This nested case study inquires about the partnership between primary school teachers and local actors within the wood industry to perform a place-based educative lesson in the Swiss region of Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut. Five different cases relate the encounter between a teacher and a local actor and enable the description of the particularities and outcomes of such partnerships. After observing activities and interviewing the members of the partnerships, the researcher analyzes the data by comparing the cases and using a Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) model to describe the system of activity resulting from the partnership.  The study reveals that a win-win effect is present in the partnership teacher/local actor, despite some tensions regarding the role of the members. While the teacher is using the partnership as a valuable resource to create a succession of meaningful experiences for learning, the local actor is using it to get some recognition for his work and share his message within the community. This implies requestioning the role of school in society, as the institution becomes helpful not only for the young generation but also to empower the local community and its cohesion.   Outcomes in terms of experiential learning are discussed, along with the processes of decolonization and reinhabilitation inherent to the approach. The relevance of such partnership is also discussed as a tool to implement Environmental and Sustainable Education (ESE), as the findings reveal its great potential for working on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and issues that concern the local community, englobing the values expressed by its members. The crucial role of the teachers to ensure the adequacy of the approach is enhanced.

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Learning to value ourselves as uniquely endowed, understanding our irreplaceable fit into the social and environmental fabric, and becoming active agents woven into our communities will maximize our capacity for progressive change through empowerment. There are effective practices in orchestrating learning environments for empowerment that have ancient and proven roots but have become marginalized in contemporary education. These ways focus on fostering the development of unique gifts and group cohesion, as opposed the fostering of independence and competition, the latter being two ideologies not found in Nature when it is in balance and harmony. This reversal in paradigm will reclaim our ability to critically problem-solve and evoke transformative action by increasing the diversity of perspectives and talents focused on an endeavor. Central to this research is an exploration of the strategization involved in supporting cultural, cognitive, and creative capital—the gifts endowed to humankind that enable our co-evolution with this specific regions of this planet. This research explores methods not only of maintaining the integrity of Indigenous voice through the process of research and reporting but also of using science as a tool for building community through a sense of critical Indigenous identity. It is my hope that the data contained in this research will serve as a relevant, without being transferable, model of progressive educational approaches to ameliorate science education on a local, national, and global scale. / Ph. D.

Students' connections to place are important to bring into the classroom to help them make meaning. This multimethod study investigated the overarching research question: What is the influence of a place-based curriculum on high-performing, rural students as writers? This was broken into two sub-questions: (a) What is the effect of treatment condition on students writing ability, writing self-efficacy, and concepts of community and place and (b) In what ways do students reference place in their writing? In particular, this study examined students' writing ability, writing self-efficacy, connections to community/place, and references to place in students' writing. Working from a larger data set from the Promoting PLACE (Place, Literacy, Achievement, Community, and Engagement) in Rural Schools grant, students' pre- and post-test writing tasks, self-report writing self-efficacy, and community and place scales were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore the ways the curriculum supported students as writers. The sample included treatment and control students, randomly assigned at the district level. The treatment group access to the Promoting PLACE curriculum and the control group received the typical services their district provided. Quantitative analysis gave rise to more questions regarding sample size, gifted identification methods, and modes of instruction. Qualitative analysis gave insight into the importance of connecting to place in the classroom, so students can explore the richness of their rural places. Using a dialogic stance, with place-based pedagogy can provide students with opportunities to critically examine their places and the experiences they have in those places. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study explored how a dialogic, place-based curriculum influences high- performing rural students as writers. The sample included treatment and control students, randomly assigned at the district level, totaling 199 students across both groups. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, the researcher examined student pre- and post-test writing tasks and self-report writing self-efficacy and community and place scales. Findings suggest that adopting a stance that in the classroom that values students’ lived experiences provides opportunities for students to make meaning using what they know and have experienced and critically examining their experiences as members of their local communities. This study provides insight into writing classrooms that embraces student experience and view students as valuable members of their communities.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) provides quality education programs to local schools. In order to continue this success and expand programs to reach more middle and high school students, a mixed methods study was conducted to help better understand why local middle and high school teachers participate or not in park educational programs. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, teacher surveys measured factors that influence teacher intentions to participate in park programs to best predict their likelihood of future involvement. In addition, school administrators were interviewed to understand their perceptions of teacher involvement. Results provided insight to how GRSM can better provide valuable services to local middle and high schools. The best predictors of teachers' intentions to participate in future programs were their perceptions of whether programs would enhance academic achievement, how easily and comfortably they could incorporate the programs into their pre-existing curricula, and whether the experience would be a fun experience in nature for both their students and themselves. Future communications with teachers should therefore emphasize that Park programs are fun, relevant learning experiences that address academic requirements for various subjects and are relatively easy to incorporate into pre-existing curricula. / Master of Science

