Botanic gardens, as outdoor education settings, combine educating about the interdependence of people and plants, and the importance of protecting their habitats so that people’s willingness to protect the environment is enhanced. This research has been conducted within a renewed interest in the educational significance of learning beyond the classroom in the UK, and considers that botanic gardens – school collaborations have the potential to overcome barriers to the provision of outdoor education. Additionally, such collaborations offer appropriate grounds to investigate the relationship of school-based and outdoor learning. This research looks for the factors that militate in favour of successful collaborations between botanic gardens and schools, and explores how such collaborations shape pupils’ environmental learning experiences in the school and in the gardens. My research entails an ethnographic multi case study of collaborations between Wakehurst Place and three local primary schools. I conducted my fieldwork during the school year 2006-2007, and my research techniques included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, informal talks, keeping fieldnotes, and collecting documents and artifacts. Data were analysed using thematic analysis techniques. My research shows that the history of collaboration between the gardens and local schools, the organisations’ interdependency, and the development of professional relationships between the individuals involved, are the overarching factors that contribute to the success of collaborations. In addition, acknowledging that experience can be conceptualised in different ways, this research has shown that successful botanic gardens – school collaborations can result in pupils’ linking their environmental learning experiences across settings. Arguing that pupils merge the learning they acquire from different sources into a whole unit, and taking into account that individual behaviours are influenced by a variety of factors, it is suggested teachers and educators need to focus on encouraging pupils’ critical thinking on environmental issues through environmental learning experiences in the gardens and at school.

Museum techniques of presentation are reviewed for the possibility of use in contemporary botanic gardens. Supporting evidence suggests that these techniques are being successfully applied in some botanic gardens around the world. Institutions that have adopted museum techniques have been found to operate efficiently, whilst providing increased levels of enjoyment and education for visitors. Cultural differences between various countries have small influences on the most effective presentation techniques used, but further local research is required to uncover visitor preferences and use patterns in Australian botanic gardens. General principles of design that work well in the indoor environments of international musuems apply well in the outdoor environments of botanic gardens. Therefore greater use should be made of existing international museum research into visitor patterns of behaviour where it is locally appropriate.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-129). Also available via the World Wide Web.

This thesis forms a contribution to the historical geography of botanical knowledge. It examines the writings, teaching and public engagement in botany of John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), Regius Professor of Botany and Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) between 1845 and 1879. The thesis explores the methods and approaches used by Balfour to promote botany. It pays specific attention to his scientific correspondence, publications, teaching and pedagogical practices (including fieldwork) and to his role in promoting the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. The curriculum Balfour constructed covered the major aspects of nineteenth-century botanical knowledge: plant structure, morphology and classification as well as aspects then 'on the fringes' of becoming popular - plant physiology. In order to teach this curriculum, Balfour meticulously shaped scientific, pedagogic and social spaces into places of scientific production and discovery. Study of his published work, classroom, field sites and involvement with the public sphere together form the principal elements of this thesis. These are the central places and productive sites in which his botany was made. Balfour's published work allowed him to develop theoretical aspects in his view of botany. For Balfour, writing was an occupation about which he cared deeply both in terms of its role in knowledge circulation but also from a personal perspective. His publication of texts suitable for several distinct audiences (while financially rewarding,) was also an excellent method of circulating botanical and religious knowledge, two topics he was passionate to promote. The classroom provided the setting for Balfour to teach through practical instruction. He employed sensory stimulating objects in order to encourage students to learn the skill of botanical identification and observation. The 'field', like the classroom, was also a site of practical instruction. Balfour's construction of 'the field' was careful and deliberate. It was based on familiarity of location, experience of working in the field, and an extensive knowledge of the geographical distribution of plants in Scotland. Balfour's engagement with the public was evident in his involvement with the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (BSE), and by lectures delivered to groups with the object of moral improvement through botany. The thesis situates Balfour's work within recent literature on the historical geography of scientific knowledge, with particular attention to the importance of place and the sites of science's making. In this way, Balfour's work is illustrative of wider elements of the situated production, and variable dissemination, of scientific (botanical) knowledge.

