Abstract The act of knowing is a critical determinant of what is known, yet there are limits and potential violence inherent in all ways of knowing. Social workers have an ethical responsibility to understand our means of knowing and our knowledge claims – both shape the work we do. Conspicuously under-represented as creators of/commentators on how they are represented, people with intellectual disabilities have had little/no control over what or how they are known. These ethical and epistemological concerns were the focus of this arts-informed qualitative study. The purpose was an interrogative encounter with one way of knowing – how public photographic imagery of people with intellectual disabilities influences knowledge about them. It was concerned, however, to come to this knowledge through an inquiry into how labelled people would, themselves, interpret and respond to these representations, and how they might use photography to trouble disabling images and non-disabled (social work) knowing. Theoretically framed by a critical disability lens, the work was influenced, too, by Derrida’s essay on photography, “The Right of Inspection”. The other regarding aspect of the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, his concern with our ethical responsibility to the alterity of the Other, most powerfully informs the work. Four adults with intellectual disabilities accepted the invitation to participate in this project. First, they critically engaged with a selection of public photographic images. In a unique methodological turn, they then transformed the images to reflect their critique. Interpretive analysis of the critiques and transformations identified four thematic ideas. Participants’ critiques were insightful and profound; transformations provocative and disruptive. Challenging dominant assumptions – and demanding non-disabled others re-think intellectual disability and people so labeled – the critiques and transformations also respond to the social/political/ideological/psychological ramifications of photographic imagery on the lived experience of intellectual disability. Through the work, participants confront non-disabled responses to public photographs and to labeled people, challenging non-disabled others to question their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. The work also raises questions about research and people with intellectual disabilities: the possibilities for voice and empowerment through inclusive research strategies and visual methodologies, and the transformative potential of dialogic encounters between people with and without intellectual disabilities.

The current study explored the influence of priming vantage point at retrieval on the recall of younger and older adults, in addition to the effects of visualization ability on recall. Based on McIsaac and Eich’s (2002) findings of the effects on younger adults’ recall, it was hypothesized that recollections would be more likely to include certain features when retrieved through the field vantage point (FVP) than through the observer vantage point (OVP) and vice-versa. Additionally, it was expected that older adults would recall more detailed memories from the OVP than from the FVP. Finally, it was hypothesized that visualization ability would influence memory vividness and that it would be more influential in older adults than in younger adults. The experiment was conducted across two sessions. In Session 1, participants completed a visual imagery assessment, and memories were created in the laboratory with younger (n = 20; 18-21 years old) and older (n = 18; 63-88 years old) adults through the completion of two activities. In Session 2, participants recalled the activities from either the FVP or the OVP. Participants’ recollections were coded for various memory characteristics, which acted as dependent variables in analyses. A significant interaction effect (p = .003) between age and vantage point was found on the characteristic of psychological state, such that older adults referred to their psychological state in FVP memories more than in OVP memories (p = .002), while younger adults demonstrated no significant difference. Imagery ability significantly predicted several aspects of participants’ subjective recall experience. Overall, the results indicate that retrieval vantage point does not change the content of one’s recollections on most measures for either younger or older adults and that visual mental imagery ability predicts several aspects of one’s recall experience.

Many architects report about mentally visualizing 3D aspects of their design ideas while simply working with 2D sketches of them. Indeed, in architecture, the general practice of conveying 3D building information by means of 2D drawings bears on the assumptions that every architect can mentally visualize a building in 3D by looking at its 2D drawings or sketches and that architects, as many report, can capture the 3D aspects of a building design during such 3D mental visualization practices. Additionally, many intuitively believe that the levels at which architects perform such 3D mental visualization practices is highly correlated to their spatial visualization abilities as defined by existing measures of spatial visualization ability. This thesis presents the outcomes of protocol studies and analyses that were conducted with the aim of developing an in-depth understanding about such 3D mental visualization practices and capabilities of architects on the basis of four research questions. First, what might be the nature of the 3D mental visualization phenomena that architects claim to experience: what are the features of these 3D mental visualizations as evidenced in specific tasks; and what might be the nature of the mental representations created during these visualization processes? Second, can every architect carry out these 3D mental visualization practices; might there be individual differences among architects' performances? Third, might 3D mental visualization of buildings be only an architectural skill; can non-architects, who can read 2D architectural drawings, visualize a building in 3D based on its 2D drawings and can they do so to the same levels of performance of those of architects? Fourth, might performance in 3D mental visualization tasks be related to/predicted by spatial visualization ability? The major conclusions of this thesis with regard to the first research question include that (1) architects can be visualizing the buildings in one of the two major forms or by alternatively switching between them: by imagining themselves situated within (almost) the actual size 3D building environment or by imagining a 3D small scale model of the building; (2) the mental representations they create during these visualization processes capture the various visual and spatial aspects of the buildings with a structure similar to that of an actual size or small scale model of the visualized space/form, yet the way they capture these aspects is not like the way these aspects would be captured from a certain viewpoint in reality; and (3) what they experience during these visualization processes is not like the continuous holistic visuospatial experience that one would have when looking at a building or walking inside/around a building. With regard to the second, third and fourth research questions this thesis concludes that (question 2) architects differ in their 3D mental visualization skills; (question 3) 3D mental visualization is an architectural skill in that it relies on certain abilities that become heightened in architects, possibly during education; and (question 4) 3D mental visualization skills are not related to spatial visualization ability as defined by the standard paper-folding test of spatial visualization ability.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the use of storytelling as a teaching strategy in the classrooms of three experienced elementary school teachers. Storytelling is defined in this study as the use of a narrative, spoken or written, in prose or in verse, true or fictitious, related so as to inform, entertain, or instruct the listener or reader. This research answers questions concerning; (a) what constitutes storytelling in these teachers’ classrooms, (b) teachers’ purposes for using storytelling, and (c) factors that have encouraged these teachers to employ storytelling in their teaching practices. Framed within constructivist theory, the study provides insight into how these three respondents teach content through storytelling and bridge information from teller to listener. Data collection included classroom observations, interviews of teacher-participants, and the collection of teacher-generated artifacts such as lesson plans and teacher notes. Portraiture is used as a method for writing up the data in order to record the perspectives and experiences of the participants in this study by documenting their voices, visions, and wisdom in a detailed exploration into the feelings about and use of storytelling in their teaching practices. The instructional strategies reported through this qualitative inquiry support a socio-cognitive interactive model of literacy and demonstrate its importance in learning content in an elementary school environment. The data were analyzed continually through a search for emerging patterns and through constant comparison analysis. The researcher found that the teachers used stories and illustrations in an impromptu manner and that storytelling served both cognitive and affective purposes. Cognitively, storytelling was employed to form connections to students’ prior knowledge and new knowledge being introduced. Storytelling was used as a mnemonic device to help students transfer storied information to new situations. Affectively, storytelling served to engage students in an enlightening and entertaining manner. Students responded to the use of stories through actively participating in classroom discussions and sharing stories of their own. Storytelling assists these teachers in their critical roles as negotiators and facilitators of meaning construction in the text and social context of the classroom.

