Review of research in primary reading at Boston University: 1954-1959.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Domestic Life in Dutch New Amsterdam A Social Studies Curriculum for Third and Fourth Grade Children

This thesis presents a social studies curriculum for third and fourth grade students on the domestic life of New Amsterdam. Beginning with the geography of the region, the study focuses on the role that the environment has on meeting basic human needs of shelter, food and clothing. Based on a framework of objectives and ideas, the study is divided into three major units: shelter, food and clothing. Meeting each basic need required of New Amsterdam residents a vast amount of time and dedication. As children experience this curriculum, they can begin to understand the effort and many layered processes the initial Dutch settlers had to complete on a daily basis. Throughout the study students will extend and deepen their understandings by comparing the life in New Amsterdam to contemporary life in New York City. This study has been compiled from multiple resources that include journals, nonfiction texts, historical fiction, cookbooks, online resources, and maps. The curriculum is designed to offer children an opportunity to experience the daily life of New Amsterdam through sensory experiences, readings, videos, field trips and expressive writing

Salience, qualities and narratives in the making of contemporary British hand-thrown tableware

This study investigates British workshop practices of making commercial tableware by hand on the potter’s wheel. It is a practice-led study of making processes situated within research on contemporary pottery and, more generally, on craft and design. Ethnographic Fieldwork was conducted in three professional workshops: Ewenny Pottery in Wales, the Leach Pottery in Cornwall and Maze Hill Pottery in London. Methods included producing pots by following procedures as close as possible to those observed on site. An interpretive mixed-method approach uncovers meanings in making operations from observation, video analysis and conversations with potters. The study employs an original framework based on the concept of salience: ‘manufacturing salience’ is defined as the relative importance of a given operation to produce tangible physical qualities in the ware; ‘cultural salience’ identifies narratives associated with its makers and production processes. The systematic analysis of the salience of pottery making operations locates the origins of qualities and narratives in the sequence involved in the production of mugs in the three case studies. This is used to generate a critical account of contemporary British pottery practices which discusses the interrelation among the physical qualities of hand-thrown tableware, the narratives associated with its production, and the operations required to make the pots. The findings reappraise the importance of phases widely described in literature (e.g. throwing, glazing and firing) and draw others to attention (e.g. making handles). They show brief operations such as opening out, centring and ribbing can illustrate a potter’s style of making associated with early training. The study contributes to craft research by making the co-production of qualities, narratives and processes accessible to inspection, and discussing it in relation to social, cultural and technical contexts. The critical discussion of professional pottery practices addresses limitations identified in literature and demonstrates the effectiveness of the study

Learning plan networks in conversational video games

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-123).We look forward to a future where robots collaborate with humans in the home and workplace, and virtual agents collaborate with humans in games and training simulations. A representation of common ground for everyday scenarios is essential for these agents if they are to be effective collaborators and communicators. Effective collaborators can infer a partner's goals and predict future actions. Effective communicators can infer the meaning of utterances based on semantic context. This thesis introduces a computational cognitive model of common ground called a Plan Network. A Plan Network is a statistical model that provides representations of social roles, object affordances, and expected patterns of behavior and language. I describe a methodology for unsupervised learning of a Plan Network using a multiplayer video game, visualization of this network, and evaluation of the learned model with respect to human judgment of typical behavior. Specifically, I describe learning the Restaurant Plan Network from data collected from over 5,000 players of an online game called The Restaurant Game.by Jeffrey David Orkin.S.M

An analysis of Matthew Fox’s mystical immanence

The key objective of this research is to explore Matthew Fox’s mystical immanence, as developed in his panentheistic Creation-centred theology. Focussing on the key theme in his thought, the relationship between prayer and social justice, this thesis provides what is essentially an auteur critique. That is to say, his theology is excavated by means of biographical analysis, exploring his principal formative influences. In Chapter One the thesis seeks to identify and chronicle his spiritual odyssey, from his home environment via his seminary training within the Dominican Order to his acceptance into the Episcopal priesthood in 1994. Chapter Two focuses on the main influences on Fox’s thought, particularly: Marie-Dominique Chenu, who transformed Catholic thought in the twentieth century; Jewish spirituality, as developed by Martin Buber, Abraham Heschel, and Otto Rank; and Robert Bly, the American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement. Turning specifically to the principal developments in his theology, the third chapter, analyses Fox’s mysticism. His consistent use of the term ‘Creation’ is an indication of the cosmic orientation of this thinking, while his ‘creation spirituality’ is undergirded by his embrace of Thomas Aquinas, the Rhineland mystics and his rejection of Augustine. This chapter also evaluates the diverse scholarly critiques which have attempted to classify his work as New Age, pantheist, and monist. The fourth chapter turns to his complex understanding of the historical Jesus and his quest for the ‘Cosmic Christ’ in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Church Fathers. The thesis concludes with an examination of, firstly, Fox’s understanding of ‘Wisdom’, focussing on the ‘sophiological problem’ within the Russian religious consciousness and, secondly, his interpretation of liberation theology and social justice, as developed in his theology of work, Gaia, and eco-feminism