Existing research on the foraging ecology and breeding biology of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) and great tits(Parus major) has mainly concentrated on populations in woodland. However increasing urbanisation means much of the suitable tit habitat is represented by fragmented areas, not large woodlands, and little is known about factors that may affect reproductive success in urban environments. Using General and Generalised Linear Models this study compared reproductive performance in four habitat types with differing levels of habitat modification: the Cambridge University Botanic Garden (CUBG) with an abundance of non-native vegetation and structural fragmentation, two marginal sites with native scrubby vegetation and structural fragmentation and small fragments and large fragments of native woodland. Compositional analysis was used in a study focused on how foraging blue tits used the heterogeneous habitat of the CUBG. Additionally frequency tests were used to compare foraging preferences and foraging behaviours of both species in the CUBG. Productivity was poor in the CUBG compared to all of the other habitats, with great tits appearing to do worse than blue tits, rearing lower quality chicks (significantly lower mean mass than in other habitats). Within the CUBG, positive relationships were found between the abundance of native trees and shrubs and breeding success for both blue tits and great tits. A positive relationship was found between breeding success in blue tits and the abundance of Quercus and Betula. However, habitat and year interactions showed that habitat and reproductive relationships were complicated by annual variation. The two species differed in their foraging preferences in the CUBG; blue tits were observed feeding in native deciduous trees significantly more than in non-native species and had a preference for birch trees over other taxa. Great tits however showed no strong preferences for any of the habitat types. With regards to foraging behaviours, great tits used a wider range of foraging heights and different foraging locations and capture techniques than blue tits. Blue tits were observed‘hanging’ from twigs more frequently, and appeared to be more effective at foraging in the wider variety of plants available in the heterogeneous vegetation of the garden. The data presented in this thesis suggest that blue tits have adopted a better foraging strategy by preferentially choosing native deciduous trees over the abundance of non-natives available in the CUBG. However, despite the apparent better foraging strategy of blue tits, reproductive performance of both species is poor in this urban garden compared to marginal sites and woodland. Urbanisation and the associated loss of optimal tit habitat are likely to continue. It is therefore important to offset urbanisation by the addition of appropriate foraging habitats that are likely to improve reproductive success, such as native trees and shrubs.

Os jardins botânicos são tipos muito peculiares de museus, principalmente porque apresentam exposições em que os elementos são vivos e, em sua maioria, imóveis. Destaca-se dentre as diversas funções definidas para esse tipo de instituição, a função educativa, em uma perspectiva da valorização crescente da Educação Não Formal. Em uma perspectiva qualitativa de pesquisa em educação, este trabalho analisou as ações educativas oferecidas para o público geral e escolar promovidas pelo Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, buscando compreender como estas ações vem sendo desenvolvidas, gerando, assim conhecimento para a reflexão sobre o papel educativo desses espaços. Como parte do processo foi delineada a trajetória histórica dos jardins botânicos em paralelo a dos museus, enfatizando a evolução do papel educativo do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Este delineamento mostrou um aumento na importância do papel educativo nestas instituições. No que concerne o Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, nota-se que as relações estabelecidas a principio com o público estavam mais centradas no lazer, a trajetória desta instituição aponta mudanças nestas relações, com paulatina ampliação da função educativa. Salienta-se na historia recente do Jardim as mudanças estruturais, políticas e sociais que levaram a criação de setores exclusivos para atender o público visitante. No sentido de ampliar a compreensão da função social da instituição, faz-se necessário entender quais as concepções e objetivos norteadores das ações educativas desenvolvidas para o público e como são avaliadas e reestruturadas tais ações. Para fundamentação das análises propostas foram criadas categorias baseadas em referenciais oriundos da educação em museus, da comunicação pública da ciência e das tendências pedagógicas em ciências. Em termos gerais, constatou-se que as ações educativas desenvolvidas para o público geral que visita o Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro inserem-se em uma perspectiva mais