Le médicament est un objet social qui est au coeur de diverses relations matérielles et symboliques. Pour connaitre les formes d’opinions et de savoirs qui lui sont associés au sein de la population française, nous avons mobilisé le cadre théorique des représentations sociales. En raison de la propagation massive des images dans les nouveaux médiums de communication, nous avons choisi d’aborder les différentes recherches qui constituent ce travail de thèse sous l’angle de la perspective iconographique. A ce titre, nos investigations s’articulent autour de deux axes : Le premier axe (N=946) s’intéresse à l’implication de l’imagerie mentale dans la formation de la représentation sociale du médicament. Les trois recherches réalisées en ce sens nous permettront de constater le caractère collectif de l’imagerie mentale, encourageant ainsi la recherche sur les images. Le second axe (N=615) se focalise quant à lui sur les processus mobilisés par les individus quand il s’agit de sélectionner, mémoriser et comprendre des images relatives à des associations prototypiques de la représentation sociale du médicament. Les résultats obtenus suggèrent le développement d’une méthodologie avec les images. Dans leur ensemble, les travaux invitent le lecteur d’une part, à considérer l’importance des représentations sociales dans l’exercice de décryptage des images visuelles, d’autre part, à approfondir l’iconographie dans la perspective méthodologique de la théorie des représentations sociales. / The medicine is a social object that is at the heart of many material and symbolic relationships. In order to know the opinions and knowledge associated with it within the French population, we mobilized the theoretical framework of social representations. Due to the massive spread of images in new mediums of communication, we chose to limit the research that constitutes this PhD in the iconographic perspective. As such, our investigations revolve around two axes: The first axis (N = 946) is concerned with the involvement of the mental imagery in the formation of social representation of the medicine. The three investigations carried out with this focus allowed us to observe the collective nature of mental imagery, encouraging research on the images. The second axis (N = 615) focuses in the processes mobilized by individuals when it comes to selecting, memorizing and understanding the images associated with the prototypical words of the social representation of the medicine. The results suggest the development of a methodology with the images. As a whole, the investigations invite the reader on one hand, to consider the importance of social representations in the deciphering of visual images, on the other hand to dig deeper in the iconography of the methodological perspective of the theory of social representations.

The problem of this study is to determine the relation of a pupil's capacity in spatial and visual imagery to his drafting achievement, and to his mechanical aptitude.

After an initial four week baseline period, during which headache activity and medication consumption were monitored, 28 migraineurs were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: (a) the biofeedback temperature warming group, (b) the visual imagery group, (c) the combined treatment group, or (d) the comparison group. All four groups continued to monitor their headache activity and medication consumption during the eight week treatment period and the eight week follow-up period. A two way analysis of variance computed on groups over time indicated a significant decrease in headache activity and medication consumption. During the follow-up period (a) the combined treatment group had significantly fewer headaches than the biofeedback group or the comparison group and (b) the visual imagery group and the combined treatment group had significantly fewer headache hours than the biofeedback group or the comparison group. These results do not appear to be attributable to differences between groups on the amount of time spent in home practice or subjective ratings of relaxation. There was no consistent relationship between increases in finger temperature and headache activity improvement. Decreases in powerful other scores, as measured by the Health Attribution Test, and increases in subjective ratings of internal control were consistent with a reduction in headache activity and medication consumption.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.