This dissertation examines childhood, education, and designed environments as interrelated concerns. It explores the ways in which, in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Europe, gardens and architecture were understood as important instruments in pedagogical theory and practice, often being deployed as primary instruments in the education of young children. In order to establish the primacy of these spaces in the pedagogical imagination of this period, the study interrogates texts and images produced in France and Germany between 1761 and 1850. The analysis develops through a series of case studies that are connected historically, beginning with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse (1761) and Émile, ou de l’éducation (1762), two works that established some of the issues and concerns that were later adopted by progressive educators in Germany. The study then turns to the work of Johann Bernhard Basedow, Christian Heinrich Wolke, and other German pedagogues associated with the Philanthropinum, an experimental school founded in Dessau in 1774. A discussion of the historical context brings to light their reinvention of the garden as a space for physical training; their use of pictures, architectural models, and scientific instruments in the development of the child’s powers of observation; and their activation of architecture as a cognitive filter for the perception of the world. The study concludes with a discussion of a paradigmatic garden for early childhood education, Friedrich Froebel’s Kindergarten, as it was theoretically formulated and visually represented in 1850. Rather than investigating actual gardens or spaces, the research concentrates on the ways in which these settings were imagined, described, and represented in pedagogical texts. The methodology through which these narratives and representations are approached deliberately aims to bring into focus an understudied aspect of the material culture of childhood by expanding the context of analysis of distinct disciplinary histories. By bringing together various field-specific studies—the intellectual history of modern Europe and the histories of landscape, of education, and of childhood—this dissertation uncovers the ways in which educators in this period conceived of the performative power of space.

Garden Work argues that American literature's sense of form developed as part of an ongoing theoretical conversation with the field of garden design. Of particular significance to American writers was a horticultural dispute that took on a renewed sense of urgency in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: that between the garden naturalists, who crafted gardens to look like un-designed natural spaces, and the garden formalists, who crafted gardens that visually distinguish between human and wilderness sites. This dissertation identifies a literary cohort within this horticentric period--Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sarah Orne Jewett, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather--who enter into the naturalism/formalism debates via their garden journals, environmental reforms, manifestoes, and the design of their own yards and gardens. Though initially attracted to garden design for different reasons, these authors all become increasingly skeptical of the ideological assumptions behind garden naturalism and increasingly fascinated by old-fashioned traditions of formal gardening, such as Italian, French, and Colonial Revival gardens. Garden Work reveals both the impact that garden design has on America's literary history and the theoretical contributions that literature can make to garden design. On the one hand, the authors I study integrate their garden work into the narrative fabric of their most canonical texts, often at those moments when they are most self-reflective about what it means to produce formally innovative fiction that is nevertheless rooted in natural American landscapes. For these writers, garden formalism becomes central to their ability to imagine American literature in the wake of the American Renaissance. On the other hand, these authors are enabled by their expertise in the medium of prose fiction to identify new theoretical problems within and features of garden design. Specifically, their ability to articulate garden theory not in terms of a conflict between art and nature but rather as a dynamic relationship between form and content, a relationship they encounter repeatedly in their literary work, permits these authors to analyze in innovative ways the social, environmental, and aesthetic consequences of garden design. Ultimately, Garden Work uncovers the interwoven nature of America's garden history and its literary history.

