The impact of a professional development programme on the practices and beliefs of numeracy teachers

This article describes some outcomes of a nine-month design-based research study into the professional development of 24 numeracy teachers with post-16 learners. Teachers analysed research-based principles for teaching, and engaged in a design-research process by testing and refining teaching activities to embody these principles. Data from questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations suggest that many of the teachers’ practices and beliefs were profoundly affected. Practices became less transmission-oriented and teachers began to create new, collaborative learning environments where students were challenged to confront difficulties and take on more active classroom roles. Changes in beliefs regarding mathematics, learning and teaching are also described and discussed

Computational Morphogenesis

IASS-IACM 2008 Session: Computational Morphogenesis Session Organizers: Makoto OHSAKI (Kyoto University), Hiroshi OHMORI (Nagoya University) -- Plenary Lecture: Abstract, Slides and Video: "Computational morphogenesis: Its current state and possibility for the future" by Hiroshi OHMORI (Nagoya University) -- Keynote Lecture: "Linear mixed integer programming for topology optimization of trusses and plates" by Makoto OHSAKI, Ryo WATADA (Kyoto University) -- "Optimal design of glass grid shells with quadrilateral elements by means of a genetic algorithm" by Mario SASSONE, Alberto PUGNALE (Politecnico di Torino) -- "Development of intelligent truss optimization system" by Seung-Chang LEE, Jung-Keun OH (Samsung Corporation) -- "Shell surface with curved fold lines inspired by paper folding art" by Rohamezan ROHIM (Universiti Teknologi MARA), Kok Keong CHOONG (Universiti Sains Malaysia), J. Y. KIM (Hyupsung University) -- "Modeling of clothing and interactions with the body using continuum degenerated shell finite elements" by Colby C. SWAN, Xiaolin MAN, Rob W. WILLIAMS (University of Iowa) -- "Structural analysis for multi-folding and deployable structures" by Masatoshi NAKAZAWA (Tohoku Gakuin University), Ichiro ARIO (Hiroshima University), Andrew WATSON (Loughborough University) -- "Structural behaviour of shell surface in the form of Mobius strip" by Kok Keong CHOONG, Min Sheng KUAN, (Universiti Sains Malaysia) -- "On the interaction between architecture and engineering: the acoustic optimization of a reinforced concrete shell" by Mario SASSONE (Politecnico di Torino), Tomas MENDEZ (Caracas, Venezuela), Alberto PUGNALE (Politecnico di Torino) -- "Singularities" by Peter MACAPIA (Pratt Institute/Columbia University), Frank BITONTI, Robert BAKER, Charles KWAN (Pratt Institute) -- "Optimal structural shapes for shells using hybrid GA" by Nidur SINGH, C.V. RAMAKRISHNAN, D.K. SEHGAL (IIT Delhi