This document voices the story of siting and constructing a hidden, "squatted studio" space within a bridge superstructure over the White River in downtown Anderson, Indiana. It includes interpretations of this "build-design-build" project; a field study (CapAsia) in Sri Lanka with faculty and students from the University of Moratuwa; and the author's work alongside undergraduate design students and faculty colleagues at Anderson University, Anderson, Indiana. The project documents and extends occasions of experience that inform a pedagogy of total loss teaching. The `squatted studio' is presented as architectural form and practice congruent with a total loss approach to learning understood by these statements: there is nothing to gain by total loss teaching as there is no profit in it-waste nothing, and make useful everything at hand. The subversive transformation of materials and space by communities of learners illuminates the affects of total loss teaching. / Department of Architecture

The case study examined how three preservice teachers within a Master of Arts in Teaching program at a small, private university negotiated meaning around an educational practice--collaborative action research. Preservice teachers must negotiate multiple, and often competing, internal and external discourses as they sort out what educational practices, policies, organizational structures to accept or reject as presented in the teacher education program. This negotiation is a dynamic, contextual, unique meaning-making process that extends, redirects, dismisses, reinterprets, modifies, or confirms prior beliefs (Wenger, 1998). Korthagen's (2004) model for facilitating understanding and reflection was used to explore the process of negotiating meaning. Known as the Onion Model, it includes six levels: the environment, behavior, competencies, beliefs, identity, and mission. When alignment occurs between all levels, Korthagen explained that individuals experience wholeness, energy, and presence. In contrast, tensions can occur within a level or between levels of the Onion Model and limit the effectiveness of the preservice teacher regarding the area in question. Reflecting on the collaborative action research experience through the layers of the Korthagen's model may allow preservice teachers (and professors) to identify degrees of alignment and areas of tension as preservice teachers negotiate meaning. Once identified, areas of tension can be deconstructed and better understood; self-understanding can empower individuals to assume an active and powerful role in their professional developmental. To explore how preservice teachers negotiated their identity regarding collaborative action research, the following research questions guided the study: (1) How do preservice teachers' trajectories align with the practice of collaborative action research? (2) How do individuals negotiate meaning regarding the practice of collaborative action research? (3) How do preservice teachers frame collaborative action research in relation to their future practice? Triangulated data from interviews, observations, and document analysis was collected, analyzed, and interpreted to provide insight into preservice teachers' process of negotiating meaning around a nontraditional educational practice. Each participant traveled a unique and emotional journey through the process of collaborative action research and their personal trajectory did influence the way they negotiated the practice of collaborative action research. Findings included: (a) each participant had a dominant trait that influenced areas of alignment and misalignment between their trajectory and the practice of collaborative action research; (b) some participants exhibited visible misalignments while the misalignments of others were hidden; (c) participants relied on personal strengths to reestablish the perception of alignment as they negotiated meaning through the practice of collaborative action research; (d) the way misalignments were negotiated limited the transformational potential of the learning experience of collaborative action research; and (e) participants' expectations for their future use of the practice of collaborative action research aligned with their dominant traits.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology) - Rhodes University, 2000.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The purpose of this study was to: (a) determine the design features of the physical learning environment that support and enhance collaborative, project-based learning at the community college level; and (b) to gain an understanding of the rationale for the selection of the features. The characteristics of the physical environment investigated in the study were scale, location, functionality, relationships, and patterns. Aspects of the rationale or purpose for the selected features included: (a) important factors for consideration, (b) sequence of consideration among the factors, (c) relationship among the factors, (d) derivation of the factors, (e) design process considerations, and (f) theories used to make the recommendation. The literature review indicated a need for changing learning expectations to prepare learners for rapidly changing roles and responsibilities in work, family, and community for the 21st century. Collaborative, project-based learning was identified as a pedagogy that prepares learners for these new learning expectations by conceiving, developing, and implementing projects relevant to the learners' and the communities' needs. This active learning process teaches critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, negotiation skills, reaching consensus, using technology, and taking responsibility for one's own learning. Data were collected in three phases using a phenomenological approach to gain an understanding of the two foci areas of the study. Methods for collecting data included site visits, observations, text, interviews, and designs. Participants included architects, educators, and learners. The findings from the study included the initial identification of 44 design features of the physical learning environment that support and enhance collaborative, project-based learning at the community college level and the determination of the rationale for the selection of the features. Analysis and synthesis of the features resulted in 32 design features that were placed in the following six categories: (a) learning group size, (b) functional spaces for learning activities, (c) adjacencies, (d) furnishings, (e) psychological and physiological support of the learners, and (f) structural aspects. The essence of designing physical environments that support and encourage collaborative, project-based learning is the interrelationship among the categories and features within the categories. / Graduation date: 2002

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2007. / Title from title screen viewed (9/22/2008). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-108).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-145). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-112).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-90).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of South Florida, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 341-354).