. The relatively recent introduction of the semi-slug <i>Parmarion martensi,</i> an effective intermediate host, and the wide-spread use of rainwater catchment systems may play a role. Studies were designed to investigate the ability of drowned gastropods to shed larvae, the location in a water column where larvae would most likely be found, the potential for larval passage through a 20&micro;m filter, and the ability of the larvae to survive outside the slug/snail host. Whole <i>P. martensi</i> shed many, viable <i> A. cantonensis</i> larvae with >90% of larvae found in samples taken from the bottom of the water column, suggesting they may settle near the bottom of a catchment tank. Larvae that were able to pass through a 20&micro;m sieve could not survive acid, were active for at least 56 days outside the slug host, and tested positive for RLW by qPCR. Larvae that could not pass through a 20&micro;m sieve were able to survive HCl-pepsin, were active for at least 21 days, and tested positive for RLW. First stage larvae can survive gut acid when swallowed after migration from the lungs but cannot withstand acid immersion again until they become third stage larvae.The study results merit further investigation into the potential link between poorly maintained rainwater catchment systems and the high incidence of RLWD on Hawaii Island, and the studies clearly demonstrate the need for control of hosts of <i>Angiostrongylus cantonensis.</i> </p><p> Hawaii&rsquo;s remote location makes food security an important issue. State-wide efforts to promote the Grow Local, Eat Local movement are reflected in the growing number of residential gardens, small farms, farmers&rsquo; markets, school and youth garden projects, and the recent passage of the Farm to School Bill. However, efforts to educate farmers, food handlers, and consumers about rat lungworm disease and the need for disease prevention and host control has not been similarly supported. In collaboration with five partner schools on Hawaii Island, the University of Hawaii, Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy&rsquo;s Hawaii Island Rat Lungworm Working Group worked with students and teachers to develop an integrated pest management plan for school garden projects. Integrated pest management allows for the careful consideration of applications available to control a pest event and chooses those practices that are least harmful to human and environmental health. These best practices include preventative cultural practices, monitoring, mechanical control, biological control, and the responsible use of pesticides. Students were intensively educated about RLWD, the parasite&rsquo;s life cycle, and prevention measures. Using best management practices, we set up traps and collected data on gastropod species abundance, and shelter-type capture rate. Integrating STEM curriculum makes the project attractive to schools as it supports student academic success. Adoption of this management project by the many school and youth garden projects in areas of RLWD can exponentially increase community awareness, encourage control efforts, and potentially map disease risk.</p>

<p> Media literacy is touted as a necessary life skill for cultural citizenship, yet as it is generally practiced there is little engagement with sustainability issues. In order to gain insights into why this is the case, this research investigated how media literacy practitioners use metaphors to frame both the role of media education in the world and how it affects green cultural citizenship. This involved analyzing web site documents and teacher resources of seven North American media literacy organizations as well as interviewing nine key practitioners within a bounded system called the <i>media literacy ecosystem</i>. Drawing on an ecocritical framework, I analyzed the discourses of the media literacy ecosystem by using multi-site situational analysis, qualitative media analysis and critical discourse analysis. This research explored how media literacy practitioners participate in meaning-making systems that reproduce pre-existing environmental ideologies. The findings show that media literacy education is grounded in a <i>mechanistic</i> worldview, thereby perpetuating unsustainable cultural practices in education. By problematizing the mechanistic discourses of media literacy education, the aim of this research was to raise awareness and to offer potential solutions for changing the nature of those same discourses. As such, I theorized a model of media literacy that incorporates green cultural citizenship, called ecomedia literacy, and outlined a path forward so that sustainability becomes a priority for media literacy educators.</p>

<p> Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational institutions and municipal governments.</p><p> The central questions to this research were as follows: (1) What are some of the perceptions and practices concerning food waste at an environmental charter elementary school in Florida? (2) What do self-reported data on food waste behaviors suggest about disposal habits and norms? (3) What is the extent to which food is discarded relative to other types of refuse? and (4) From the perspectives of school staff and students, what are some of the factors influencing food waste?</p><p> To answer these questions, I employed both "garbological" and ethnographic methods at an environmental charter school, Learning Gate Community School, over a period of nine months, including (1) participant observation, (2) garbological audits of the cafeteria waste stream, (3) key informant interviews with students and staff, and (4) log sheets sent home to a random sample of parents to gauge the fraction of leftovers taken home that are ultimately discarded in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the waste stream of the school cafeteria. </p><p> The results of this project support the following conclusions: (1) students at Learning Gate tend to agree that food waste is a detriment, but these concerns are subordinate to factors such as the degree of hunger at lunchtime and the perceived palatability of certain food items and (2) lunch periods are an important block of unstructured time, which Learning Gate students use for a far broader variety of activities than merely nourishment </p>