Preparing for the Changing Faces of Education: Effective Professional Development Models

The face of education is constantly changing. The traditional classroom with rows of desks facing a chalkboard is being demolished and replaced with movable tables, Smart Boards and laptops, project-based learning, differentiated lessons and more authentic assessment. To be effective and to accommodate a rapidly changing educational system, teachers must be trained and equipped. Regardless of the innovation or change, the process of traveling from a novice to an expert teacher is an ongoing journey which requires adequate training. The question remains as to what is the most effective method of moving teachers along the trajectory from novice to expert. Research has shown how ineffective single “one-off” workshops are at resulting in real change in a teacher’s practice. Effective professional development to develop expertise in any area, however, should allow for sufficient time for practice, collaboration, self-reflection, and constructive feedback

Quantitative insight into morphology evolution of thin PPV/PCBM composite films upon thermal treatment

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to study the morphology evolution upon thermal treatment of a thin composite film typically used for polymer solar cells application. This film consists of poly[2-methoxy-5-(3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MDMO-PPV) and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)propyl-1-phenyl-[6,6]-methanofullerene (PCBM) with 80 wt % of PCBM in the composite. AFM topographic images clearly demonstrate that PCBM crystal clusters grow up out of the film, and the areas surrounding the crystals become thinner due to the depletion of PCBM material, which causes the phase separation in the composite film upon annealing. Volume quantification analysis on these sequential AFM topographic images in-situ recorded during annealing shows that the volumes of both PCBM crystals and depletion zones are significantly increased during the initial annealing times, followed by a stable period indicating the occurrence of equilibrium state. The different morphology evolution kinetics between the depletion zones and PCBM crystals is mostly due to the asynchronism between the move out of PCBM from its original position and collapse down of the film wherein. The global equilibrium state is finally achieved as most of the PCBM in the whole film has been depleted for crystal growt