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This thesis charts the outcomes of family play-learning through make-and-play activities with traditional Thai toys activities (TTTA). Family learning is a component of inter-generational learning, and the research explores this through ‘edutainment’ activities within the informal educational system of a science museum. The thesis also identifies key factors that influence family play-learning through TTTA and explores the nature and impact of traditional Thai culture, local wisdom and Western modern science after participation with the TTTA. Participants in the toy-making activities at the National Science Museum, Thailand are members of the general public, day visitors to the museum who volunteer to join the activities, and represent all age groups. They also have varied levels of educational achievement, backgrounds in science and dispositions towards play. The research follows 93 families, including children, teenagers and adults, a total of 179 participants. Participants’ dispositions towards play are collected through self-reporting questionnaires based upon Barnett's (2006) work on playfulness; data on their individual and group actions have been collected in terms of their levels of enjoyment and engagement with the tasks, and learning outcomes. The data from structured routine observation indicates that, within the make-and-play activities, there is a two-way transfer of learning from older to younger, and from younger to older. The analysis of family learning is based upon Bandura’s (2005) social cognitive theories, used here in relation to informal museum education. Family play-learning is seen as significant, where more experienced members of the family transfer their knowledge and role-model skills to their children or younger members of the family. There is also an upward transfer where discerning youth model the fun and creativity they bring to the tasks. The Toy Learning Outcomes Questionnaire (TLOQ) has been used to study families’ learning outcomes from the TTTA with 51 families composed of 125 participants in total. The TLOQ is based upon work of the Research Centre of Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester (Hooper-Greenhill, 2007), and uses a four-point Likert-style scale to explore seven areas of interest: (i) knowledge and understanding; (ii) skills; (iii) attitudes and values; (vi) enjoyment, inspiration and creativity; (v) action, behaviour and progression; (vi) scientific learning, and (vii) attitude towards Thai local wisdom. The findings show that families appear to have learned most in relation to two of these areas, ‘scientific knowledge’ and ‘Thai local wisdom’, when compared with the other areas. Data from semi-structured ‘exit interviews’ at the end of the activities, explore this clash of cultures, between Western modern science (WMS) and Thai local wisdom (TLW). This allows for a discussion of the integration of knowledge systems versus distinctive and separate fields. Findings from the interview data indicate that participants treat the TTTA, and work of the museum generally, bi-gnosically: they had positive yet parallel attitudes towards both domains of knowledge. The overall outcomes of this body of work indicate two main factors that encourage family play-learning: (i) the context of the play, which emphasises participants’ personal engagement, social relationships, and the physical setting (the environment and resources in the TTTA); and (ii) the conditions to play, playfulness of the participants and the opportunities they take to learn together through play. The thesis concludes with the implications of this work and recommendations for further research.

In order to accommodate the needs and abilities of all students, many high schools have designed programs for those students who are unable to cope within regular high school streams. These alternative programs have included vocational education, work experience education, various forms of tracking, and within Quebec, the Individualized Paths for Learning Program (IPL). Individualized Paths for Learning was developed to allow "at risk" students to work towards their high school diploma at a more individualised pace, and to ease their transition into the work force through job skills training and work site experience. As this case study of an Individualized Paths for Learning program suggests however, IPL in practice provides very limited work and academic preparation for the students involved. Through interviews with students and staff, and participant observation within the classroom the limitations of the program become apparent. Yet paradoxically both students and staff were committed to the program and continued to subscribe to the importance of education which is fostered both socially and by the IPL program itself. Within this case study, the students' impressions of the IPL program were of special interest. It is their words, as those most involved and affected by it, that are used in analysis. While this study is specific to its setting it hopefully will provide insight into work education programs following similar principles.

This research uses Contextual Bible Studies as the main approach in searching for ways in which the Bible may be used as a resource to contribute to a holistic education for people with disabilities (PWDs). It explores the situation of PWDs in the DRC and demonstrates how the image of PWDs has been negatively portrayed, and how PWDs’ situation has been perceived as a misfortune. Consequently, the socio-cultural concept of disability has influenced the biblical interpretation of disability making PWDs seem to be “lesser human beings”. Therefore, the use of three biblical texts, which are Exodus 4, 1-17; 2 Corinthians 12, 1-10 and Acts 3, 1-11, in this study serves to re-read the Bible in a constructive way from the disability perspective. Each Bible study has its main focus related to the question of this study mentioned above: the first biblical text, Exodus 4, 1-17 is designed for IMAN’ENDA members with the aim of helping PWDs to discover their real identity in the light of Bible study. The core verse of this study is verse 10, in which I focused on, “How God views disability”. The second text, 2 Corinthians 12, 1-10, is designed for PWDs as well as for ablebodied people in order to understand suffering as another way of discovering oneself. The main focus of this Bible study is on v. 9, in which I dealt with “Power through weak body”. The third biblical text is Acts 3, 1-11, and is designed for church leaders from the Presbyterian Church in Kinshasa with the aim of helping church leaders to widen their understanding of healing for better integration of and support for PWDs in society. The text focuses on healing that I referred to as “Holistic Healing”. The study also offers a theological reflection on disability in the Bible. This is based, on the one hand, on findings from Bible studies with PWDs and Presbyterian Church leaders and lecturers; and, on the other hand, on interviews conducted with Protestant Church leaders and religion lecturers, and Catholic high school pupils. These investigations were conducted in order to develop a holistic educational programme for PWDs in the DRC, which is proposed as a programme in Social Transformation. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

