<p>This study seeks to find the impact of theming on the willingness to pay of con- sumers for amusement parks. Guests of Finnish amusement park Särkänniemi were asked about their preference for themed attractions and about the price they were willing to pay per ride by means of a questionnaire. Variables concerning both the stated as well as the revealed preference for theming, immersive experience, and previous visits to the park were tested in relation to the willingness to pay for amusement parks. Not all these variables have shown to play an important role; however the variable concerning the revealed preference did have a very strong significance on the willingness to pay in the proposed model. In conclusion the study suggests that the willingness to pay for an attraction is positively influenced by theming because people, as it turns out, are willing to pay more for an attraction when it is themed.</p>

This essay focuses on the way in which three narrative devices expand upon three types of love depicted in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. The three narrative devices examined in this essay are narrator, paratext and the irony of the Breedlove family name. These devices all serve the purpose of conveying different types of love in Morrison’s novel and how these types of love affect the characters of the novel, especially the protagonist Pecola Breedlove. Narrator plays an important role because the narrative voice changes throughout the novel, shifting between Claudia MacTeer and a third-person omniscient narrator. This shifting perspective shows the reader how the types of love affect Pecola both through a child’s perspective and as well as through third-person narration. The Dick and Jane paratext contrasts the Breedlove family to white American ideals of familial love and happiness. Finally, the lack of familial love within the Breedlove family truly shows the irony of the Breedlove family name. The lack of love forces Pecola to internalize her self-hatred while the destructive, distant and judgmental relationship between Mrs. Breedlove and Pecola causes both characters to become delusional and dissatisfied with their sense of self. Friendship is the only place where Pecola finds love, shown to her by Claudia and Frieda; however, Pecola has already descended too far into madness for their love to help her. Although Pecola should find solace in the three types of love that are presented through the novel’s narrative devices, they all contribute to her disillusionment and, ultimately, her descent into madness.

In an attempt to rectify the issues and concerns on the impact of an international mural exchange created by the organization Let Art Talk in 2008, I traveled to Uganda to pursue a similar community based, environmentally themed art workshops and Talking Mural. This theme-based mural was created and then given to a school in Plano, Texas to complete. My role was to investigate the work being done and the potential effects of learning on participants involved and to gauge the communication and learning exchanged between the participants in two varied communities. Through the creation of a mural using case study methods, it was also to be determined if the mission and goals of the project were accomplished. This study was focused on the following question: In what ways and to what extent is the purposeful intent and meaning of the artwork made by students in Uganda--as part of a mural exchange program about environmental issues that occurs between students in Uganda and the United States--understood by the students in the United States who view and respond to this artwork? / text

Detta arbete är ett examensarbete i Informationsdesign med inriktning mot rumslig gestaltning. Arbetet har inneburit en studie om hur en förskolemiljö kan användas som ett stöd för pedagoger i deras dagliga arbete med förskoleverksamheten. Utformningen av miljön ska bidra till att fungera som ett verktyg för att underlätta pedagogernas arbetssätt. Studien har haft sin utgångspunkt vid en avdelning på förskolan Pärongården i Stockholm. Ett förslag på förändring av förskolemiljön visar hur man kan använda den rumsliga utformning som ett verktyg i den temainriktade verksamheten med barn i förskolan. Metoder såsom intervju, platsanalys, observation och avstämning har genomförts för att skapa en förståelse för pedagogernas arbete i förskolan i dagsläget. Resultatet av metoderna har visat att förskolemiljön behöver anpassas på ett bättre sätt för att kunna stödja pedagogernas temaarbete med barnen. Metodresultat, teorier och litteratur har varit ett stöd i framtagandet av ett designförslag. Ett förslag skapat utefter pedagogers behov har lett till en funktionsbaserad rumsmiljö. Detta för att utnyttja lokalytorna effektivare och för att anpassas till den dagliga verksamheten. En funktionsbaserad rumsmiljö bidrar till att fler moment i det dagliga arbetet inspirerar och underlättar till arbete med barnen. Med detta förslag har även en dokumentation- och utställningsstation skapats, där personalen kan ställa ut barnens färdiga projekt som sedan kan diskuteras och reflekteras tillsammans med föräldrar. Detta för att främja pedagogernas arbete med dokumentation till föräldrar, vilket utgör en viktig del i styrdokument för förskolor. / This work is a thesis in Information Design with a focus on spatial design. The work has involved a study on how a preschool environment can be used as a support for teachers in their work with early childhood education. The design of the environment contributes as a tool to facilitate teachers’ work. The study had its starting point in a section at the preschool Pärongården in Stockholm. A change in the preschool environment shows how to use the spatial design as a tool in daily theme activities with children in the preschool.   Methods such as interview, room analysis, observation and control check have been carried out to create an understanding of teachers' work in preschools in the current situation and an understanding of the environments importance for the theme work with children. The results of the methods have shown that preschool environment needed to be more adapted to the educators theme work with the children.   Method results, theories and literature have supported the development of a design proposal. A draft created along the educators needs have resulted in a function-based room environment. This is to utilize floor space more efficiently to primarily support educators working with thematic focus.   A function-based room environment contributes to several elements in the theme work that inspires and facilitates the work with the children. With this proposal a documentation- and exhibition station has also been created where educator can exhibit the children finished projects, which can later be discussed and reflected with parents. This is to encourage teachers’ work with documentation for parents, which are an important part of the regulatory documents for preschools.

Pupils learn in different ways. It’s up to the teachers´ to give pupils the knowledge they need to live and work in society. The teacher should be aware of the ways of children learn in the classroom and should teach accordingly. Pupils work individually but should even be offered some kind of group work regularly. In this study I chose to put focus on theme work as awork method. The questions I would like to find answers to are: How important is theme work for students´ education according to the teachers inthis study? Why do teachers in this study choose theme work as a method? The result to this study are based on observations and interviews. The observations were made on two occasions of a school class there teachers worked with the theme, moss and lichen. I observed their teaching methods to get the teacher’s opinion about theme work as a teaching method. I chose to interview three teachers at the school. All three practised theme work as a method of teaching. The result of my study shows that the most important thing for the pupils is not theme work, but practicing how to communicate, integrate and discuss. They should be able to connect what they learn at school with their everyday activities and experiences. How a teacher works or what methods are used are not important. The important thing is that the pupils should be able to put all that they learn into practice on a daily basis.

This curriculum exposes students in Visual Arts classes to the art of exhibition and prepares them to complete the artistic cycle by exhibiting their own work and others. The curriculum is presented in the form of a guide book in which the main body of lessons are geared towards high school Intro to Art classes with quick tips and activities that are adapted toward all grade levels. By learning about all aspects of exhibiting art, theme development, installation design, accessioning and preparing art, and publicity, students are given another tool with which to create a connection with artistic mediums and history. The final goal is to infuse exhibition skills into every aspect of the curriculum as a natural part of learning and talking about art.

Research suggests that there is a relationship between theory of mind and moral development in young children. However, the nature of this relationship is still unclear, specifically in regards to the relationship between theory of mind and moral theme comprehension, which has yet to be studied. The current study attempted to begin to fill this gap in the research by examining the relationship between 8 preschool children’s false belief understanding, as determined by the Sally-Anne task, and moral theme comprehension. Results were not significant, but suggest a trend that children who pass the false belief task may be more able to understand the moral themes of stories. A larger sample size and further research on this topic is necessary.

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This study examines the implementation of the theme-based curriculum in the 2003-2004 academic year to meet the goals and objectives of DBE students at METU. The research design of the study includes questionnaires and focus group interviews with former DBE students and DBE teachers. At the first stage, 231 students and 60 teachers took the questionnaire. Then, 19 students (in groups) and teachers (individually) were interviewed. The results indicated that there was a big difference between the perceptions of teachers and students and teachers were more negative about the program. Especially, pre-intermediate group teachers were quite dissatisfied with the program. Implementation and quality of the materials and lack of communication between teachers and administrators were considered as probable reasons. In terms of materials, reading was the skill most successfully developed. Moreover, students found handouts much more useful than the books. Writing seemed to be the most problematic area in the program. Finally, as a result of time limitation, teachers were perceived to be more active in class and pair/group work were considered as ineffective.

This research is a practical attempt to develop academic writing pedagogy at secondary level in New Zealand because from interviews with teachers, personal experience and literature in the professional journal for teachers of English in New Zealand, English in Aotearoa, it appears that this would be a useful enterprise. Literature relating to this, and extending to the related contexts of the UK and Australia has been reviewed. The approach taken is an investigation of top-rated senior secondary writing in subject English, using elements of Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). The concepts of SFG chiefly drawn upon, namely, Theme and linguistic metafunctions, and their application to the data are presented and explained. This grammatical model was chosen because it allows the interface of grammatical structure and linguistic function to be explored, which in turn permits insight into how the qualities of top-rated writing may be formulated grammatically. This insight may then become part of teaching resources in academic writing by way of both pre- and in-service training material for teachers. Over 100 top-rated English literature essays (graded by teachers) were collected from students, via their schools, so that the data obtained were authentic. Two samples were collected: timed and untimed writing. Each sentence of each essay was typed into one of nine Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, representing locations within the essay. The nine locations were: three introduction locations: initial sentence, medial sentences, terminal sentence; three paragraph locations (all paragraphs in the body of the essays, not introductions or conclusions): initial sentence, medial sentences, terminal sentence; and, three conclusion locations: initial sentence, medial sentences and terminal sentence. The initial grammatical elements and their metafunction(s) for each sentence were categorised. Percentages in each category for each location were calculated so that individual locations could be compared for grammatical and metafunctional characteristics. Grouped locations were also considered where this seemed felicitous; for instance, introductions were compared to conclusions or medial sentences compared to boundary sentences (initial and terminal). Comparisons were also made between the timed and untimed samples. The results showed that some grammatical structures could be associated with particular grouped locations and metafunctional characteristics were not independent of location. The research was also able to suggest grammatical means to achieve metafunctional effects that align with descriptors for writing given by examination boards. For example, clear, logical organisation of writing is highly valued by examination boards. This is achieved by means of elements that perform the textual linguistic metafunction. A variety of grammatical elements to perform this function and their most prominent locations were identified. It is intended that the findings may be a highly directed way to help teachers address some of the writing challenges faced by their students at secondary level.