College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1598
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Parchment to Touchscreen: Landscape Journey and Experience for 21st Century Learning(2014) Silverstein, Joshua Yoshi; Cook, Kelly D.; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Experiences of landscape journey are informed and mitigated by modalities of place-based practices. Historically, documentation and transmission of landscape knowledge was limited to narratives of those with power and influence. Today, the democratization of power and decentralization of knowledge, particularly as affected by technology, are projected to affect powerful changes for our future. This project creates innovation in place-based learning through an interdisciplinary approach combining landscape design for outdoor learning environments with collaborative curriculum development. Educators from Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax, VA were involved in this collaboration that has yielded an exciting, fresh approach to engaging student relationships to landscape. Students connect to narratives of landscape journey and experience in Jewish tradition while engaging in guided personal explorations of place. In the process, new wisdom, the "Torah of Place," is generated, documented and transmitted through both traditional sense-of-place activities and pedagogies integrating modern mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets.Item Designing for Interpretive Signage: Best Practices for Increasing Attraction Power(2013) Carter, Emilie Carroll; Ellis, Christopher D; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Interpretive signage, murals, and art installations are an important element of passive outdoor education for those who do not have formal education or knowledge about how landscapes work. The inclusion of passive education in projects has become increasingly necessary as new types of green infrastructures such as rain gardens, bioswales, and floating wetlands, are introduced to the landscape. Landscape architects can contribute to educational efforts by including interpretive signage on a site. While this practice is being implemented among many sites around the United States, it is unclear how effective these installations are in educating the public - specifically adults. This thesis project takes an in-depth look at the effectiveness of interpretive signage located around low-impact design elements and proposes a set of best practices for designing sites with interpretive signage. To support the best practices, data is being collected at two sites with methods that include surveying site occupants, field observation of occupant interactions with signage, and interviews with project designers. Initial data analysis from the pilot study shows that interpretive signage does positively affect people's views on environmentally sensitive design, but a variety of factors such as signage location and visibility of installation can affect the percentage of people who read signage.Item Addressing New Stormwater Policies in the Redesign of the National Grove of State Trees at the United States National Arboretum(2012) Kreiseder, Kory Anne; Myers, David N; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The National Grove of State Trees at the United States National Arboretum is in need of redesign to meet ecological and social needs. The Grove serves as a scientific and cultural landscape and can be repurposed to serve the public as an ecological demonstration for contemporary environmental issues. In an intensive effort to clean up the local rivers of the District of Columbia and the Chesapeake Bay, the two agencies of the District Department of the Environment and DC Water have enacted stormwater runoff fees, based on impervious surface fees, on all property owners located in the District of Columbia. The redesign of the Grove is compounded by the Arboretum's need to add more parking to the area where the Grove is currently located. The objective of this thesis is to reimagine the design and interpretation of the Grove as well as address the impervious area charge assessments.Item GREEN AND BLUE SCHOOLS: THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE RAINWATER DESIGN AT GEORGETOWN VISITATION PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON DC.(2012) Jensen, Allison Palmer; Myers, David N; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The artful management of stormwater has a capability to create educational arenas by combining environmentally sensitive rainwater design with education. School settings provide great opportunities for integrating on-site stormwater treatment into many aspects of the curriculum from the sciences to the arts. Presently, urban settings have new initiatives for creating green schools, which covers all levels of sustainability for the campus. This research project focuses on the development of stormwater and water-related designs for Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Georgetown, Washington DC. The main research is an assessment of the school's existing stormwater usage and runoff and also evaluating possibilities for new stormwater management techniques to be a supplement to curriculum.