I have chosen to conduct an intuitive inquiry into the relationship between a pedagogical focus on epistemological stretching and transformative sustainability learning. The study contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge of teaching and learning about and within the realm of transformative sustainability learning, and contributes to a deepened understanding of epistemological stretching as a pedagogical orientation. Specifically, I have investigated the implications of epistemological stretching as a focal point for teaching and learning for students in ENVS 811: Multiple Ways of Knowing in Environmental Decision Making, a graduate level course in the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) at the University of Saskatchewan. Using the 5 cycles of Intuitive Inquiry, this research records and interprets accounts of eight students who participated in ENVS 811. The course is oriented around critical examination of human-nature relations with an emphasis on epistemology. The goal for this research is to investigate the ways in which a focus on epistemological stretching can enable three things: (1) prepare students to engage in interdisciplinary and sustainability knowledge creation; (2) help alleviate the epistemic incongruence in resource co-management arrangements; and (3) bring multiple ways of knowing to bear on complex environmental issues. This research is focused on answering three questions: 1. In what ways can a focus on epistemology help enable perspective transformation implicit in a transformative learning experience? 2. In what ways can educating for epistemological stretching result in new ways of thinking, valuing, doing? 3. In what ways can epistemological stretching help students engage in more effective and ethically appropriate ways with Indigenous peoples and their knowledges? This research concludes that epistemological stretching can contribute to transformative sustainability pedagogy in meaningful ways and develops 5 lenses for describing the conceptual spaces in which learning occurs: acknowledgement and deconstruction of power, relationship reconceptualization, change in perspective and action, worldview bridging, and validation of previously held views.

Adults with disabilities have traditionally performed meaningless tasks repeatedly, such as stringing beads or putting pegs in pegboards. Current best practices require professionals to train individuals with disabilities to become more independent in all aspects of daily living. They should participate in activities that are performed on a regular basis by nondisabled individuals of the same age.Since individuals with severe disabilities may lack many of the required prerequisite skills for performing daily living skills, adaptations and alternative performance strategies can be implemented to compensate for skill deficits. One alternative performance strategy is using picture recipes rather than traditional written recipes for individuals who lack reading skills.In the current study, each subject prepared two food items using a picture recipe and two food items without pictures. Subjects were randomly assigned to prepare four separate food items in different orders. The food items and the treatments were counterbalanced across subjects. This demonstrated that changes in behavior occurred with changes in treatment and not as a function of the preparation of a particular food item.The subjects were eight adults with severe disabilities who live in a large intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded. A pretest was administered to assure that subjects had the vision, mobility, dexterity, and matching skills required for the study. Neither reading skills nor number recognition was required for participation.The primary intent of the current study was to examine the relationship between cooking with pictures and cooking without pictures. The results show that adults with severe disabilities can be more independent in cooking when using picture recipes than when not using pictures.Of secondary interest was the generalization of skills from one cooking task to another. The experiment did not show that acquisition scores were consistently higher for the second food item prepared with pictures than for the first. Additionally, generalization was not shown from one food item prepared without pictures to another food item prepared without pictures. / Department of Special Education

This thesis investigates the perceptions of students about using mobile communication tools in web-based instruction. A mobile learning portal that can be used by different mobile devices was designed for this purpose. This portal included a mobile discussion forum and a course information system. Sixty undergraduate and five graduate students from METU/CEIT department used this portal as a supportive learning activity in three different courses throughout two-three, and four-week periods. The discussion subjects related to course content were created by instructors in these courses and students used this portal by sending messages or creating new subjects. Assignment results and announcements were inserted into the system by the instructors of these courses. A user evaluation instrument was developed by the researcher and validated by field experts. At the end of the study, perceptions of students were collected about mobile learning, mobile learning technologies and mobile discussion forums by using this instrument. Descriptive statistics were calculated according to the responses of students. The study results show that most of the students enjoyed using mobile technologies in education and they want to use mobile technologies in other courses. Although they like using mobile technologies, they did not increase the level of learning and motivation of the students much. Furthermore, mobile technologies did not increase the communication between students and between students and teachers despite their highly developed communication capabilities. Students could easily use the mobile technologies but small screen sizes and limited keypads hindered them from performing the operations. According to students, the cost of using mobile technologies is quite important whereas the data communication security is not important.

