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Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / Children are imaginative, creative, and active. Children of all age groups are influenced by their surroundings, particularly school-aged children (Frost, 2010). School-aged children’s physical, emotional, social, and intellectual developmental characteristics are influenced by their surrounding environments. Today, uniform playgrounds are diminishing the opportunities for youth to develop their personal creativity and imagination through play (Thompson 2007, Solomon 2005). By integrating art into playgrounds, these environments will offer children greater opportunity for developmental enrichment through their interactions with the site. Researched cases of art and play have inspired the development of a typology. The typology is a collection of quintessential ways that settings for play can be visually and experientially enriched by art. This process began with three critical questions; 1) What constitutes a playground? 2) What is art? and 3) How can art be integrated into playgrounds? More than 30 precedents that demonstrate art in a play setting were examined. Noting differences and similarities between the precedents, 12 types were identified. Next, analysis matrices identifying primary and, if applicable, secondary placement of each of the precedents in the 12 developed types, including sub-types, giving art in playgrounds a place. Also classified was type of art, high or vernacular, for each precedent. The research methodology was an iterative process of literature and precedent research followed by the distillation of types, further research, and refinement of the typology framework.

A presente dissertação é resultado do estudo acerca da produção da imagem pública dos parques infantis ribeirão-pretanos durante as décadas de 1950 e 1960, tendo como fonte de pesquisa a memória oficial para, deste modo, compreender e (re)construir o passado dos parques da cidade. Os parques infantis começaram a ser implantados em Ribeirão Preto em 1951 sob o discurso modernizante das autoridades políticas locais quanto a proporcionar, às crianças da cidade, recreação, atenção à saúde com atendimento médico e odontológico, cuidados higiênicos e, sobretudo, educação física. Esses locais permaneceram ativos até 1980, quando passaram de parques infantis a Escolas Básicas de 1º Grau. Com isso, os parques tiveram de se adaptar para escolas com classes de recreação infantil, pré-alfabetização e classes de 1º grau, e todo trabalho diferenciado e exaltado que era oferecido naqueles locais, principalmente as atividades lúdicas e a recreação, diminuiu ou deixou de existir. A partir das fontes históricas obtidas no Arquivo Público e Histórico de Ribeirão Preto (fotografias, álbuns, matérias de jornal, relatórios e almanaques), pode-se notar o quanto a imagem pública construída pelas diferentes administrações de Ribeirão Preto impregnou e contribuiu para a construção de uma memória dos parques infantis da cidade. / This dissertation is the result of research on the public image production of Playgrounds in Ribeirão Preto during the 1950s and 1960s. As research source, the official memory was used to understand and (re) build the past of the Playgrounds in the city. Playgrounds began to be deployed in Ribeirão Preto in 1951 under the modernizing discourse of the local political authorities as to provide, to children of the city, recreation, health care (medical and dental), hygienic care and, above all, physical education. These places remained active until 1980, when they changed from Playgrounds to Elementary Schools. With this, the parks had to adapt to schools with children\'s recreation classes, pre-literacy and 1st grade classes, and all differentiated and exalted work which was offered in those places. Specially the recreational activities decreased or no longer existed. As of historical sources obtained within the Public and Historical Archives from Ribeirão Preto (photos, albums, newspaper articles, reports and almanacs), one can notice how the public image built by the different administrations of Ribeirão Preto impregnated and helped to build a memory of the Playgrounds in the city.

A presente dissertação é resultado do estudo acerca da produção da imagem pública dos parques infantis ribeirão-pretanos durante as décadas de 1950 e 1960, tendo como fonte de pesquisa a memória oficial para, deste modo, compreender e (re)construir o passado dos parques da cidade. Os parques infantis começaram a ser implantados em Ribeirão Preto em 1951 sob o discurso modernizante das autoridades políticas locais quanto a proporcionar, às crianças da cidade, recreação, atenção à saúde com atendimento médico e odontológico, cuidados higiênicos e, sobretudo, educação física. Esses locais permaneceram ativos até 1980, quando passaram de parques infantis a Escolas Básicas de 1º Grau. Com isso, os parques tiveram de se adaptar para escolas com classes de recreação infantil, pré-alfabetização e classes de 1º grau, e todo trabalho diferenciado e exaltado que era oferecido naqueles locais, principalmente as atividades lúdicas e a recreação, diminuiu ou deixou de existir. A partir das fontes históricas obtidas no Arquivo Público e Histórico de Ribeirão Preto (fotografias, álbuns, matérias de jornal, relatórios e almanaques), pode-se notar o quanto a imagem pública construída pelas diferentes administrações de Ribeirão Preto impregnou e contribuiu para a construção de uma memória dos parques infantis da cidade. / This dissertation is the result of research on the public image production of Playgrounds in Ribeirão Preto during the 1950s and 1960s. As research source, the official memory was used to understand and (re) build the past of the Playgrounds in the city. Playgrounds began to be deployed in Ribeirão Preto in 1951 under the modernizing discourse of the local political authorities as to provide, to children of the city, recreation, health care (medical and dental), hygienic care and, above all, physical education. These places remained active until 1980, when they changed from Playgrounds to Elementary Schools. With this, the parks had to adapt to schools with children\'s recreation classes, pre-literacy and 1st grade classes, and all differentiated and exalted work which was offered in those places. Specially the recreational activities decreased or no longer existed. As of historical sources obtained within the Public and Historical Archives from Ribeirão Preto (photos, albums, newspaper articles, reports and almanacs), one can notice how the public image built by the different administrations of Ribeirão Preto impregnated and helped to build a memory of the Playgrounds in the city.

