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The mean is a commonly employed descriptor of a set of numbers, and forms the basis for several related statistics. Evidence indicates many undergraduates do not possess a relational understanding of the mean concept (Pollatsek, Lima, and Well, 1981). Pollatsek et.al.(1981) postulated three types of knowledge are involved in understanding the mean: functional, computational, and analog knowledge. Many of the college students they interviewed did not appear to posses adequate functional and computational knowledge, while none showed behaviors which might suggest they possessed analog knowledge.

In a world where knowledge is the driving force behind human progress, it becomes imperative to understand the intricate dynamics of its creation, preservation, and distribution. This architectural thesis delves into the essence of knowledge and aims to unravel the profound meaning behind these fundamental aspects. By examining the Great Library of Alexandria as a symbol of a global knowledge and fragility, we embark on a transformative journey. The thesis investigates the nature of knowledge itself, posing essential questions about its essence and significance. What does knowledge truly represent, and how do we acknowledge its value in our lives? Through a comprehensive exploration, we aim to comprehend the creation of knowledge and its transformative potential in various domains. Furthermore, the Great Library of Alexandria stands as a compelling symbol of fragility, emphasizing the delicate nature of the artifacts we create. This iconic institution serves as a poignant reminder of the impermanence that surrounds human achievements. By studying the library's historical significance, architectural intricacies, and its ultimate demise, we gain profound insights into the precarious nature of preserving knowledge. By embarking on this journey, we seek to understand not only the importance of preserving knowledge but also the means to achieve effective preservation. Ultimately, this research aims to use AI text to image tools (midjourney) and traditional architectural inquiry methods to deepen our appreciation for the vast wealth of knowledge we have generated and highlight the responsibility we bear in safeguarding and sharing it. By understanding the fragility of knowledge, we can foster a collective consciousness that recognizes the transformative power of knowledge. / Master of Architecture / Knowledge propels human progress, shaping our world in remarkable ways. In this thesis, we embark on a transformative exploration of the creation, preservation, and distribution of knowledge, unraveling its profound meaning. Our investigation centers around the Great Library of Alexandria, a symbol of global knowledge and fragility. We delve into the very nature of knowledge, posing essential questions about its essence and significance. What does knowledge truly represent, and how does it enrich our lives? Through a comprehensive exploration, we aim to understand the creation of knowledge and its potential to transform various domains. Moreover, the Great Library of Alexandria serves as a poignant symbol of fragility, highlighting the delicate nature of human achievements. By studying its historical significance, architectural intricacies, and eventual demise, we gain profound insights into the precarious task of preserving knowledge. Our journey goes beyond mere preservation; it seeks to uncover effective means of safeguarding knowledge. By understanding the importance of preserving knowledge, we can nurture a collective consciousness that recognizes its transformative power. Ultimately, this research aims to deepen our appreciation for the vast wealth of knowledge we have generated and emphasizes our responsibility to protect and share it. Through an understanding of knowledge's fragility, we can foster a society that values and harnesses its transformative potential for the betterment of all.

Knowledge translation includes the steps of researching and establishing best practices, communicating those findings to stakeholders and consumers, and then using that information effectively in practice (Straus, Tetroe, & Graham, 2009). Knowledge translation usually takes the form of conducting research, creating systematic reviews and other research articles, and publishing in academic journals, all of which are not enough to guarantee that knowledge will actually be used in clinical practice (Straus et al., 2009). Therefore, there needs to be a more explicit process for improving knowledge translation to increase the use of evidence-based interventions in clinical practice (Straus et al., 2009). This doctoral project will focus on improving knowledge translation as it applies to occupational therapy researchers disseminating research knowledge to school-based professionals and will further explore the barriers both occupational therapy researchers and school professionals face with knowledge translation. The proposed solution is an online course titled Closing the Gap: A Knowledge Translation Course Designed to Improve Evidence-Based Clinical Practice for School Professionals. This course will be developed in order to address the current gap between knowledge translation and clinical practice; and to improve research utilization in occupational therapy in school settings in particular. This six-week course utilizes an online learning environment through teachable.com in order to increase accessibility of information to course participants and to allow for weekly self-paced learning to promote participant success. The course will include multiple professional development activities, such as small discussion work through an online discussion board, case studies, and problem-based learning as these are proven methods to effectively promote confidence with integrating research into clinical practice (Anaby, Korner-Bitensky, Law, & Cormier, 2015; Cahill, Egan, Wallingford, Huber-Lee, and Dess-McGuire, 2015). The online course described above aims to improve evidence clinical practice in school settings by increasing direct communication between the school professionals and researchers, by having school professionals practice applying research to relevant clinical cases, and by having researchers practice communicating research findings to other professionals. This online course is critically needed in order to make knowledge translation more intentional, to improve evidence-based clinical practice, and to achieve AOTA’s 2025 Vision of being an effective and evidence-based profession.

