Strategies for sustainable professional development programs to promote effective pedagogical use of instructional technology in teaching

The purpose of this study was to determine a set of common strategies employed by sustainable instructional technology professional development programs that are found to successfully promote educators\u27 high-level use of technology in their teaching practice. Two questions guided this study: (a) Research Question 1: What do successful instructional technology professional development programs recognize as indicators of high-level use of technology? and (b) Research Question 2: Which instructional technology professional development strategies successfully promote high-level use of instructional technology in participants\u27 teaching practice?;An online questionnaire consisting of close-ended questions and open-ended questions was used as the means of data collection. The online questionnaire was completed by 70 instructional professional development programs\u27 directors or their designees. The professional development programs participating in this study were awardees of PT3 1999 and 2000 implementation grants.;The data from the close-ended questions of the questionnaire were analyzed using central tendency measures and were used to answer to Research Question 1. For each survey\u27s close-ended questions there was a corresponding open-ended question. The open-ended questions were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and the data coming from this section of the questionnaire were used to answer to Research Question 2.;The results from the analysis of the close-ended section of the questionnaire indicated that the majority of instructional technology professional development programs participating in this study were successful in preparing their participants to address 22 out of the 27 indicators of high-level use of technology presented in this study. The analysis of the open-ended responses indicated that out of the 26 strategies mentioned by participants the most successfully used strategies across indicators were: Strategy 9: Appropriate Lesson/Learning Activity Development; Strategy 6: Presentation/Demo/Hands on; Strategy 1: Identifying/Defining Appropriate Use of IT; Strategy 3: Evaluation/Critique/Assessment; Strategy 14: Problem-Based Learning/Project-Based Learning; and Strategy 26: Lesson Implementation. Each of the strategies had multiple approaches depending on factors as context and goals of the professional development programs participating in this study. Further study was recommended

The 12 prophets dataset

The "Ajeijadinho 3D" project is an initiative supported by the University of S\~ao Paulo (Museum of Science and Dean of Culture and Extension), which involves the 3D digitization of art works of Brazilian sculptor Antonio Francisco Lisboa, better known as Aleijadinho. The project made use of advanced acquisition and processing of 3D meshes for preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage. The dissemination occurs through a Web portal, so that the population has the opportunity to meet the art works in detail using 3D visualization and interaction. The portal address is http://www.aleijadinho3d.icmc.usp.br. The 3D acquisitions were conducted over a week at the end of July 2013 in the cities of Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil and Congonhas do Campo, MG, Brazil. The scanning was done with a special equipment supplied by company Leica Geosystems, which allowed the work to take place at distances between 10 and 30 meters, defining a non-invasive procedure, simplified logistics, and without the need for preparation or isolation of the sites. In Ouro Preto, we digitized the churches of Francisco of Assis, Our Lady of Carmo, and Our Lady of Mercy; in Congonhas do Campo we scanned the entire Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos and his 12 prophets. Once scanned, the art works went through a long process of preparation, which required careful handling of meshes done by experts from the University of S\~ao Paulo in partnership with company Imprimate.Comment: Full dataset online at http://aleijadinho3d.icmc.usp.br/data.htm

Impurity and boundary effects in one and two-dimensional inhomogeneous Heisenberg antiferromagnets

We calculate the ground-state energy of one and two-dimensional spatially inhomogeneous antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models for spins 1/2, 1, 3/2 and 2. Our calculations become possible as a consequence of the recent formulation of density-functional theory for Heisenberg models. The method is similar to spin-density-functional theory, but employs a local-density-type approximation designed specifically for the Heisenberg model, allowing us to explore parameter regimes that are hard to access by traditional methods, and to consider complications that are important specifically for nanomagnetic devices, such as the effects of impurities, finite-size, and boundary geometry, in chains, ladders, and higher-dimensional systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Challenges And Strategies To Strengthen Relationship Between Science And Politics Regarding Climate Change1,2

The socioenvironmental framework that characterizes contemporary societies shows that human impact on the environment is causing increasingly complex changes both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Therefore, while highlighting the complexity of the events and the need of dialogue among science, managers and society, it emphasizes the prevalence of an instrumental cognitive rationality, which generally disregards the interdisciplinary dimension of problems affecting and maintaining life in our planet. The main objective of this work is to analyze factors affecting the connection between science and politics and to overcome those obstacles, emphasizing triggering and mobilizing factors.19423524

A Comment on the Classical Electron Self-Energy

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the divergence of the electron self-energy in classical electrodynamics. To do so, we appeal to the theory of distributions and a method for obtaining corresponding extensions. At first sight, electrostatics implies a divergence once we treat the electron as a charged point particle. However, our construction shows that its self-energy turns out to be an undetermined constant upon renormalization. Appealing to empirical results we may fix its value, demanding, for example, that all its mass comes from an electrostatic origin.Comment: 20 pages, no figures. Shorter and published version, in accordance to reviewers suggestion