Higher education institutions, with their mandate of preparing students in view of the requirements, knowledge and skills of the 21st century citizens, are the institutions where the latest information and communication technologies will put into use both for administrative and for instructional purposes within a well-designed framework. Turkish higher education institutions, as well, are in a process of adapting themselves to the recent advancements in information and communication technologies, particularly to provide better services to their on-campus students through these technologies but also for reaching out to more through Internet-based distance education tools. This study, through an in-depth exploration of three graduate degree programs offered online by three pioneer universities in Turkey from conception to implementation, has aimed to provide guidance for other Turkish higher education institutions to launch and implement web-based distance education programs successfully. The study, through interviews and documentary analysis, has traced how the idea of offering an online degree program has been formed, what administrative and managerial steps have been taken, what cooperative and collaborative relationships have been embraced, what challenges have been encountered, how these challenges have been overcome, what instructional factors have been considered, how faculty have been involved in the process, what lessons have been learned, and what role has been attained to e-learning in the future of higher education in Turkey. Findings of the study have been incorporated within a model for Turkish higher education institutions to realize an e-learning initiative.

Over the 1980s secondary schools and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges in South Australia had increasing numbers of adults returning to formal secondary education mainly in search of better jobs or to qualify for tertiary studies. The teaching of such students required an appreciation of the difficulties they faced with the competing demands of family and work, and the anxieties they had in meeting the requirements of formalised study. In 1989 the South Australian Government made a policy decision, to transfer all the year 11 and 12 classes which TAFE colleges had specially established for adult students to the public secondary school system. Funds were allocated for the establishment of a secondary school system wide structure of nine Adult Re-entry sites, eight of which are still successfully operating within the Department of Education and Children’s Services. Whilst adult educational sites existed elsewhere, no other Australian state had a comparable systemic secondary school structure designed for adults returning to study. As a teacher of adult re-entry students, I sought to investigate the historical factors behind the policy decision to establish of adult re-entry sites within the secondary school system, to research the development of adult programs at a particular site and to study the experiences of adult students, analysing in particular why they returned to formal studies. Overseas studies indicated that to understand the personal worlds of adult students two sets of factors needed to be taken into account. External social and cultural factors influenced their current situation and their life experiences. Internal psychological factors helped to determine how they responded to the new demands of study. Four different educational responses to adult students could be identified. Direct and structured teaching could be seen in many vocational training models. Programs based on andrological principles put the emphasis on the individual’s self – directed learning. A third approach was focussed on critical pedagogy which sought to change society. There was also evidence of a holistic approach, which was centred on the adult learners but provided sympathetic educators to support their learning. The researcher’s underlying perspective in carrying out this study was that associated with Weber’s social action theory, because of the way it enabled emphasis to be placed on the actions of individuals and their interpretations of their actions in their social and cultural contexts. In this research portfolio the individuals concerned were politicians and educational administrators making policy decisions (Part 1); teachers developing appropriate programs (Part 2); and adult students deciding to return to studies and participating in adult programs (Part 3). Part 1 of Portfolio Two main sources of data were used to investigate the reasons for the 1989 policy decision to establish a system of adult re-entry colleges and schools within the Education Department of South Australia. The first was the official Hansard record of debates in the South Australian Parliament during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The second was a series of interviews with the Minister of Education involved and key officials in the Departments of Education and TAFE. The debates were focussed on the ideal educational location for adult re-entry students. Arguments based on the perspective of social justice and the special needs of adult students led to the establishment of a formal network of sites and programs to cater for the needs of adults within the secondary school sector. Despite the closure of one site in 1996 and funding readjustments in 1998, by 2005 adult re-entry colleges and schools had a well established role in South Australian public education system. Part 2 of Portfolio The investigation into the development of adult re-entry programs on one site was based on documents available in the Research School chosen – annual statistics, reports, curriculum, administration and journals. In addition, key members of staff involved in the adult program were interviewed. There was evidence of the way the adult program had changed over the period 1990 - 2005 in response to changing demography in the surrounding area and to changing needs and interests of those returning to study, as well as satisfying Departmental requirements. In recent years there has been a trend for more students to study part – time and to seek vocational rather than pre – university education. The provision of appropriate courses, resources and support was regarded by staff as important in the ongoing success of the adult re-entry program. Part 3 of Portfolio The investigation of adult students’ motivations and experiences in returning to study was based on the memoirs and personal statements of 40 adult re-entry students from the Research School. Their comments provided a unique understanding of the diverse personal worlds of adult re-entry students, their expectations, goals and aspirations, their difficulties and problems and their learning experiences. The formation of adult campuses in the secondary sector in South Australia was influenced by both pragmatic factors and by principles of social justice which sought to promote educational opportunities and offer those who had left school without recognised qualifications a second chance. Adult re-entry sites have continued to provide for the needs of adult learners in the communities they serve. They have made an important contribution both to the individual’s right to life – long learning and to society’s need for skilled workers and well educated professionals. During the twenty first century adult sites in South Australia within the Department of Education and Children’s Services have faced two challenges. The learning interests of adult students have changed, with more looking to the acquisition of technical and vocational skills. Furthermore, in order to remain viable, adult sites have had to maintain a high profile in relation to innovative policy development, student numbers, funding and resource allocation. Their successes have been due in large measure to their recognition that adult re-entry students were not big kids, but required specific educational structure and programs catering for their diverse learning needs. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1415385 / Thesis (D.Ed.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Education, 2009

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 30, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.