Engaging with nature through the dwelling practices in garden landscapes

Introduction Argyris and Schon (1974) first articulated the concept of theories of practice, and elements of the concept have become standard vocabulary in literature on organizational learning. Relatively few empirical studies, however, have explored the legitimacy of this concept for understanding how educators approach problems in their professional practice (Lipshitz, 2000). As accountability pressures for school improvement mount, the imperative for understanding effective school leadership behaviors makes the concept of theories of practice more appealing. The purpose of this article is to examine the structure of theories of practice as understood by Argyris and Schon and the implications for understanding the cognitive processes and behaviors that constitute effective instructional leadership in schools. The authors discuss a recent case study of successful school principals that mapped the principals' theories of practice of instructional leadership. The study illustrates the usefulness of the theory of practice framework for both research and improving professional practice (Houchens, 2008). Conceptual Framework Argyris and Schon's book, Theories in Practice (1974), explored the concept of organizational learning by articulating a rather elaborate framework that explained the cognitive structure and processes of problem solving that all people--not just professional practitioners--engage in. According to Argyris and Schon, theories are vehicles for explanation, prediction, or (p. 5). All humans, whether they are conscious of it or not, operate according to thousands of theories to explain their experience, predict future events, and control outcomes in various situations. All theories are situational, and based on an underlying set of values, beliefs and assumptions that frame an individual's perception of the world, which include assumptions about desirable outcomes for a variety of situations. Theories appear in an ... format: if the individual faces a particular situation, then based on the individual's core assumptions about this situation, the individual should take a particular action to either explain, predict or control the situation or outcome. Argyris and Schon called this if-then formulation a theory of action. full schema of a theory of action, then, would be as follows: in situation S, if you want to achieve consequence C, under assumptions a1 ... an, do (p. 6). Argyris and Schon went on to define theories of practice as special cases of theories of action that are rooted in problems arising in a professional's specific work context. Theories of practice describe routines, procedures and specific practices for dealing with problems common to the practice environment. practice is a sequence of actions undertaken by a person to serve others, who are considered clients. Each action in the sequence of actions repeats some aspect of other actions in the sequence, but each action is in some way unique. In medicine, for example, a typical sequence would be a diagnostic work-up, treatment of acute illness, a well-baby visit, chronic care, and consultation (p. 6). A theory of practice consists of a set of interrelated theories of action that specify for the situations of practice the actions that will, based on relevant assumptions, yield intended consequences. In addition to the basic theory of practice framework, Argyris and Schon identified models of how effective and ineffective learning takes place within individuals and groups. Because theories in use are (a) so deeply entrenched in the individual psyche, (b) usually subconscious to the individual, and (c) often at odds with espoused theories of action (how we say we behave to others or how we rationalize our behavior to others), they deeply affect the way individuals learn. Argyris and Schon (1978) described the typical, reflexive way we learn as single-loop learning, in which the individual sees that his or her behavior has not successfully resolved a problem. …

In this article, we discuss the challenges of analytical translations between practice theory and empirical research methods in consumption research. We argue that a social constructivist interpretation of practice theory can be particularly useful in enabling consumption researchers to carry out empirical studies that are different from mainstream approaches to consumer culture. Such mainstream approaches typically privilege either individual consumer choices or cultural structures outside of the reach of consumers. We highlight two analytical affordances from social constructivist practice theory. The first is to enable consumption researchers to analyse ways of consuming and how these are entangled in webs of social reproductions and changes. The second is to allow consumption researchers to understand ways of consuming as continuous relational accomplishments in intersectings of multiple practices in everyday life. We discuss the methodological implications for data-production and data-analysis from these two analytical affordances on the basis of our empirical qualitative study of the handling of nutritionalized contestation of food consumption among Pakistani Danes.

The coastal zone has many uses; people live, work and recreate in these areas, protect nature and create protective barriers between the sea and the people living near the coast. In this study, we examine the unfolding of the ‘Waterdunen’ project in the Dutch province of Zeeland as a form of coastal development. By using practice theory, and specifically the notion of ‘ecology of practices’, we unravel factors that hindered or stimulated coastal development related to different practices: coastal defence, salt-water nature development, recreation and tourism, dwelling and farming. Our analysis of newspaper articles, project publications and interviews showed that for Waterdunen to happen, tourism and recreation and salt-water nature development needed to be bundled whereas farming and dwelling practices had to be unbundled, sometimes even through (the treat of) expropriation. We gained detailed insights into the coastal development process by examining underlying cultural-discursive, material-economic and socio-political arrangements. The approach presented in this article shows a promising potential for also studying other developments related to coastal zone transformation. Our study suggests that policymakers and managers are better off when they move beyond a mere description of stakeholders, their interests and powers at play and instead approach policy in a more modest and subtle way by trying to understand the more fundamental nature of the processes they seek to influence. Analyzing how practices co-exist, overlap or interfere with one another invites more deliberate interventions also taking care of the cultural discursive arrangements that underlie most social practices. By doing so, a promising mode of enquiry is for example participatory destination and land use planning.