The primary intent of this thesis is to demonstrate how the schoolyard, through physical diversification focusing on a three-fold paradigmatic framework, can become a significant educational environment able to support the physical, cognitive and developmental skills in children. Research is used as a tool to inform and support the designs. Discussed in the first two sections are the history and evolution of school grounds, play and the environment, the effects of place-identity on self-identity, as well as the power of place in pedagogy. The design framework is supported by precedent studies, intending to reflect the design principles, programs, ideas and values of the ecological, curriculum-based and narrative landscape design layers. The final master plan design is an amalgamation of these three layers, representing an educational setting that will foster a dynamic interchange between children and their milieu.

The purpose of the creative project was to complete a Design Standards Manual consisting of guidelines and standards to aid Park Planners in completing the site design process (the site design plan and construction drawings). The project consists of chapters pertaining to playground, outdoor athletic facility, parking lot and park road, plant material, trails-paths, and signage design.The project was tested through a case study involving Ball State University landscape architect students redeveloping twelve school sites for the City of Anderson School Corporation. The test was to determine if an organized, technical manual would ease decision making in the site design process, make plans consistantly workable, and not limit the Planners originality and creativity. The case study was summarized, evaluated, and the project's usefulness and limitations were concluded. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The mission of this creative project was to naturalize a school site for the purposes of environmental education. The naturalization process can either take the form of landscape/ecosystem restoration or natural landscaping. Utilizing the Ladysmith Elementary School as a case study, this creative project dealt with both forms of the naturalization process. The entire school site was natural landscaped and a portion of the school grounds was devoted to the restoration of a forest and wetland ecosystem. This area where ecosystems are to be recreated will serve as an environmental learning laboratory for the school.The topics reviewed for this project ecology, naturalization, landscape restoration, environmental education, outdoor education, and ecosystems. The product of this creative project was a master plan which included site inventory and analysis. / Department of Landscape Architecture