informacional. Já as ações para o público escolar apontam para maior presença de elementos dialógicos. Nota-se contudo, que as categorias não são totalmente excludentes, isto é, elementos de mais de uma categoria podem caracterizar as ações. Ao que tudo indica esta mescla de características informacionais e dialógicas podem conviver nas ações, sem que estas sejam melhores ou piores do ponto de vista da apropriação pelo público, da mesma forma que os modelos de comunicação convivem atualmente e elementos e práticas das diferentes tendências pedagógicas também. Ressalta-se que para além de mapear as ações e caracterizá-las, este estudo pode auxiliar a instituição a ampliar a compreensão destas ações no sentido de adequá-las aos seus objetivos e intenções. Em um contexto mais amplo, esta pesquisa contribui também para a reflexão critica da função social do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, na medida em que dá subsídios sobre a imagem educativa e comunicativa que esta sendo passada para seu público. Ademais este estudo também traz evidencias de que as relações com os visitantes têm se tornado cada vez mais importantes para a instituição, legitimando-a perante a sociedade e assumindo assim, importante papel social. Por fim, os resultados deste trabalho reforçam a importância das avaliações e pesquisas sobre as ações educativas desenvolvidas por espaços como jardins botânicos, zoológicos, museus e centros de ciência, no sentido da ampliação da divulgação científica e da efetiva participação do público nas questões relacionadas com a ciência e o ambiente. / Botanical gardens are particular types of museums, especially because they exhibit living elements, most of them static. Among the functions of this type of institution, the educational one is particularly relevant within a growing valorization of informal education. In a qualitative research perspective, this study analyses the educational actions addressed to spontaneous and scholarship publics by the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. We aimed to understand how these actions are being developed, creating knowledge for further thought about the educational role of these institutions. Within this perspective, we compared the historical development of botanical gardens with the one of museums, highlighting the growth of the education role in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. This analysis showed an increased importance of the education role in these institutions. For the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, the initial relationships with the public were essentially based on the recreational function, but were then progressively changed, with the expansion of the educational function. In the recent history of the Botanical Garden we observed structural, political and social changes which resulted in the creation of public visiting sectors. To understand the social function of the institution, it is necessary to understand which are the fundamental concepts and aims of these public educational actions, and how were these actions evaluated and adapted. To support the proposed analyses, we created categories based on referential concepts from museum education, public communication of science, and also from pedagogical trends in science teaching. We observed that the educational actions developed for the large audience which visit the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden were usually developed within an information focused perspective. On the other hand, actions for scholarship publics presented more clearly dialogical elements. However, these categories do not obligatory exclude each other, once elements from more than one category may characterize each action. Apparently this mixture of dialogical and information focused characteristics may coexist, without being better or worst for the public assimilation. This is similar to the present coexistence of different communication models, as well as of different educational elements and practices. Beyond the identification and characterization of different educational actions, this study allowed the institution to better understand their actions, and thus to adapt them to their maim objectives and intentions. In a wider perspective, this research contributed also for a critical thought about the social function of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, once it provides information about how the public perceive the educational and communication role of the Botanical Garden. Furthermor this study also showed that the relationships with visitors are becoming increasingly important for the institution, reinforcing the significant social role of the institution. Finally, our results emphasize the important role of this kind of evaluation and research about the educational actions developed in spaces such as botanical gardens, zoos, museums, and science centers, once they promote science communication, and allow an effective public participation in environmental and scientific issues.