This dissertation examines whether a degree earned abroad is less valuable for Asianimmigrants in the U.S. labor market than for White immigrants and, if so, the reasons for such disparities. Many studies have documented the existence of a foreign education penalty. However, the underlying mechanisms for the lower returns to foreign education are still being determined. Building on the demographic heterogeneity framework, this study aims to advance our understanding of immigrants’ experience in the labor market by investigating whether the lower earnings returns for Asian immigrants with foreign education stem from lower educational quality/transferability, as suggested by the human capital approach, or from biased practices in the labor market, as proposed by credentialism. Methodologically, this study will compare the earnings outcomes of Asian immigrants to those of U.S.-born Whites as well as foreign-educated white immigrants. Using ACS data from 2015-2019 on White and Asian workers aged 25-64 with bachelor’s degrees or higher, I analyze the impact of STEM majors and the English-speaking proficiency of the sending country to explore the effect of human capital transferability. Then, I examine the effect of a country’s GDP per capita and the rates of tertiary education to capture the effect of educational quality. To access credentialism, I compare the earnings differences for Asian immigrants who earn degrees in regions more culturally or historically similar to the U.S. to those degrees earned in other regions. Then, I examine the residual earnings difference between foreign-educated White and Asian immigrants to access queuing theory. Finally, I separate the study population into subsamples of men and women to investigate whether Asian immigrants’ labor market disadvantages are contingent on gender. Chapter 2 to 5 can be read as a stand-alone study that uses nationally representative survey data to study the aspects listed above. Results from these analyses show that the earnings disadvantage of Asian immigrants educated in foreign countries is largely due to the limited transferability of their human capital in the U.S. labor market rather than to credentialism. Returns to foreign education are higher for immigrants with STEM degrees or from countries where English is an official language. In addition to the human capital transferability, this study also shows that White immigrants seem to have an advantage over Asian immigrants if they were educated in places with longer linguistic and cultural differences compared to the United States. In addition, my findings support the explanation that female immigrants’ varied family experiences and migration paths are different from those of their male counterparts, thus leading to their notable disadvantages in the labor markets. The results indicate that establishing clear and transparent processes for recognizing foreign academic and professional credentials is a critical way to alleviate the lower returns on Asian immigrants’ foreign credentials. / Sociology

Lesson plans were developed in order to address the inter-disciplinary nature inherent in environmental education by drawing on place-based learning approaches and relating natural and human made aspects of watershed dynamics.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / Recent development and adoption of Common Core State Standards has shifted academic emphasis within public and accredited schools. Consistent, national educational goals have standardized education and have resulted in a challenge to educators to assist all students in achieving maximum test scores. The curricular subjects of math, science, and literacy are the primary emphasis of instruction and achievement. Standardized testing is the dominant means to determine whether students are reaching acceptable achievement. “Integrated Common Core Curriculum: Environmental Education Through Landscape Architecture” explores the potential of incorporating basic landscape architectural knowledge into a fourth-grade curriculum while striving to achieve learning standards as determined by the Common Core and the Iowa Core Curriculum. Exploring the application of current educational criteria, the researcher developed an educational unit that utilizes the process of park design as a simplified version of a landscape architect’s approach in order to emphasize math, literature, science, creative thinking, and teamwork. Implementing environmental education through place-based education theory enhances unit strength by providing enhanced emotional, mental, and physical health benefits to children. Created during this study, an instructional unit was evaluated by a convenience sample of educators. Through the use of an open-ended questionnaire, preliminary review results indicate a strong potential for the unit to successfully demonstrate the basic process of landscape architecture design through the use of the local place simultaneously achieving academic standards. Review results identify a variety of limitations and challenges the unit would encounter for implementation including a current subject focused instructional philosophy within the school district verse the thematic focus of the unit. Additionally, ever-evolving standards would require regular unit updates, although school districts face perennial budget challenges and educators are limited on time. As a student of landscape architecture, I recognize that the profession offers a unique opportunity to model place-based, multi-subject practices realized in the practice of landscape architecture. Promoting the profession of landscape architecture through a curricular unit provides an environmental education tool and provides the opportunity for students to explore a career option within the classroom setting.