Understanding children's spatiality in cancer care environments: Untangling everyday practices around an IV-stand in a paediatric day-care ward.

To better understand the approach of caring in nursing and the role of theory in practice, we wanted to consolidate the caring theory of Watson with the empirical findings from the three studies performed to reveal nurses' caring intentions and their lived experience of reflecting caring theory in practice. Through a simultaneous concept analysis of nine concepts, caring science theory was consolidated with the findings of the three empirical studies to reveal the dynamics of caring theory and caring practice. These nine concepts were found to be interrelated with the advanced concept of mediating care, which emphasizes that mediating care calls for an authenticity of being and ability--an ability to be present to self and others in the dynamism of openness and frames of thought.

This chapter is devoted to the discussion of empirical findings related to research on the measurement of human development, inequality, and poverty. It is divided into three main sections. The first of these three sections discusses some practical concerns raised about the Human Development Index and how these concerns have been empirically addressed. The second section discusses various empirical studies and findings relating to the level of human development and the level of inequality in human development. Finally, the authors discuss the empirical research and findings relating to multidimensional poverty.

Commitment has received great attention in the inter-organisational relationship literature but there is widespread debate and contention on what constitutes its key determinants, specifically in an import supplier context. Furthermore, inconsistencies in empirical findings of the buyer–seller relationship studies limit the theoretical development and use of internationalization theories in management practice. Yet this area warrants attention as it may assist in enabling the integration of the spectrum of importer commitment in the importer–exporter relationship. Essentially, this paper integrates and synthesises over eighty conceptual and empirical studies on commitment in the buyer–seller relationship from different contexts including grounding on internationalisation process theory, resource based theory of the firm and transaction costs economics. Conceptual arguments are assessed and empirical findings are evaluated across studies with the aim of developing a framework. With the support of three basic theories and extant literature, ten antecedents of importer commitment are identified. The causal direct and some indirect relationships are specified. Seventeen propositions are offered to guide future research efforts in this important field.

How to value a new venture is critical in entrepreneurial financing. This article develops an integrated theoretical framework to examine whether venture capitalists' valuation of a new venture can be explained by factors identified in the strategy theories as important to firm performance. Empirical results from the analyses of 184 rounds of early-stage venture capital investments in 102 new ventures support the central proposition that venture capitalists do take into consideration those factors that are important to firm performance in their valuation of new ventures. More specifically, this article finds that attractiveness of the industry, the quality of the founder and top management team, as well as external relationships of a new venture significantly and positively affect its valuation by venture capitalists when it seeks venture capital financing in its early stages of development. These empirical findings help to establish an initial linkage between the well-developed theories in strategic management and under-researched venture capital valuation practice. It brings more theoretical rigor to the venture capital investment literature by introducing a systematic approach to identify and measure factors important to new venture valuation. It explores a possibility to develop a supplementary method to value an early-stage new venture when extant valuation methods fail to yield consistent results because these methods require accounting information that a new venture typically cannot provide.

Commitment has received great attention in the inter-organisational relationship literature but there is widespread debate and contention on what constitutes its key determinants, specifically in an import supplier context. Furthermore, inconsistencies in empirical findings of the buyer–seller relationship studies limit the theoretical development and use of internationalization theories in management practice. Yet this area warrants attention as it may assist in enabling the integration of the spectrum of importer commitment in the importer–exporter relationship. Essentially, this paper integrates and synthesises over eighty conceptual and empirical studies on commitment in the buyer–seller relationship from different contexts including grounding on internationalisation process theory, resource based theory of the firm and transaction costs economics. Conceptual arguments are assessed and empirical findings are evaluated across studies with the aim of developing a framework. With the support of three basic theories and extant literature, ten antecedents of importer commitment are identified. The causal direct and some indirect relationships are specified. Seventeen propositions are offered to guide future research efforts in this important field.

When sea becomes home

Background Physical education has been described as too instrumental and uncritical, where a focus on utility has limited the value of pleasure in movement. Decades of previous research has addressed the need for changes where embodied experiences and learning are emphasized [Kirk, David, and Richard Tinning. 1994. “Embodied Self-Identity, Healthy Lifestyles and School Physical Education.” Sociology of Health and Illness 16 (5): 600–625; Kirk, David. 2010. Physical Education Futures. London: Routledge; Wrench, Alison, and Robyne Garrett. 2015. “PE: It’s Just Me: Physically Active and Healthy Teacher Bodies.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE) 28 (1): 72–91; Wright, Jan. 2000. “Bodies, Meanings and Movement: A Comparison of the Language of a Physical Education Lesson and a Feldenkrais Movement Class.” Sport, Education & Society 5 (1): 35–49]. Accordingly, we align with the ongoing call for a ‘corporeal turn’ [Smith, Stephen J. 2007. “The First Rush of Movement: A Phenomenological Preface to Movement Education.” Phenomenology & Practice 1 (1): 47–75, 66] in physical education, towards a more holistic understanding of learning and experience as embodied and emplaced [Pink, Sarah. 2011. “From Embodiment to Emplacement: Re-Thinking Competing Bodies, Senses and Spatialities.” Sport, Education and Society 16 (3):343–355.]. This turn may involve a curriculum where pleasurable and meaningful movement experiences are educational goals. Building on this, we ask whether a pedagogy that gives room for playfulness may be a starting point for physical education being perceived as more meaningful and pleasurable. Our theoretical framework builds upon Wellard’s model of body-reflexive pleasure, Hyland’s understanding of playfulness as a responsive openness and Gibson’s theories of affordances. Purpose In this study we explore pupils’ embodied experiences in physical education, using empirical findings from a sensory ethnography. The research questions asked are ‘How do pupils’ playfulness create possibilities for pleasure in physical education? And which opportunities for embodied learning are being offered through playful and pleasurable experiences?’ Our aim is to inform and develop pedagogies of embodiment by including playfulness as a strategy for facilitating opportunities for pleasurable and meaningful experiences that enable embodied learning. Method The empirical data is based on a sensory ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a 10th grade class (23 pupils, age 15–16 years) in Oslo, Norway. The first author conducted the fieldwork as a participant observer. This included joining all physical education lessons for one semester and conducting 17 interviews with pupils by the end of the semester. In the analysis and interpretation process we have combined ‘the ethnographic hunch’ [Pink, Sarah. 2021. “The Ethnographic Hunch.” Experimenting with Ethnography: A Companion to Analysis: 30–40] with an abductive analysis approach [Tavory, Iddo, and Stefan Timmermans. 2014. Abductive Analysis: Theorizing Qualitative Research. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press]. Results and discussion The findings are represented in three episodes that show how pupils playfully changed the teacher-given tasks, and in doing so created possibilities for pleasurable experiences. The findings are discussed using [Wellard 2012. “Body-reflexive Pleasures: Exploring Bodily Experiences Within the Context of Sport and Physical Activity.” Sport, Education and Society 17 (1): 21–33] model of body-reflexive pleasures and phenomenological perspectives on playfulness [Hyland, D. 1977. ““And That Is The Best Part of Us:” Human Being and Play.” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 4 (1):36–49], and affordances [Gibson, James J. 1986. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates]. Playfulness emerged as a criterium for perceiving activities as pleasurable. The pupils’ playful stance assisted them in their search for meaning and pleasurable activities because it enabled them to be open and responsive to the possibilities that emerged in the physical and social environment. This led to pleasurable experiences of physical thrill and psychological flow in social interaction when moving with others. We discuss how pleasurable experiences may have potential for the pupils’ embodied and emplaced learning, as participants in place-events. As illustrated in the three episodes, the playful and pleasurable activities offer opportunities for learning and practicing integrated competencies, e.g. physical, social, and creative competencies. Suggested implications for physical education teachers may involve giving pupils the freedom to be playful by being open to letting pupils’ innovative initiatives influence the teaching and contribute to create a safe space for movement exploration.

Bourdieu devotes little attention to childhood in his empirical Studies, and inscribes it in a theoretical conception of socialisation.1 It seems that for him, the younger the child, the more strongly the structure of the social world is internalised, shaping the future social trajectory of the adult (Bourdieu 1977). This is evident in Distinction (1984), where Bourdieu highlights the importance of early childhood in the constitution of dispositions in relation to the position of the family in the social space. I would like to show that this conception of socialisation can be developed, through considering my empirical work concerning family practices in the field of early childhood education and using Bourdieu’s theory of practice. His large and consistent theoretical concern contrasts a practical logic engaged in by individuals acting in the midst of a situation with a theoretical logic that considers social practices from a distance as objects of thought. Articulating the empirical research study and the theoretical thinking is a necessity in Bourdieu’s idea of sociological research. In contrast to the division of labour, which is also a division of power, between ‘theoricism’ and ‘methodologism’, between the ‘great theorists’ who are not concerned about facts and avoid fieldwork, and the empiricists who lean toward the illusion that the facts speak by and for themselves, Bourdieu argues that research must be at the same time empirically and theoretically grounded, including an explanation of the philosophical anthropology that it involves.

