Cooperative Research As a Strategy for University Teacher Training. A Case Study of Lesson and Learning Study

This paper presents the possibilities offered by Lesson and Learning Studies for training and for improving and generating knowledge by reconstructing the practical knowledge of teachers. Firstly, we provide a summary of the concept of practical knowledge and the tradition of teachers researching their own practice. This is followed by some principles of Lesson and Learning Studies, with examples of their possibilities for university teacher training taken from a case study of our own practice during a university master's degree

Societal reintegration experiences of women with judicial sentences participating in a re-entry program in Norway - from wrongdoings to wellbeing

Women offenders are among the most marginalized groups in Norway. Their situations are characterized by a cluster of difficulties, including substance use, physical and sexual abuse, psychological problems, along with stigma and challenges related to being a sentenced offender. Despite this, some of these women are able to change their lives for the better and strives towards well-being and the ability to lead a meaningful life. However, very little research has been done on capturing the processes and factors that enables this positive change and movement towards enhanced well-being. This study uses the salutogenic framework to illuminate Generalized Resistance Resources (GRRs) and positive life experiences among women offenders. This is a qualitative study, with data collected in five in-depth interviews with women offenders who were making good progression with re-entry into the community, and one group interview with four program employees from an offenders' support project. There are several aspects of these women's lives that contribute to a positive development towards wellbeing. These factors are related to personal strengths, social resources and support, appropriate services and treatment, opportunities for meaningful activities, and reflection. The study concludes that it is possible to identify GRRs in the context of the salutogenic model that seems to help the women move towards enhanced wellbeing. This approach provides insights that more traditional studies on recidivism and desistance is not able to give.Master of Philosophy in Health PromotionHEPRO350MPHEPR

Lesson Study and Service Learning in Teacher Preparation

The aim of this paper is to share an teacher preparation experience that combines Lesson Study (LS) with a Service Learning methodology. This experience is interdisciplinary and includes three subjects from first-grade Childhood Education, carried out at University of Malaga since academic year 2014-2015. Within this framework, our students carry out Service Learning projects for schools in our area that are designed and developed following the LS methodology. Service Learning projects go through the following phases (Puig, J., Martín, & Batlle, 2008): 1) Preparation by the teachers involved in the project; 2) Implementation, i.e. developing the project with the students; 3) Evaluation. The implementation phase also has three sub-phases: preparation, implementation, and round-up. It is here that the LS is developed through the following phases (Soto & Pérez, 2015): 1. Define the problem; 2. Co-operatively design an experimental lesson and its observation process; 3. First experimental lesson; 4. Analyse and review the lesson; 5. Second experimental lesson; 6. Analysis and drafting of conclusions; 7. Presentation in extended context. We were able to gather evidence on how students teachers resolved different cognitive conflicts during the process. We saw how the LS process, with its phases and cooperative work, allows them to combine creativity and unique talents in a common project that acquires meaning and relevance thanks to Service Learning. This provides a framework that facilitates the construction of solid structures related to the meaning of the educational process, and which can be used to recalibrate what it means to be a Childhood School teacher: a creative, relevant, complex experience that requires recreating the knowledge and experience that students bring with them to the University about what it means to be a Childhood School teacher.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Saltwater intrusion simulation in heterogeneous aquifer using lattice Boltzmann method

This study develops a saltwater intrusion simulation model using a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in a two-dimensional coastal confined aquifer. The saltwater intrusion is described by density-dependent groundwater flow and mass transport equations, where a freshwater-saltwater mixing zone is considered. The problem is formulated in terms of hydraulic head instead of pressure, which is recommended in those cases where static pressures dominate to reduce computational cost. The aquifer heterogeneity is explicitly a function of the speed of sound, relaxation parameter and time steps in the LBM. This study explores the equivalent squared sound speed to deal with the spatial-temporal heterogeneity arising from the inhomogeneous hydraulic conductivity and fluid density to update the equilibrium distribution functions in each time step. The Henry problem and its variants are used to demonstrate the LBM applicability to solve the saltwater intrusion problem. The inverse relationship between the time step and diffusion coefficient results in a very small time step for the groundwater flow problem due to the high hydraulic diffusion coefficient. The study demonstrates the ease of implementing the LBM to different salt concentration boundary conditions at the seaside and shows that the isochlors distributions are significantly different. Due to doubts regarding the validity of the Henry problem to test variable-density flows, numerical simulation of freshwater injection into a sediment saturated with saltwater have been carried out, showing the capability of the LBM to represent strong buoyancy effects. Some examples with correlated and uncorrelated random hydraulic conductivity (K) distributions show reasonable flow fields and isochlors distributions. It was found in the Henry problem that completely random heterogeneity in K is insignificant in changing the scale of the saltwater intrusion from that predicted using the mean K value. However, the correlated K field may have significant impact on the saltwater intrusion, resulting different from that obtained by the mean K field

Lattice Boltzmann modeling for mass transport equations in porous media

The aim of this dissertation is to extend the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to cope with parameter heterogeneity and anisotropy in mass transport equations in porous media, as well as investigating the stability and accuracy. Although the LBM is a well known and effective numerical method to solve fluid flows, LBM has not been extensively applied to mass transport equations in porous medium flow yet, and only a few works can be found on improving LBM to cope with mass transport equations other than the diffusion and advection-diffusion equations. One of the reasons why LBM has not been extensively used is because it is not clearly understood how LBM solve mass transport equations. We first focus on investigating what type of partial differential equation (PDE) the LBM recovers. The recovery procedure is carried out in detail up to third order accuracy and including the effect of forcing terms. Once the recovered PDE is known, LBM can be tailored to solve targeted mass transport equations. In order to improve the accuracy of LBM, the analysis is based on the lattice Boltzmann equation with a two-relaxation-time collision operator. Regarding the stability of LBM, the von Neumann stability analysis is used and linear stability boundaries are found under different scenarios. By an appropriate selection of the equilibrium distribution functions (EDF) and forcing terms, LBM is able to cope with parameter heterogeneity and anisotropy in mass transport equations in porous media. The relaxation times offer some degrees of freedom that allows LBM to improve the accuracy without decreasing computational efficiency. For validation purposes LBM has been implemented to simulate saltwater intrusion in the Henry problem and modified versions, and the results are in good agreement with available analytical solutions and numerical solutions obtained by other methods