Children have the intrinsic drive to play and be outdoors, as well as the curiosity to explore the world around them (Louv, 2008). Connections and interactions with nature tend to be beneficial for children’s cognitive development, with outcomes ranging from improved cognitive functioning (Wells, 2000) to the development of important academic skills (Miller, 2007). Perhaps more significant though are the positive outcomes among nature, health, and wellbeing (e.g., Taylor & Kuo, 2009), along with the cultivation of environmental appreciation, empathy, and stewardship (e.g., Ewert et al., 2005). Many nature-based early years programs have been developed and adopted around the world, placing emphasis on fostering children’s experiences, interactions, and connections with the natural world. As this global early years phenomenon continues to build momentum, the need to investigate how children are experiencing these nature-based early years programs becomes more pertinent. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of four children’s experiences at a nature-based early years program located in a small town on the outskirts of an Eastern Ontario urban centre. Data were collected using qualitative methodology (observations, photographs, semi-structured interviews, and photo elicitation) and took place over a five-week period in the winter term. Data were analyzed using conventional qualitative means, through open coding and identifying categories and overarching themes (McMillan & Schumacher, 2010). Using Place-Based Education as the theoretical guide, data were explored using three main themes: lived experience; connections to place and to community; and learning, growth, and development. The findings from this research not only illuminate the children’s experiences at a nature-based early years program, but also provide the fertile ground upon which further examination and discussion can grow—an examination and discussion of the significance of nature-based learning as it relates to contemporary education. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-30 10:33:49.614

The purpose of this research study was to explore how the significance of place serves as a part of Indigenous—specifically Diné (Navajo)—education cultural responsiveness in the art classroom. Further, objectives of the study included learning how North American art teacher educators can more effectively weave Indigenous understandings of place into pre-service art teacher education to benefit Indigenous learners' needs. I employed a qualitative approach to this study using multiple methodologies: ethnography, phenomenology, an Indigenous research methodology, and arts-based research. Through personal interviews with six participants—two Diné artists, two art teacher educators, and two unfamiliar art teachers new to reservation-serving schools—I sought to locate culturally situated perspectives and values. The goal of the interviews was to gather ideas about the significance of place, about relationships between place and art, and about art teacher preparation for teaching in Diné-serving schools. The design of the study also included new unfamiliar non-Diné art teacher preconceptions and in-situ learning experiences of teaching on the reservation. Beyond the participant interviews, I engaged an arts-based exploration of my experiences with Diné people as an outsider/insider member of the Diné community. The artwork I created also helped weave together data from participant interviews. Findings from the Diné artist participants suggested that places hold significance in Diné culture, art making, and the display or use of art. According to Diné epistemological perspective, place is more than just a physical location, and different from some mainstream ideas about place. For Diné interviewees, place is a container of aspects of life such as energies, nature, spirits, people, and a multitude of other significances, some tangible and some intangible. Findings from interviews with art teacher educators of other Indigenous groups also indicated that place is significant to many Native American peoples, and the idea of that significance is difficult to transmit to Euro-American pre-service teachers. Interviews also indicate that focusing teaching education on social justice theories and employing Native American art and artists can assist in the preparation of pre-service art teachers to teach in reservation or pueblo communities. However, there are deeply rooted cultural concepts that come into play once the new teacher reaches her/his teaching assignment community. Lastly, findings revealed that new unfamiliar art teachers experience a number of obstacles upon entering Diné communities when their prior understandings about the place is limited. Challenges include understanding acceptable cultural observances, student proclivities, and art making practices. Understanding significance of place, stereotyping concerns, and positionality challenges are among the themes that arose as a result of cross-participant analyses. The implications of this research study advocate for: a) building further knowledge about educating pre-service teachers about cultural relevance, stereotyping, and positionality in Native American-serving art classrooms; b) the need for continued cultural learning and mentoring in-situ; and c) the need for unfamiliar art teachers to develop culturally relevant teaching practices with the help of people in the community.