I conducted the research reported in this portfolio at the large western suburbs primary school of which I am the principal. My interest in the sense children make of their everyday school experiences results from having spent most of my life in schools, initially as a student, then as a primary school teacher and now as a school principal. My long term involvement in primary schools has led to my awareness that adults do not ask children about their perceptions of their schools. My observations have been confirmed by researchers who have shown that students' perspectives, especially those of primary school age children, have been under-researched. / In my research I focus on children's perspectives by inviting them to represent through artwork and photography the school places they like and those they want to talk about. I further explore children's understandings of the relationship between the physical places of their school and their positioning within that school by asking them to interpret their photographs. I then enable children to identify the places in their school they want to change and to action those changes. / Thesis (PhDEducation)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Thesis aim: This thesis aims to analyse and critically evaluate the Children Activity Scanning Tool (CAST), which measures children’s physical activity (PA) engagement levels in school playgrounds and similar environments, focusing on CAST reliability and validity using data from four health promotion projects in the Northern Rivers (Move it Groove it (MIGI) project), Illawarra, Central Coast and Dubbo areas in NSW, Australia.The overall research question is whether physical activity engagement levels of large numbers of children can be validly and reliably measured in school playgrounds and similar environments using CAST.Methodology: CAST was used to scan school playgrounds and similar environments, in which unstructured rest, play and other physical activities take place. Scanning was undertaken by a team of trained observers who concurrently scanned a pre-defined area of the playground and recorded the number of children engaged in assigned physical activity intensity categories.Criterion validity was measured in three projects comparing the total number of children counted in separate physical activity categories to an independent count of the number of children in the playground using Pearson correlation coefficients. Data obtained during instrument development were used to determine criterion validity in two projects when compared to videotapes using Pearson correlation, Cronbach alphas and 95% CI around mean engagement levels.Data obtained during development and training, as well as project field data were used for reliability testing. Cronbach alpha, Pearson correlation, factor analysis and 95% CI around mean engagement levels were used to measure inter-rater reliability.Data from multi-level regression models obtained in three projects were used to calculate intra class correlation (ICC) and composite reliabilities of scan and break level physical activity engagement.Results: Criterion validity measures comparing sums of categories counts to independent counts of all children yielded Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.97, 0.81 and 0.96 in the Illawarra, Central Coast and Dubbo projects respectively. Criterion validity measures comparing field and video scores yielded Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.47, 0.52 and 0.56 respectively in the Move it Groove it (MIGI) project, and in the Illawarra study Cronbach alphas of 0.98 and 0.85, and a Pearson correlation of 0.93. There were no significant differences between the mean numbers of children who were engaged in a physical activity level when 95% CI were used except for one category in the MIGI study.Inter-rater reliability estimates in all projects were high or very high. There were no significant differences between the mean numbers of children engaged in a physical activity level when 95% CI were used. Almost 86% (12/14) of the standardised Cronbach alpha estimates were equal to or greater than 0.93. Principal component analysis values ranged from 76%-98%. ICCs obtained from field data yielded composite reliabilities of 0.77-0.94.Conclusion: It was concluded that CAST was a valid and reliable instrument to measure physical activity engagement levels of children in school playgrounds.Recommendations: The two or three categories versions CAST should be used as they produced the highest quality data when used to observe large groups in well-defined playgrounds. Further research is needed to validate other variables (eg equipment), validate a one observer CAST version, and test the feasibility of using children as observers.

Thesis aim: This thesis aims to analyse and critically evaluate the Children Activity Scanning Tool (CAST), which measures children’s physical activity (PA) engagement levels in school playgrounds and similar environments, focusing on CAST reliability and validity using data from four health promotion projects in the Northern Rivers (Move it Groove it (MIGI) project), Illawarra, Central Coast and Dubbo areas in NSW, Australia.The overall research question is whether physical activity engagement levels of large numbers of children can be validly and reliably measured in school playgrounds and similar environments using CAST.Methodology: CAST was used to scan school playgrounds and similar environments, in which unstructured rest, play and other physical activities take place. Scanning was undertaken by a team of trained observers who concurrently scanned a pre-defined area of the playground and recorded the number of children engaged in assigned physical activity intensity categories.Criterion validity was measured in three projects comparing the total number of children counted in separate physical activity categories to an independent count of the number of children in the playground using Pearson correlation coefficients. Data obtained during instrument development were used to determine criterion validity in two projects when compared to videotapes using Pearson correlation, Cronbach alphas and 95% CI around mean engagement levels.Data obtained during development and training, as well as project field data were used for reliability testing. Cronbach alpha, Pearson correlation, factor analysis and 95% CI around mean engagement levels were used to measure inter-rater reliability.Data from multi-level regression models obtained in three projects were used to calculate intra class correlation (ICC) and composite reliabilities of scan and break level physical activity engagement.Results: Criterion validity measures comparing sums of categories counts to independent counts of all children yielded Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.97, 0.81 and 0.96 in the Illawarra, Central Coast and Dubbo projects respectively. Criterion validity measures comparing field and video scores yielded Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.47, 0.52 and 0.56 respectively in the Move it Groove it (MIGI) project, and in the Illawarra study Cronbach alphas of 0.98 and 0.85, and a Pearson correlation of 0.93. There were no significant differences between the mean numbers of children who were engaged in a physical activity level when 95% CI were used except for one category in the MIGI study.Inter-rater reliability estimates in all projects were high or very high. There were no significant differences between the mean numbers of children engaged in a physical activity level when 95% CI were used. Almost 86% (12/14) of the standardised Cronbach alpha estimates were equal to or greater than 0.93. Principal component analysis values ranged from 76%-98%. ICCs obtained from field data yielded composite reliabilities of 0.77-0.94.Conclusion: It was concluded that CAST was a valid and reliable instrument to measure physical activity engagement levels of children in school playgrounds.Recommendations: The two or three categories versions CAST should be used as they produced the highest quality data when used to observe large groups in well-defined playgrounds. Further research is needed to validate other variables (eg equipment), validate a one observer CAST version, and test the feasibility of using children as observers.