North Carolina's community colleges redesigned developmental math programs in 2011. The overall effectiveness of the redesign has not yet been evaluated. A concurrent mixed-methods study was conducted at Mid-Atlantic Community College (MACC) for a formative and summative evaluation of the redesigned program. Mezirow's transformative learning theory, along with an emphasis on designing individualized methods of instruction as outlined by Keller were the theoretical foundations of the evaluation. The extent to which the redesigned math modules affected the effectiveness of the math program at MACC was the guiding research question. Data on student outcomes and participant perceptions were collected for this concurrent mixed methods evaluation. Quantitative data from MACC institutional databases (N = 827) were used to compare the overall GPAs and mean passing grades for students in the old (2012-13) and new (2013-15) programs using an independent samples t test. There were no significant differences in students' mean passing grades or overall GPAs for the redesigned modules, compared to the semester classes. Qualitative data from 9 semi-structured interviews with 3 administrators, 3 instructors, and 3 students were analyzed inductively for thematic patterns. Qualitative results indicated that perceptions of administrators were more favorable regarding the effectiveness of the redesign than the perceptions of instructors and students and that programs implementing individualized modules need to provide professional development training to those individuals affected by the redesign. Results from this study can promote positive social change by providing information for improved teaching and learning practices among developmental math instructors.

[pt] Esta pesquisa parte do princípio que corpo e moda sempre dialogaram no sentido em que um modela o outro. O corpo humano é mutável se modela e remodela de acordo com os códigos sutis de cada cultura e época. É um corpo da subjetividade, fluído, biológico e social. No Brasil a forte cultura de praia e a hipervalorização do corpo possuem ligação com o design de biquíni através dos tempos. Nesta dissertação propomos entender como ocorrem as relações entre o design de biquíni e o corpo, em especial, o corpo remodelado através de esportes, nutrição e cirurgias plásticas em um contexto atual da cultura de praia do Rio de Janeiro. Foram feitas pesquisas exploratórias e pesquisas de campo com designers de moda-praia, cirurgiões plásticos, vendedoras e usuárias de biquíni. A pluralidade sociocultural e corporal permitiu uma visão mais complexa sobre o objeto de pesquisa, chegou-se a diversas relações entre corpo e design de biquíni: relações de influência, dependência e interdependência. O Brasil é referência na moda-praia, contudo há escassez de pesquisa na área tornando assim esta pesquisa oportuna para a área de Design e para a indústria de moda. / [en] This research assumes that body and fashion always conversed in the sense that one shapes the other. The human body is changing and remodeling, is modeled according to the subtle codes of every culture and time. It is a body of subjectivity, fluid, biological and social. In Brazil the strong beach culture and the overvaluation of the body have link with the bikini design through the ages. In this thesis we propose occur to understand how relationships between design of bikini and the body, in particular the body redesigned through sports, nutrition and plastic surgery in the current context of the beach culture of Rio de Janeiro. Exploratory research and field research with beach fashion designers, plastic surgeons, sellers and users of bikini have been made. The sociocultural plurality and body has enabled a more complex view of the object of research, we have reached several relationships between body and bikini design: relations of influence, dependence and interdependence. Brazil is reference in beach fashion, however is no dearth of research in the area thus making this timely research in the area of design and the fashion industry.

In 2016 the Ministry of Education in British Columbia (BC), Canada introduced the topics of quantum mechanics (QM) into the Grade 8 science curriculum. Science teachers with or without QM background are expected to learn and teach QM. Stemming from a constructivist theoretical framework, this in-depth exploratory case study explores the processes of learning and teaching the topics of QM by asking: “How does a Grade 8 science teacher learn to teach QM?” The purpose was to understand the teacher’s QM learning process, the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in QM and teacher’s views of the nature of science (NOS). The data was collected through multiple sources and analyzed by using thematic analysis. The themes were identified under five main categories: 1) the development of PCK in QM is complex, 2) the student-centered approach mandated in the redesigned curriculum may be limiting, 3) the nature of learning QM is not different than learning other subjects, 4) middle school science education is inconsistent with the current level of scientific knowledge, and 5) the development of informed views of NOS requires an accumulation and synthesis of prior knowledge in history and philosophy of science (HPS). The study proposes two previously unexplored integral aspects of PCK framework, since: the ‘allotted time’ in learning and teaching a subject and ‘pre-PCK’ change the nature of PCK development. The term pre-PCK was coined referring to the specific content oriented and student-centered activities that take place before the class with the goal of establishing an effective basis for the PCK development. The insights emerging from the study would be of interest to other Grade 8 science teachers in BC, pre-service teacher program coordinators at the universities, and the Ministry of Education in BC to provide institutional support. This study would also contribute to closing the knowledge and communication gaps between the fields of science, science education practice and science education research. / Graduate