In this dissertation I argue that Jürgen Habermas’ discourse ethics is our best understanding of morality, but that as it stands it has some serious deficiencies that need to be overcome before it can live up to its own promise. In particular, its insistence that facts, norms and self-expressions constitute the full range of validity claims available to us privileges Western voices in discourse, and undermines its own principles of equality and coercion-free dialogue. According to Habermas, others who do not utilise validity claims in the same way that Western speakers do are merely blurring the lines between these three categories and hence fall short of the ideal practices of discourse. In other words, they are less than fully rational. Rather, I argue that these three categories do not exhaust the full range of possible reasons. I suggest that we ought to understand statements that do not fit as one of these kinds of validity claim as instances of different kinds of claims entirely. Instead of being a confused blurring-of-the-lines, expressions on the part of indigenous and “traditional” societies that do not conform to Habermas’ categories of fact, norm or self-expression are just as likely to be instances of an expanded ontology of reasons that are equally legitimate. After examining some alternative explanations regarding claims that do not fit into Habermas’ categories, I finally suggest and describe a different, place-based kind of validity claim that I refer to as “ecological truth”, and suggest that it shows up the limitations of Habermas’ ontology of reasons. Ecological truth is a potential kind of reason available in discourse that is rooted in a close intertwining of practices and communities with particular ecologies and environments. This kind of reason cannot be subsumed into the categories of fact, norm and self-expression. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation argues for a method of resolving moral disagreement by the exchange of reasons by those affected by the disagreement under certain conditions. However, it suggests that typical Western accounts of the varieties of reasons admissible in these kind of conversations is limited, privileges Western ways of looking at the world, and devalues non-Western and, in the focus of this dissertation, particularly indigenous worldviews. As such, a fuller and more just account of reason is needed, one that includes the kinds of reasons used by all, if we are to have just, fair and equitable conversations in order to resolve moral disagreements.