KEITH S. DOBSON and KENNETH D. CRAIG (Eds.) Empirically Supported Therapies: Best Practice in Professional Psychology Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998, 333 pages (ISBN 0-7619-1076-X, US$36.95, Softcover) Reviewed by DAVID R. EVANS Since 1969, when the first Banff Conference was held, the focus has continued to be on treatment and its validity. The Banff Conference was conceived as a way to bring together leaders in behaviour therapy to present and discuss their evolving behavioural treatments and the empirical support for them. In many ways the focus of this book on empirically supported therapies comes full circle to remind us of the importance of the empirical support for the therapies we employ, and the original goals of the Banff Conference. The book is divided into two sections devoted to general theoretical issues on the one hand and empirically validated treatments in specific areas on the other. The lead chapter is by Paul Crits-Christoph, a member of the APA Division 12 task force. He discusses the task force report, some of the reactions to it, and some of the future concerns and possibilities. The chapter provides a good overview for the reader and an orientation for the rest of the book. Steven C. Hayes is the author of the second chapter devoted to a consideration of political, economic, and professional forces that argue for, and at times against, the adoption of scientific practice guidelines in psychological practice. This is a significant contribution to the book because it is important that all practicing psychologists understand the external forces demanding that we work toward empirical support for all of the treatments we employ. In the third chapter, Larry E. Beutler and Mary Baker address a number of methodological issues that must be considered in the design of research to provide empirical validation for a treatment, including therapy models and patient individual differences. This chapter captures the complexity required in future empirical research compared to many of our current and early ventures. Chapter 4 by John R. Weisz provides a good overview of empirical validation studies of treatments for children and adolescents, and raises three major concerns with current studies in the area. This contribution, although devoted to children and adolescents, alerts us to the importance of developmentally related variables such as context and age-specific condition when we are designing empirical validation studies. The last chapter in the first section is by Anna Beth Doyle, who draws our attention to culture, another major factor that must be considered as empirically supported treatments are identified. The author of this chapter claims that there are almost no empirical studies assessing the effectiveness of specific treatments with minority culture clients. This suggests an important area for future research in the development of culture-specific treatments and their empirical validation. The lead chapter in the second section of the book is authored by Peter D. McLean and Kent W. Anderson, and is focused on the evolution of empirically validated treatments for depression. The authors also discuss the interplay between factors related to various therapeutic orientations and empirical findings. This chapter provides a good overview of theory, research, and future directions in the treatment of depression. In Chapter 7, Andrew Christensen and Neil S. Jacobson discuss traditional behavioural couples therapy, their integrative behavioural couples therapy, and preliminary data comparing the two approaches. They conclude their chapter with a brief overview of some of their ideas about the difficulties of executing empirical studies of therapy, particularly couples therapy. …

Collaboration between healthcare professionals from different backgrounds is a true art to be mastered. During interprofessional education (IPE), learners from different professions learn with, from and about each other. Landscape of Practice (LoP) theory can offer insight into social learning in IPE, but its application is rather complex. We argue that choir singing offers a helpful metaphor to understand different concepts in LoP (brokers, engagement, imagination and alignment) and how they are manifested in IPE. Based on similarities between choir singing and IPE, we present four lessons: 1) The teacher sets the tone: a lesson for brokers; 2) You can only learn so much alone: a lesson for engagement; 3) Listening is not as easy as it sounds: a lesson for imagination and 4) A song is more than the sum of its parts: a lesson for alignment. Moreover, we reflect on differences between choir singing and IPE, and insights from these differences.

John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843) is often associated with British villas, cottages, and suburban gardens between the 1820s and 1860s. A landscape gardener by profession, he made his reputation as a distinguished horticultural writer with the publication of his Encyclopaedia of Gardening (1822). In the years that followed, Loudon produced encyclopaedias of Agriculture, Architecture, Trees and Shrubs, and Plants: all octavo volumes of more than 1000 pages each, with small print and hundreds of woodcuts. In these works, as in his magazines of gardening, architecture and natural history, Loudon offered a wide range of technical information on climate, soils, and natural resources; construction, heating and ventilating; and discussions of the theory of design as well as criticisms of plans and sections. More immediately appealing to the general public, however, were the hundreds of elevations and perspectives showing cottages and villas in various historical styles; the vignettes of gardens; and the drawings of the indigenous and exotic trees and shrubs then available to the British householder.