June 2023
Assoc. Prof. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin’s postdoctoral researcher, Dr Diarmaid Hyland attended the IMPULS* Lesson Study Immersion Programme held at Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan (6-15 June 2023). His participation and trip were funded by an IRC COALESCE project 'Is fearr DEIS na cainnte: promoting mathematical discussions in underprivileged classrooms'. There were 33 attendees (31 from the United States, 1 from Denmark and 1 from Ireland).
Dr Hyland is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Level II) in the UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics. His current research focuses on the teaching and learning of mathematics in post primary schools. He graduated from the BSc in Science Education (mathematics and physics) 2014 and a PhD in Mathematics Education in 2018 (both DCU). His PhD focused on the teaching and learning of differential equations to science undergraduates and prospective teachers. He spent 2019 teaching in TU Dublin and DCU before joining Maynooth University, as an IRC Postdoctoral Fellowship awardee.
The Laboratory of Mathematics Education at Tokyo Gakugei University has been working for six years, from April 2011 to March 2017, on the "Development of a Teacher Training System with a Self-improvement Function for the Improvement of International Mathematics and Arithmetic Teaching" funded by a special grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Project: Enhancement of Functions as a Center of International Excellence in Education and Research). Based on the results of this project, the IMPULS (International Math-teacher Professionalization Using Lesson Study) came about and aims to establish a teacher training system to further improve teacher training, training and research for in-service teachers at universities in Japan and overseas. The "Teaching Research Immersion Program" is designed to deepen discussions on how to improve teaching and research by providing opportunities for researchers and in-service teachers who lead teaching and research in mathematics overseas to learn about the actual state of teaching and research in Japan. Despite the pandemic, a total of 163 people from 14 countries participated in the online program, and in November 2022, 19 people from 4 countries participated in a face-to-face meeting in Tokyo for the first time in 3 years. The programme has been highly evaluated not only by the participants but also by external evaluators ((opens in a new window)http://www.impuls-tgu.org/news/page-159.html).
(Photos courtesy of Dr Hyland)
To find more information about the Immersion Program, please go to the website: (opens in a new window)https://www.lsalliance.org/japan-ls-immersion-program/