Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A&M University, 2006. / "Major Subject: Career Development Education" Title from author supplied metadata (automated record created on Sep. 15, 2006.) Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MS)--University of Montana, 2009. / Contents viewed on February 11, 2010. Title from author supplied metadata. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Economics, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 148-155.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics, June 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Play is viewed as essential to learning and development in early years education and underpins curriculum guidance despite there being limited empirical evidence to support this viewpoint. Play is traditionally defined from an adult perspective which focuses on the observable act of play. However, the research in this thesis draws on children’s perspectives of play which also gives insight into playfulness, the approach or attitude taken to an activity and it is this which is thought to facilitate learning. It has been shown that children use cues to define an activity as play and three of the studies employed experimental methodology to utilise these cues and create different practice conditions for children to carry out a convergent problem solving task. Results from these studies showed that children assigned to playful practice conditions exhibited superior performance when solving a task and behaviours conducive to learning compared to children in formal practice conditions. Furthermore, the cue of adult presence was shown to be critical in facilitating improved performance and learning behaviours although this seemed dependent upon whether individual children used the cue of adult presence in making play and not play distinctions. The final study sought to identify how the cue of adult presence might develop through examining adult-child interactions in the classroom environment. In addition, practitioners were interviewed about their understandings of play and learning to see how this might affect their interactions with children. Findings from this study showed that practitioners who were confident in their understanding of play and learning were more likely to provide children with choice and control in their activities and engage with children as play partners. Overall, the findings from this research contribute to the literature in this field by providing empirical evidence for the benefits of playful practice and have implications for practice in early years settings.

This research addresses conceptual and practical issues in the field of environmental education. Environmental education is a compound and contested field in terms of both environmental and educafional ideologies. Its practice is also influenced by perspectives of context and change. Hence, the operationalisation of environmental education might be expected to vary across different ideologies and contexts. Thus, this research attempts to ore the operationalisation from theory into practice in environmental education. 'he approach of this research derives from those issues in the research context of education lental education that are currently of most concern. That is, policy-makers and I practitioners expect researchers to answer question such as "what works?" because they face the pressure of making decisions, in response, this research attempts to shed light on the nature of environmental education by using an evidence-based approach. However, most lence-based work in education is grounded in a post-positivistic perspective. This research, by contrast, employs evidence drawn from qualitative inquiry that recognises the significance depth contextual understanding. Thus the research sits within the qualitative paradigm and employs case study methodology.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 4099. Adviser: Pamela B. Walters. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 5, 2008).

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 26, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2345. Advisers: Pamela B. Walters; Donna Eder.