Os jardins botânicos são tipos muito peculiares de museus, principalmente porque apresentam exposições em que os elementos são vivos e, em sua maioria, imóveis. Destaca-se dentre as diversas funções definidas para esse tipo de instituição, a função educativa, em uma perspectiva da valorização crescente da Educação Não Formal. Em uma perspectiva qualitativa de pesquisa em educação, este trabalho analisou as ações educativas oferecidas para o público geral e escolar promovidas pelo Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, buscando compreender como estas ações vem sendo desenvolvidas, gerando, assim conhecimento para a reflexão sobre o papel educativo desses espaços. Como parte do processo foi delineada a trajetória histórica dos jardins botânicos em paralelo a dos museus, enfatizando a evolução do papel educativo do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Este delineamento mostrou um aumento na importância do papel educativo nestas instituições. No que concerne o Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, nota-se que as relações estabelecidas a principio com o público estavam mais centradas no lazer, a trajetória desta instituição aponta mudanças nestas relações, com paulatina ampliação da função educativa. Salienta-se na historia recente do Jardim as mudanças estruturais, políticas e sociais que levaram a criação de setores exclusivos para atender o público visitante. No sentido de ampliar a compreensão da função social da instituição, faz-se necessário entender quais as concepções e objetivos norteadores das ações educativas desenvolvidas para o público e como são avaliadas e reestruturadas tais ações. Para fundamentação das análises propostas foram criadas categorias baseadas em referenciais oriundos da educação em museus, da comunicação pública da ciência e das tendências pedagógicas em ciências. Em termos gerais, constatou-se que as ações educativas desenvolvidas para o público geral que visita o Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro inserem-se em uma perspectiva mais informacional. Já as ações para o público escolar apontam para maior presença de elementos dialógicos. Nota-se contudo, que as categorias não são totalmente excludentes, isto é, elementos de mais de uma categoria podem caracterizar as ações. Ao que tudo indica esta mescla de características informacionais e dialógicas podem conviver nas ações, sem que estas sejam melhores ou piores do ponto de vista da apropriação pelo público, da mesma forma que os modelos de comunicação convivem atualmente e elementos e práticas das diferentes tendências pedagógicas também. Ressalta-se que para além de mapear as ações e caracterizá-las, este estudo pode auxiliar a instituição a ampliar a compreensão destas ações no sentido de adequá-las aos seus objetivos e intenções. Em um contexto mais amplo, esta pesquisa contribui também para a reflexão critica da função social do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, na medida em que dá subsídios sobre a imagem educativa e comunicativa que esta sendo passada para seu público. Ademais este estudo também traz evidencias de que as relações com os visitantes têm se tornado cada vez mais importantes para a instituição, legitimando-a perante a sociedade e assumindo assim, importante papel social. Por fim, os resultados deste trabalho reforçam a importância das avaliações e pesquisas sobre as ações educativas desenvolvidas por espaços como jardins botânicos, zoológicos, museus e centros de ciência, no sentido da ampliação da divulgação científica e da efetiva participação do público nas questões relacionadas com a ciência e o ambiente. / Botanical gardens are particular types of museums, especially because they exhibit living elements, most of them static. Among the functions of this type of institution, the educational one is particularly relevant within a growing valorization of informal education. In a qualitative research perspective, this study analyses the educational actions addressed to spontaneous and scholarship publics by the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. We aimed to understand how these actions are being developed, creating knowledge for further thought about the educational role of these institutions. Within this perspective, we compared the historical development of botanical gardens with the one of museums, highlighting the growth of the education role in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. This analysis showed an increased importance of the education role in these institutions. For the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, the initial relationships with the public were essentially based on the recreational function, but were then progressively changed, with the expansion of the educational function. In the recent history of the Botanical Garden we observed structural, political and social changes which resulted in the creation of public visiting sectors. To understand the social function of the institution, it is necessary to understand which are the fundamental concepts and aims of these public educational actions, and how were these actions evaluated and adapted. To support the proposed analyses, we created categories based on referential concepts from museum education, public communication of science, and also from pedagogical trends in science teaching. We observed that the educational actions developed for the large audience which visit the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden were usually developed within an information focused perspective. On the other hand, actions for scholarship publics presented more clearly dialogical elements. However, these categories do not obligatory exclude each other, once elements from more than one category may characterize each action. Apparently this mixture of dialogical and information focused characteristics may coexist, without being better or worst for the public assimilation. This is similar to the present coexistence of different communication models, as well as of different educational elements and practices. Beyond the identification and characterization of different educational actions, this study allowed the institution to better understand their actions, and thus to adapt them to their maim objectives and intentions. In a wider perspective, this research contributed also for a critical thought about the social function of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, once it provides information about how the public perceive the educational and communication role of the Botanical Garden. Furthermor this study also showed that the relationships with visitors are becoming increasingly important for the institution, reinforcing the significant social role of the institution. Finally, our results emphasize the important role of this kind of evaluation and research about the educational actions developed in spaces such as botanical gardens, zoos, museums, and science centers, once they promote science communication, and allow an effective public participation in environmental and scientific issues.

