No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-104). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-145).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 15, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-64).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-230).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-154)

This study investigated former students' historical imaginations and recollections emanating from a visit to an historic site as an extension of the curriculum in social studies in grade five a decade ago. Historical imagination was defined as placing children within past "actions" or experiences of history through heritage to discern for themselves the thoughts and experiences of people of the past. The following question guided this study: What was the nature of historical imagination constructed from participants' recollections through "action" and "artifact within action" based on an extended field trip to an historic site in the recent past? "Action" was defined as vigorous activity of children involved in learning through experience, such as panning for gold. "Artifact within action" referred to objects illustrative of human workmanship, such as those found in historic sites. Ten years ago, ten and eleven year old students participated in historic site ‘interpretation’ programs including a court trial, school house activities, gold panning, graveyard exploration, household chores and carpentry tasks. They explored the reconstructed townsite of Barkerville where these activities occurred. The investigation of historical imagination was not intended as an evaluation of the educational programs offered at Barkerville, nor was it intended to generalize these findings to other historical sites. The author involved young adults to construct memories of shared events from their experiences of a field trip to Barkerville. In spite of efforts to determine efficacy of education through field trips, little has been written about the stimulation of historical imagination through this process. The author’s definition of historical imagination formed the foundation for this study. In addition, the concept of shared voice or the interactive memory of former students and their teacher through conversation was developed for use through the methodology of oral history. Hermeneutics provided the interpretive instrument for constructing and understanding the narrative expressed through participants' conversation. The interview lent itself to the expression of former students' stories recollecting "action" and "artifact within action." Thematic analysis was used to interpret the conversational data. Three main themes emerged from the data: recollecting feelings, creating images and pictures and experiencing the past. Within the theme recollecting feelings, three references emerged: feelings of emotional involvement, "the actual feeling" and feeling closeness with the group. A salient conclusion of this study is that participants' historical response was evident over time, expressed as the "actual feeling" and utilized in the active construction of meaning through vivid recollections, which employed historical imagination to explain and extend historical understandings. The constructs most evident underlying historical imagination were interaction, free play, provocation, the supernatural and engagement. Furthermore, gender recollection was a significant construct and, as a result, woman's past emerged as a reference within the theme experiencing the past. / Graduate

No description available.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg 2014 / Field trips to museums have been shown to achieve important learning outcomes and promote scientific literacy. However, the success of museum visits relies, in part, in the ability of teachers to effectively mediate the museum experience. A critical analysis of the literature on teacher-led field trips has shown that they are not always conducted in optimal ways and the use of worksheets is a good illustration of this dilemma. Characteristics of effective museum worksheets are described in best-practice literature; however there is a mismatch between researcher recommendations and teacher practices. Clearly there exists a need to improve teacher practice in informal educational settings. This study sought to provide insight on the ability of a teacher to follow recommendations outlined by the literature and create a best-practice worksheet. It involved two visits to the Johannesburg Zoo, with two different groups of Grade eight learners, where they were observed and audio-recorded whilst completing one of two museum worksheets. The first worksheet was designed before the teacher was aware of best-practice recommendations. The second worksheet attempted to improve on the first using researcher recommendations. The worksheets were analysed, using a worksheet analysing instrument, which showed that both contained more factors that would hinder learning and few factors that would facilitate learning. These findings suggest that, even with knowledge of best-practice recommendations, the teacher was not able to construct a worksheet that completely facilitated free-choice learning – barriers to the process included: the context of the zoo i.e. the plethora of information boards that rendered most observation-dependent questions as text-dependent; the tendency of the teacher to take advantage of the zoo setting and therefore the use of questions with a high site specificity; an increased use of orientation cues needed to reduce the ‘novelty factor’; and the use of the worksheet as an assessment tool that, therefore, provided little choice in where and how learners applied tasks asked of them. The study also investigated insight on whether or not the worksheets promoted curriculum related conversations among a group of learners. Learner conversations were coded, focusing on both nature of discourse as well as type of discourse, and analysis showed that learners cognitively and affectively engaged with worksheet tasks. However, the nature of cognitive engagement tended to be on a superficial level, suggesting learners do not have the necessary ii skills - e.g. language, argumentation and critical analysis - to initiate and conduct exploratory discussions. In view of these findings, it was concluded that it is difficult to translate best-practice recommendations into actual field trip experiences. The agenda of the teacher as well as the ability of his or her learners strongly influence how a worksheet is conducted and the worksheet is used.

Thesis (M.A.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2009. / Vita. Reproduction permission applies to print copy: Blanket permission granted per author to reproduce. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-83).