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.

Browse

Filters

2014 - 20192

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.experiential education

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    EXPERIENTIAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN FOR EDUCATION: OXON RUN PARK AS A REGIONAL EDUCATION RESOURCE
    (2019) Ferguson, Katherine; Chanse, Victoria; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This design-research thesis explores the educational benefits of outdoor experiential learning for children, particularly in urban areas, and proposes a redesign of a 100-acre urban park to serve as an educational resource. This thesis first develops a theoretical framework based on research that nature can have restorative effects on attention that improve learning and behavior (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008; Kaplan, 1995; Matsuoka, 2010). The focus of this thesis is Oxon Run Park located in Southeast Washington, DC. The proposed redesign includes educational spaces that can be visited and experienced by the local community or school classes, while focus areas at targeted locations concentrate educational resources that can enhance classroom learning. The research and redesign of Oxon Run Park addresses the question of how public spaces can be designed to serve as educational resources.
  • Thumbnail Image
    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.