There is little research on the young child's experience of the natural environment. Due to the increase in urbanisation, indoor recreation and indoor schooling many young children have become isolated from the natural environment. A love for nature and a sense of wonder in nature is being lost in the hurried childhood. This loss of access to nature impacts on the child's health and wellbeing, sense of connection and environmental literacy. This research study explores how Melbourne preschool children experience and use nature through the environments provided to them in the preschool program. The main environment is naturally the preschool play yard; however, as excursions also form part of the curriculum, the child's visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden forms part of this experience. Six case studies of Melburnian preschool children have been developed as a means to capture and communicate the interactions of individual children. Each of the six case studies present a child or pair of children 'in the moment,' as a snap shot of ecological learning and play behaviour and are presented as six stories, which allow the child's individual character and unique experience of nature to be expressed. Issues and behaviours evident in the children's interactions are then discussed through a framework of the seven ways of interacting in nature, which emerges from the demonstrations of these children. This information was collected using research techniques in observation; structured observations using time sampling and behaviour mapping; participating in conversations with children and collecting anecdotal observations and children's artwork. The case studies provide insight into childhood interactions with the natural environment and the levels of engagement experienced by children, with nature. The six stories, alongside topical literature, form the basis for deep discussion on the observed ways of interacting with nature.

The aim of this essay is to study the historical process of the academic gardens in Uppsala. Which works in different ways in relation to the university, Uppsala university. The history of the academic garden in Uppsala is varied, with the exemplified gardens individually expressing different garden contextual ideals. From the 17th century academy gardens and Sweden's first botanical garden created by Olof Rudbeck d.ä (1630-1702), through the world-renowned botanist Carl von Linné (1707-1778) to today's version of the academic garden at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. By studying general change processes of the university, a basis is provided for understanding its built environment and gardens in the long run. The essay also aims to shed light on important components of the academic garden and how they have changed over time. The essay shows that although the academic garden varies in terms of plant material, scale and purpose, it possesses similar elements throughout history. All gardens covered in the essay possess qualities important to the general Swedish garden history and indicate a number of foreign influences.

The Douglas Summerland Collection is a fictional "monographically based history"1. In essence this research is concerned with the current debates about history recording, authenticity of the photograph, methods of history construction and how the audience digests new 'knowledge'. The narrative for this body of work is drawn from a small album of maritime photographs discovered in 2004 within the archives of the Port Chalmers Regional Maritime Museum in New Zealand. The album contains vernacular images of life onboard several sailing ships from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the DH Sterling and the William Mitchell. Through investigating the'truth' systems promoted by the photograph within the presentations of histories this research draws a link between the development of colonialism and the perception of photography. It also deliberates on how 'truth' perception is still a major part of an audience's knowledge base. 1. Anne-Marie Willis Picturing Australia: A History of Photography, Angus & Robertson Publishers, London. 1988:253