OER4Schools: Outcomes of a Sustained Professional Development Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa

© Copyright © 2020 Haßler, Hennessy and Hofmann. Sustaining educational initiatives beyond short-term pilot projects is highly challenging in low-income countries. We describe the outcomes and implications of our iterative Design-Based Implementation Research conducted in Zambia. This focused on a unique, school-based, peer-facilitated professional learning programme for primary teachers: OER4Schools integrates interactive pedagogy, open digital educational resources and mobile learning. Teacher interviews carried out 18 months after a year-long intervention showed that the programme became self-sustaining; earlier participants reported further development of their interactive teaching strategies and awareness of pupil progress; recent joiners developed similarly. Roles of teachers and pupils changed and a new classroom culture emerged. The study identifies the key mechanisms involved in sustainability, including culturally sensitive and participatory development and implementation, semi-structured multimedia materials, and supportive organisational structures for sustained professional learning. Our findings are hence framed by sociocultural influences as well as the wider policy context

Challenges and opportunities for teacher professional development in interactive use of technology in African schools

This paper examines the supporting and constraining factors influencing professional learning about interactive teaching and mobile digital technology use in low-resourced basic schools in sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on a case study of iterative development and refinement of a school-based, peer-facilitated professional learning programme (“OER4Schools”) that integrated use of mobile technologies, digital open educational resources and interactive pedagogy. The research and development involved teachers in three Zambian primary schools and culminated in an extensive multimedia resource. Using an ecological framework, factors emerging were characterised at three levels: teacher, school, and the wider community and policy context. They include school organisation and leadership, teacher motivation and perceptions of opportunities for professional learning and change, teacher views of pupil capabilities, availability of resources, teacher collaboration, and viewpoints of parents and policymakers.We are most grateful to the teachers and the school who participated in our trials for their enthusiasm and support. Thanks also to Masters students Andrew Cross and Melissa Marsden for their roles in the data collection and analysis. The OER4Schools programme was based in the University of Cambridge Centre for Commonwealth Education (CCE) and was supported by the Commonwealth Education Trust, primarily funding the creation of the resource and the research. We greatly appreciate the administrative support provided by various CCE staff throughout the programme.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2015.109246

OER4Schools: Outcomes of a Sustained Professional Development Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa

© Copyright © 2020 Haßler, Hennessy and Hofmann. Sustaining educational initiatives beyond short-term pilot projects is highly challenging in low-income countries. We describe the outcomes and implications of our iterative Design-Based Implementation Research conducted in Zambia. This focused on a unique, school-based, peer-facilitated professional learning programme for primary teachers: OER4Schools integrates interactive pedagogy, open digital educational resources and mobile learning. Teacher interviews carried out 18 months after a year-long intervention showed that the programme became self-sustaining; earlier participants reported further development of their interactive teaching strategies and awareness of pupil progress; recent joiners developed similarly. Roles of teachers and pupils changed and a new classroom culture emerged. The study identifies the key mechanisms involved in sustainability, including culturally sensitive and participatory development and implementation, semi-structured multimedia materials, and supportive organisational structures for sustained professional learning. Our findings are hence framed by sociocultural influences as well as the wider policy context

School-based professional development in a developing context: lessons learnt from a case study in Zambia

This paper reports on the development and outcomes of the second phase of OER4Schools, a schoolbased professional development programme supporting interactive forms of subject teaching in conjunction with Open Educational Resources (OER) and technology in Zambian primary schools. We worked with partners to identify the needs of school-based continuing professional development (CPD) adapted to the local context; the programme was based on participatory, collaborative and inquiry-based pedagogies for both classroom learning and teacher development. We worked over a 1-year period with four experienced teachers in two basic (primary) schools serving disadvantaged communities. Data were collected from observations, interviews, surveys, lesson planning / review meetings and team workshops. All participants integrated OER and technology into mathematics and science lessons and developed more interactive practices, including collaborative learning. Professional dialogue, quality conversations, reflective practice, cultural sensitivity, peer learning and co-operation were pivotal mechanisms through which teachers shifted their focus from teaching (and teacher exposition) to student learning. Seeing students as capable individuals, teachers raised their expectations, and developed insight into interactive practices such as group work, providing meaningful opportunities for student collaboration and active learning by all.We are most grateful to the teachers and the two schools who participated in our trials. Thanks also to Riikka Hofmann for useful comments on an earlier draft. Other partners supporting the work included iSchool Zambia (http://www.ischool.zm), the Ministry of Education (Zambia), Aptivate (UK-based NGO), the National In-Service Teachers’ College (now Chalimbana University, Zambia), and VVOB Zambia. The OER4Schools programme was based in the University of Cambridge Centre for Commonwealth Education and was supported by the Commonwealth Education Trust,This is the author accepted manuscript. The final published version is available via Taylor & Francis at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19415257.2014.938355#.VVNgXy73Q80