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The procerebrum of terrestrial molluscs is an important processing centre for olfaction. While the physiology of the procerebrum is relatively well characterized, the procerebrum's structure and organization has not been previously investigated in detail. The goal of this thesis is to better characterize the structural organization of the procerebrum and to understand how it compares with other olfactory systems. / The morphology of the procerebral neurons in the snail Helix aspersa was investigated through intracellular injections of biocytin. The population of cells is heterogeneous, but no formal categorization of neuronal types was possible. The main difference among cells lies in the placement of the cells' neurites. Furthermore, contradicting previous results, certain neurons were found to have neurite projections outside the procerebrum, travelling as far as the contralateral cerebral ganglion. / To investigate if differences in sites of arborization represent functional differences, the distribution of synaptic contacts on labelled cells was studied using serial sections and electron microscopy. Neurons with different sites of arborization have distinct patterns of synapse distribution. Cells with arborizations in the procerebrum but not in the internal mass have large varicosities specialized for output. Cells that arborize in the internal mass or outside the procerebrum have mostly input synapses proximal to the soma and mostly output synapses in the terminal region of the neurites. These latter cells appear to transmit information from the procerebral cell body mass to other brain regions. The implications of these data are, firstly, that the procerebrum directly distributes processed information throughout the nervous system. Secondly, the procerebral neuron population may be divisible into two subgroups: intrinsically arborizing interneurons and projection neurons. / These results suggest a novel mechanism by which compartmentalization could be achieved in the procerebrum. Compartmentalization is believed to be important for processing olfactory information, is present in most olfactory centres but has not previously been described in the molluscan olfactory system. I propose that varicosities on the local interneurons generate foci of activity in the procerebrum which, in turn, activate specific subsets of output neurons, similar to what happens in other olfactory systems.

The morphology of C3, a motoneuron mediating the tentacle withdrawal reflex, was investigated in the snail Helix aspersa by intracellular injections of the tracers Neurobiotin and biocytin. Axonal projections were identified in the optic nerve, the olfactory nerve, the internal peritentacular nerve, the external peritentacular nerve, the cerebral-pedal connective and the cerebral commissure. A rare characteristic of the cell was the multibranching of axons in the neuropil and the exiting of this bundle of fibres into the cerebral-pedal connective. Dendritic arborizations were observed branching from the cell body, the axon hillock and the dorsal main axon. In addition, tufts of dendrites were seen to branch from the ventral axon. Based on its morphology, C3 is probably a central component in the avoidance behaviour, receiving sensory input at extensive dendritic sites and sending axons to a number of key effector sites to co-ordinate the chain of reactions that constitutes the snail's avoidance behaviour.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the possible design of a horticultural therapy program in Swedish correctional treatment facilities. In the USA the use of horticultural therapy in offender rehabilitation is much more frequent compared with Sweden. The aim of these programs typically contains education for inmates. Research has been made indicating that these programs can have positive effects on psychosocial behavior and on vulnerability to substance abuse among incarcerated offenders. In this study the examples of these programs was categorized and analyzed from three perspectives; Vocational, social and therapeutic horticultural programs. This information, combined with knowledge on the Swedish correctional treatment system, their clients, and information on therapeutic horticulture used in the rehabilitation garden at Alnarp in Sweden, was the information used when discussing a possible design of a horticultural therapy program in Swedish prisons and jails. The gathered information resulted in a hypothetical theory concluding that instead of having separate activities for work, education and substance abuse treatment, horticultural therapy can combine these three components and meet many of the needs that inmates have.

This study of literature from the period 1920-1955 has shown that the profession of gardeners in Sweden went through several structural changes in the early and midst 20th century. The gardeners knowledge, which used to cover the whole horticultural spectra, was due to that no longer appreciated or useful. Prior the 1920’s the gardeners, especially the skilled craftsmen working for the upper-classes, were the ones who led progression in the horticultural field forward and their qualifications were many and diverse. Due to many factors, such as low economic and social status, functionalistic style and the fact that the branch were rationalized and modernized in general, lead up to a point where the gardener of old no longer fitted in, in the much more globalized and modern world of the 1950’s.

Community gardens have been shown to have positive social, nutritional and educational benefits for their users, and improve the amenity, safety and patronage of the surrounding area. They also tie into wider themes of sustainability and food security. Despite these benefits, urban planners, as the keepers of land and determiners of land use, have had little to do with community gardens. This thesis will explain the benefits of community gardens, and detail planning policies throughout the world that support community gardens. Lastly, recommendations will be made on how the South Australian planning system can better support community gardens. / Honours Thesis

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.