Traditionally, the field of education has often adopted a negative perspective in their views of minority families’ contributions to the educational progress of their children. However, research embodying the theoretical framework of ‘funds of knowledge’ attempts to counter that model through its assertion that all families possess extensive bodies of knowledge that have developed through social, historical, and cultural contexts. Teachers carry out studies of familial funds of knowledge in order to understand how family experiences shape the knowledge that a child brings to the classroom. There is then, the potential to use that body of knowledge to create meaningful learning experiences that connect prior understanding and experiences to classroom practice. This research served as a case study of the funds of knowledge existing in the home of a Hispanic family and the connections that existed between that knowledge and literacy. The results indicated that the family possessed extensive funds of knowledge that developed through their historical, cultural, and social experiences. They often used family networks, as well as formal and informal literacy experiences to share this knowledge with their children. A key component of the literacy value system that they communicated resulted from a desire to maintain aspects of their culture and heritage through maintaining and improving their children’s reading and linguistic abilities in Spanish. Furthermore, along with their emphasis on Spanish literacy, they held aspirations for their children related to familial and educational values that often stemmed from their expressed desire for their children to lead lives with greater opportunities and positive examples than they had experienced.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the readiness of public libraries in South Africa for an enhanced educational role in developing the information literacy of school learners. The public libraries in Mpumalanga Province provide the case site for the study. Across the world, information literacy education has been identified as the raison d'etre of school libraries. There are two arguments for public libraries in South Africa to take on this mission: • the demands of the global economy for information literate school leavers - reflected in South Africa's new school curriculum, which is widely described as "resource-based" and which lists infonnation skills as a critical cross-curricular outcome • the shortage of school libraries in South Africa. It has been estimated that eight million out of 12 million learners do not have access to libraries in their schools. In recent years there have been suggestions that South African public libraries take on a more direct educational and developmental role - which might be more appropriate than the inherited Western model of service. Information literacy education might well be their unique contribution to social inclusion in a country where, on average, less that 10 percent of the population belong to public libraries. The introduction in the late 1990s of the new curriculum has brought a huge increase in the use of public libraries by school learners - most of whom are not signed-up members but who need access to public library resources as they grapple with the information seeking demands of their school projects and assignments. The increase in use has led to much comment in public library circles on the iJJ-preparedness of school learners for project work in the library. The theoretical underpinning of the study comes from the research and theory building of Carole Kuhlthau and Christine Bruce - both of whom have enriched information literacy theory with their "borrowing" from constructivist and relational learning theory. To Kuhhhau, information literacy is a constructive process of building meaning and knowledge. The task of information literacy education in schools and libraries - is to teach people how to learn - not how to find discrete bits of information. Christine Bruce's research highlights the significance of people's conceptions of information and information literacy. She identifies categories of conceptions ranging from those which see information literacy as knowing about resources to those who describe it as creating new knowledge and building wisdom. Effective information literacy education has to take into account the existence of these different conceptions. The PhD study sets out to examine if indeed public libraries in South Africa might assume an enhanced responsibility for information literacy education and, if so, what inhibiting and 111 facilitating factors might exist. The word "readiness" in its title has two layers of meaning: at one level it refers to physical capacity and on a second level to more intangible and subjective attributes such as staff attitudes and beliefs. The research questions examined in the study relate to these two layers of meaning. They are informed also by a wide-ranging survey of the literature of educational change in South Africa and of the role of public libraries, internationally, in information literacy education. The questions can be grouped into three categories: • What is happening at present in terms of information literacy education for school learners? • Do public libraries have the physical capacity for information literacy education? • What are the attributes of public library staff in terms of their experience of and attitudes towards information literacy, information literacy education, and, indeed, towards a stronger educational role for public libraries? Any discussion on the capacity of Mpumalanga's public libraries for information literacy education has immediately to acknowledge the uneven distribution of libraries - common to all South African provinces. The Director of Mpumalanga Provincial Library Service estimates that his province requires 98 new libraries. The Province of Mpumalanga lends itself to the research problem for a number of reasons. Its social and economic characteristics throw into relief the critical issues highlighted in the literature review. It is one of South Africa's five "new'' provinces, having amalgamated two apartheid era "homelands". It is regarded as a "rural" province" with sprawling densely populated but underdeveloped areas. Only 18 percent of its schools have libraries. The study took place in a time of upheaval and restructuring of local government - the tier of government responsible for the day to day management of public libraries. The climate of uncertainty is found to play a significant part in the prevailing low morale of public library staff. The research project has a design structure of two interdependent phases. The overarching theoretical framework is interpretivist constructivism. The realities and meanings constructed by public library staff are central to the problem. However, it employs both qualitative and quantitative methodologies as each contributes to the understanding of the problem. The first phase is a broad survey of 46 public libraries in Mpumalanga, undertaken in March/April 2004, which gathers both qualitative and quantitative data by means of interviews with 57 staff members - based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The aim was to gather quantitative data on the resources and facilities within the libraries and their services to schools - and, by means of several open-ended questions, qualitative data on library staff views on the impact JV of the new curriculum and possible changes in their social role. The first phase leads into the next phase - a more focused participant observation case study of the information literacy programmes in two public libraries in one small town throughout October 2004. Three vignettes scaffold the case study, which serve both to give a sense of context and to highlight the theoretical issues. In this phase, an added perspective is school educators' use of the library - and their beliefs about learning and libraries. Twenty-seven interviews with Grade 7 and 8 educators and principals in the seven schools served by the public libraries were conducted. The analysis of the first phase data led to tentative findings. The second phase case study started afresh - open to alternative or contradictory interpretations. However, its findings are surprisingly convergent with those of the first phase. It seems that Mpumalanga public libraries are heavily engaged in serving school learners. The study indeed concludes that public libraries need school learners - given their low use by adults. Shortcomings in certain physical facilities, such as the lack of space and absence of retrieval tools, are inhibiting factors with the heritage of apartheid still impacting on the availability of and quality of service. The low level of professional education of public library staff is found to impede innovation in library and information service programming. The prevailing information literacy education largely comprises, at present, one-to-one support, although there is a fair amount of source-based group library orientation. Moving from library orientation towards information literacy education will depend on a shift in conceptions of the educational role of public libraries. In the absence of recognition of their curricular role by public library authorities and educationists, many public librarians are not sure that their services to school learners are legitimate. There is, at the same time, dawning recognition that present approaches are not meeting the needs of school learners and that more effective communication with educators is required. This recognition comes from public librarians' frustrating encounters with learners rather than from insight into information literacy education theory and experience. And educators' simplistic conceptions of project work and lack of cognizance of the demands of information seeking in the library do not allow for a more dynamic role for public libraries. The study makes recommendations for various role-players - the library profession, the governance structures of public libraries, public library staff, educators and educationists, and information literacy researchers. The fundamental conclusion is that sustainable information literacy education in public libraries will depend on more dynamic leadership and on a vision of a new model of public library.

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