Symmetries and boundary theories for chiral Projected Entangled Pair States

We investigate the topological character of lattice chiral Gaussian fermionic states in two dimensions possessing the simplest descriptions in terms of projected entangled-pair states (PEPS). They are ground states of two different kinds of Hamiltonians. The first one, $\mathcal H_\mathrm{ff}$, is local, frustration-free, and gapless. It can be interpreted as describing a quantum phase transition between different topological phases. The second one, $\mathcal H_\mathrm{fb}$ is gapped, and has hopping terms scaling as $1/r^3$ with the distance $r$. The gap is robust against local perturbations, which allows us to define a Chern number for the PEPS. As for (non-chiral) topological PEPS, the non-trivial topological properties can be traced down to the existence of a symmetry in the virtual modes that are used to build the state. Based on that symmetry, we construct string-like operators acting on the virtual modes that can be continuously deformed without changing the state. On the torus, the symmetry implies that the ground state space of the local parent Hamiltonian is two-fold degenerate. By adding a string wrapping around the torus one can change one of the ground states into the other. We use the special properties of PEPS to build the boundary theory and show how the symmetry results in the appearance of chiral modes, and a universal correction to the area law for the zero R\'{e}nyi entropy.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figure

Interannual variation patterns of total ozone and temperature in observations and model simulations

We report results from a multiple linear regression analysis of long-term total ozone observations (1979 to 2000, by TOMS/SBUV), of temperature reanalyses (1958 to 2000, NCEP), and of two chemistry-climate model simulations (1960 to 1999, by ECHAM4.L39(DLR)/CHEM (=E39/C), and MAECHAM4-CHEM). The model runs are transient experiments, where observed sea surface temperatures, increasing source gas concentrations (CO2, CFCs, CH4, N2O, NOx), 11-year solar cycle, volcanic aerosols and the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) are all accounted for. MAECHAM4-CHEM covers the atmosphere from the surface up to 0.01 hPa (≈80 km). For a proper representation of middle atmosphere (MA) dynamics, it includes a parametrization for momentum deposition by dissipating gravity wave spectra. E39/C, on the other hand, has its top layer centered at 10 hPa (≈30 km). It is targeted on processes near the tropopause, and has more levels in this region. Despite some problems, both models generally reproduce the observed amplitudes and much of the observed low-latitude patterns of the various modes of interannual variability in total ozone and lower stratospheric temperature. In most aspects MAECHAM4-CHEM performs slightly better than E39/C. MAECHAM4-CHEM overestimates the long-term decline of total ozone, whereas underestimates the decline over Antarctica and at northern mid-latitudes. The true long-term decline in winter and spring above the Arctic may be underestimated by a lack of TOMS/SBUV observations in winter, particularly in the cold 1990s. Main contributions to the observed interannual variations of total ozone and lower stratospheric temperature at 50 hPa come from a linear trend (up to -10 DU/decade at high northern latitudes, up to -40 DU/decade at high southern latitudes, and around -0.7 K/decade over much of the globe), from the intensity of the polar vortices (more than 40 DU, or 8 K peak to peak), the QBO (up to 20 DU, or 2 K peak to peak), and from tropospheric weather (up to 20 DU, or 2 K peak to peak). Smaller variations are related to the 11-year solar cycle (generally less than 15 DU, or 1 K), or to ENSO (up to 10 DU, or 1 K). These observed variations are replicated well in the simulations. Volcanic eruptions have resulted in sporadic changes (up to -30 DU, or +3 K). At low latitudes, patterns are zonally symmetric. At higher latitudes, however, strong, zonally non-symmetric signals are found close to the Aleutian Islands or south of Australia. Such asymmetric features appear in the model runs as well, but often at different longitudes than in the observations. The results point to a key role of the zonally asymmetric Aleutian (or Australian) stratospheric anti-cyclones for interannual variations at high-latitudes, and for coupling between polar vortex strength, QBO, 11-year solar cycle and ENSO

Hollow carbon spheres as an efficient dopant for enhancing critical current density of MgB2 based tapes

A significant enhancement of Jc and Hirr in MgB2 tapes has been achieved by the in situ powder-in-tube method utilizing hollow carbon spheres (HCS) as dopants. At 4.2 K, the transport Jc for the 850C sintered samples reached 3.1x10^4, and 1.4x10^4 A/cm^2 at 10 and 12 T, respectively, and were better than those of optimal nano-SiC doped tapes. Furthermore, the Hirr for doped sample was raised up to 16.8 T at 10 K due to the carbon substitution effect. The results demonstrate that HCS is one of the most promising dopants besides nano-carbon and SiC for the enhancement of current capacity for MgB2 in high fields.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure