This creative project encompasses two major parts: an historic context study, and a survey of extant one-room or one-teacher schools in a four county region of East Central Indiana. The historic context study looks into the early school laws in Indiana that promoted, and established a state-wide system of free public education. More specifically, the history focuses on the laws and social factors that led to the rise and fall of the one-room or one-teacher school as the primary source of education for Indiana children. The history of the rise and fall of the one-room schoolhouse in Indiana can be divided into three major eras: the pioneer period between 1787 and 1851; the golden era of one-room schoolhouse education from 1851 to 1907; and, the final demise of the one-teacher school as an institution as consolidation of schools became popular.The purpose of the first half of the project is to create a context for the remaining one-room schoolhouses listed in the inventory that makes up the second half of the creative project. The pictorial inventory lists and provides basic historical information on extant one-room and one-teacher schoolhouses in the Indiana counties of Delaware, Grant, Henry, and Jay. Currently there are approximately 78 one-room schoolhouses still in standing in the four counties. This number is a small percentage of the well over 400 one-room and one-teacher schoolhouses that dotted the four counties at the turn-of-the-century.These two parts together create a document that promotes awareness of a disappearing rural resource. The project also provides a stepping stone for future research into the history of education in Indiana, and the specific rural schools which helped to build the Indiana school system. / Department of Architecture

This project involves two major components: research on the importance of heritage education and a five-lesson unit prepared to introduce fourth-grade students in Muncie to the history and architectural heritage of the area. The research revealed the fact that there are many concepts of heritage education ranging from ideas that involve only architecture to schemes that involve all aspects of culture. This thesis argues that the built environment, along with its cultural history, needs to be taught in the schools so that children at an early age may learn to appreciate their historic legacy. The unit of five lessons on heritage education was presented to two Muncie fourth-grade classes. The unit provided a guide for the students to examine the history and architecture of Muncie, Indiana. At the end of the unit, the students were tested to see what they had retained. / Department of Architecture