CORA
Cork Open Research Archive (CORA) is UCC’s Open Access institutional repository which enables UCC researchers to make their research outputs freely available and accessible.
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How should teacher professional development be designed for curriculum reform? The case of applied mathematics
(Taylor & Francis, 2025-10-20) Long, Eoghan; Delargey, Michael
Recent developments in Irish curricula have transitioned from abstract procedural methods to pedagogies that emphasise connection-making and student-centred learning. To support such reforms, professional development (PD) is essential for enhancing teachers’ pedagogical practices. However, it remains unclear whether practice has evolved accordingly, as empirical studies examining PD programmes are limited. This study critically evaluates a national PD programme in applied mathematics to identify effective models for transforming pedagogy. A multi-phased, exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was employed, incorporating semi-structured interviews (n = 4), focus groups (n = 13), a national survey (n = 178) and a reflective journal from the PD facilitator. Findings indicate that while participants welcomed new pedagogical approaches, many struggled to adopt them without structured support. Participants favoured expert-led demonstration (‘modelling mentor’) for unfamiliar practices, highlighting the importance of considering prior knowledge and learning demands in PD design. Collaboration emerged as a powerful mechanism for professional learning, particularly in minority subjects, where teachers valued opportunities to share practices and resources. These findings suggest that PD for curriculum reform must be responsive to teachers’ context, include expert support where appropriate, and foster structured collaboration to facilitate lasting pedagogical change.
Anchoring human rights
(Taylor & Francis, 2025-08-20) Bufacchi, Vittorio
Many philosophers writing about human rights have a fixation with foundationalism: What are the foundations of human rights? Can human rights exist, and flourish, without sound moral foundations? Contrary to the dominant view in the literature I argue that these are the wrong questions to ask, and that human rights are better off without foundations. The problem is that the language of ‘foundations’ is misguided, and misleading, the wrong metaphor to use in relation to the human rights project. The idea of ‘anchoring’ offers a better metaphor, suggesting a more flexible and dynamic practice, while still providing a justification for universal human rights.
Age-controlled south polar floral trends show a staggered Early Triassic gymnosperm recovery following the end-Permian event
(Geological Society of America, 2025-03-06) Amores, Marcos; Frank, Tracy D.; Fielding, Christopher R.; Hren, Michael T.; Mays, Chris; Research Ireland; National Science Foundation; Paleontological Society
The end-Permian event (EPE, ca. 252.3–251.9 Ma) led to the generalized collapse of gymnosperm-supported ecosystems. They eventually recovered despite Early Triassic suppression and became globally dominant for most of the Mesozoic. Understanding the sequence and timing of gymnosperm reestablishment at different latitudes is therefore key to explaining how they regained their foothold. Given the limited data on polar plant communities, here we present the first high-resolution, age-controlled floristic trends from the high southern latitudes (Sydney Basin, Australia; ~70°S) from the latest Permian to the Middle Triassic. Sedimentological and biostratigraphic data and stable carbon isotope ratios of organic matter were used to establish lithostratigraphic correlations, paleoenvironmental insights, and links to the global chronostratigraphy. Non-metric multidimensional scaling of spore-pollen groupings confirmed that the late Smithian thermal maximum (LSTM, ca. 250.3–249.6 Ma) and the Smithian-Spathian event (SSE, ca. 249.6–249.2 Ma) were the primary drivers of significant Early Triassic ecosystem changes in the Sydney Basin. Following the EPE, ecosystems supported by peltasperm seed ferns were the first to establish, lasting for ~200,000 years. Voltzialean conifers were thereafter dominant for ~1.5 million years until the LSTM. Stress-tolerant cosmopolitan pleuromeian lycophytes then became the predominant flora, lasting ~800,000 years until SSE-associated cooling allowed umkomasialean seed ferns to expand, which persisted and ultimately characterized Middle-to-Late Triassic high-latitude Gondwanan ecosystems. Global comparisons showed that pleuromeians surged under extreme post-EPE conditions, but their rise was delayed by ~1.7 million years in the polar south. Our findings support the hypothesis that the post-EPE interval was a staggered process rather than one of monotonic recovery, with gymnosperm and lycophyte floral communities waxing and waning in succession until the early Middle Triassic.
Analysing for resistance in talk and text: challenges and opportunities for critical discourse analysts and oral historians
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025) Kiely, Elizabeth
The reasons for writing this chapter, which is concerned with exploring how to analyse resistance in talk and text are twofold; firstly, there are the calls for more attention to be given to resistance in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and Oral History and secondly, there is a dearth of explicit accounts of how analysis of resistance in talk or text is undertaken (Hughes 2018; Wolgemuth 2014). To respond to these calls, the focus is on resistance and resistance frameworks / schema are proffered as helpful when analysing for resistance in talk and text. In the first section of the chapter, critical discourse studies (CDS) and oral history are introduced and the reasons as to why analysing resistance can be common to both research approaches are explained. Then the reader is provided with an overview of the interdisciplinary resistance studies literature toward uncovering how resistance has been understood. It is this literature that provides the fertile ground for the development of resistance frameworks, which are central to the section which follows. The conclusion drawn in the chapter is that there is value in using a resistance schema as an analytical tool or primer to help explore the complexities of everyday resistance in the context of complicated power relations. This is demonstrated in the section before the conclusion, drawing on the oral history narratives of Irish women talking about their working lives.
The NiMe diet: scientific principles and recipes
(University of Alberta Library, 2025-02-27) Armet, Anissa M.; Walter, Jens
Industrialized diets – high in processed foods and low in fibre – disrupt the gut microbiome and predispose us to chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, that have reached epidemic proportions in industrialized countries. Microbiome scientists Anissa Armet (PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism, and registered dietitian) and Jens Walter (Professor and Doctorate in Microbiology) have developed the Non-Industrialized Microbiome Restore diet, or NiMe diet (pronounced Nee-Mee), to restore key microbiome features affected by industrialization and promote cardiometabolic health. In this book, the authors present the scientific rationale for developing the NiMe diet, information on how the diet was clinically validated in a human trial, as well as the recipes used in the trial.