Research
Doctoral Thesis
Dawn's doctoral thesis, 'Botanic Gardens: "Walled, stranded arks" or Environments for learning? (Sussex University) examined the contribution of botanic gardens to learning from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Hard copies are available at Sussex University Library and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The research is also listed on CERUK http://www.ceruk.ac.uk/.
Dawn's primary supervisor was Dr. Tony Binns http://www.geography.otago.ac.nz/Geography/People/TonyBinns.html
Abstract in pdf format.
Publications
Boring Botany? Rethinking teaching about plants in school. PDF article
Making public the private life of plants: The contribution of informal learning environments: link to publication
Participation and Learning, Perspectives on Education and the Environment, Health and Sustainability link to publication
Women in Natural History: Mary Treat and her Traps, Nature First issue 49 autumn 2007 in pdf format
Research Projects
While at NFER http://www.nfer.ac.uk/ Dawn worked on a range of research projects including;
the Transition from Reception to Year 1 - link to research;
Investigating the research-engaged school - link to research.
More recently, at King's College London, she worked on The Pencil Project team. This was an EU funded project which focused on building a network of good practice in informal science education settings - link to research
Dawn is happy to discuss any research and evaluation plans you have. She is particularly interested in supporting educators to develop their own research and evaluation projects on the themes of:
- outdoor learning
- transition between different learning settings
- gardens as living laboratories.
