No description available.

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Inspired by writings on creativity and by Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, I conducted a series of ten "exercises" -- each of them a guided visualization followed by an opportunity to produce -- with nine- and ten-year-old students. The visualizations, which were designed to encourage the students to explore some of the many ways our minds have of knowing and learning, began with a simple relaxation exercise and proceeded to more challenging exercises involving, for instance, kinesthetic learning, sensory awareness, the logical and linguistic mind versus the spatial mind, and intra- and interpersonal intelligence. Following each visualization the students discussed what they had experienced (transcripts of the visualizations and the discussions are included in the thesis). The students responded in visual terms as well: after each visualization, each student created a two- or three-dimensional piece of art from materials such as matboard, construction and origami paper, glue, felt-tip pens, pipe cleaners, and plastic-coated wire. These visual responses have been photographed, described, and scored according to the number of materials used, the number of colors used, and the dimensionality of the piece (photos, descriptions, and scores are included in the "Gallery". I found, surprisingly, that the visualizations in which the students were the most imaginatively engaged did not always produce the most interesting art, and that girls were much less likely than boys to create three-dimensional pieces, although girls tended to use more colors and occasionally used relief on otherwise two-dimensional pieces. / Master of Architecture

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No description available.

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In Florida, we often read or hear on the news about the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and how it is negatively affecting our students, parents and schools. The number of standards, benchmarks, and grade level expectations teachers are required to teach students to prepare them for taking the FCA T often seems unmanageable and overwhelming. Additionally, traditional methods of teaching are oftentimes at odds with current research on brain-based learning, multiple intelligences, literature-based instruction, and integrated and thematic curriculum planning. Is there a way to combine all the best teaching practices from current research into one basic, cohesive model of teaching that not only fulfills the requirements of the Florida Sunshine State Standards and prepares students for the FCA T, but is also a workable product that can be implemented in the real world of teaching? This project creates one such teaching model referred to as a Standards-based, Eclectic, Elaborated, and Synergistic Yearlong Theme Cycle (SEES Cycle). In addition to the prototype SEES Cycle and its accompanying yearlong science roadmap, this project also introduces SEES Cycle teaching menus which are designed to provide teachers with a valuable resource in long-range planning and for daily, "subject integration" lesson planning. Exclusive to this project is the Multiple Intelligences Teaching Menu which links specific Florida Sunshine State Standards to certain multiple intelligences activities. Furthermore, this project presents the research substantiation that could move the SEES Cycle teaching model, science roadmap, and accompanying teaching menus from a theoretical framework to one of practical application.

First published in 1983, the theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) struck a chord with thousands of educators across the world, providing a philosophical and structural framework that helped them make sense of and cater for the vast range of individual difference they encountered daily in their classrooms. However, while MI theory has found a ready audience amongst early childhood and primary school educators, and has been associated with a wide range of positive outcomes across a variety of educational settings, it continues to have little impact on secondary school practice. The aim of this qualitative action research project was to establish a collaborative research group of four junior secondary school teachers, who were interested in exploring MI theory and its implications for learning and teaching. In documenting their experiences, the project aimed to find out whether an MI-based programme was feasible in a junior secondary school context, and to identify the difficulties and barriers that impeded the participating teachers' endeavours to implement MI in their classrooms. The following research questions provided the focus for the project: 1. Can an MI-based approach to teaching and learning be successfully implemented in a junior secondary school programme? 2. What are the issues that secondary school teachers face when implementing MI into their classroom programmes? 3. What are the best ways to address these issues? iii A multiple case study approach provided an effective means of illustrating the individual complexity of teachers' situations, as they interacted with their students, the curriculum, their colleagues and their school environment, and was also flexible enough to accommodate the open-ended and evolving nature of the investigation. The following outcomes for teachers as a result of the MI project were noted: (a) Increased awareness and understanding of student diversity. (b) Extended teaching practice and enhanced teacher creativity. (c) Improved planning framework. (d) Teachers' beliefs about learning and intelligence were affirmed and extended. (e) Teachers experienced improved confidence in their abilities as teachers. (f) The emergence of a cohesive student-centred curriculum. (g) Improved collegiality. As a result of the project, many barriers to implementing MI theory into junior secondary school classrooms were identified, under the following categories: (a) Barriers relating to teacher culture (b) Barriers relating to management requirements (c) Barriers relating to time (d) Barriers relating to personnel (e) Barriers relating to external pressures on the school The outcomes of this project confirm findings in the research literature, which suggest that MI theory can provide a valuable philosophical and structural iv framework that helps teachers develop a greater awareness of student diversity and enhanced teaching practice, as well as the understanding that a uniform approach to teaching and learning meets the needs of too few. However, a number of entrenched structural and cultural barriers characteristic of the secondary school context were also identified, which suggest that the adoption of MI-based teaching practices on a wider scale is unlikely without an in-depth school-wide professional development initiative.

no abstract available / Teacher Education / M.Ed. (Specialisation in Guidance and Counselling)

The purpose of this report was to investigate how people who order a soil analysis perceive the information about that process. According to the law the customers need to have information about the soil analysis if they order it. A new informational film about soil analysis was compared to the existing data to see how the customer perceives different types of information. Two groups took part in the survey, one group watched the informational film, and the second group only had access to the existing data. The results of the investigation show that the majority of the respondents in the second group think that there is too little information about soil analysis and that it is hard to find. The first group think that after watching the movie, they got all the necessary information about the soil analysis in an accessible way. However, most survey respondents want the information in text form. Those who saw the informational movie think they have a better understanding of how and why the soil analysis is done, compared to those who only had access to the existing information. Most survey respondents want to get information from the municipality / county government, but receive the most of it from consultant agencies.