Feeding students’ creativity with language arts: a project developed at ESEV (2013-15)

Children live at a time when the rapid turnover of information and the ongoing changes in the technological, social, cultural, political and economic spheres make it more difficult for teachers to prepare lessons that enhance students’ interest and motivation. There is so much to be learnt outside of the classroom’s four walls that traditional methods of teaching may not be the most effective way to teach today’s learners. When it comes to classes of Portuguese language, teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching culture, literature, grammar and skills such as reading, writing and speaking in a way that involves students as active participants, that is, in a way that engages while also instructing. It means that several strategies need to be adopted, from games to the use of new technologies or, among others, an interdisciplinary approach with maths, (social) sciences and arts, for instance. In an attempt to motivate gifted and talented children that were attending elementary school in a small town near Viseu, in Portugal, The School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu was asked to be part of a project in 2013, in a collaborative partnership that proved successful and that was re-enacted in 2015. It is in light of the above that, in this paper, we aim to: a) describe the support that the School of Education provided to these participants, children who were between six and fourteen, by presenting Portuguese language activities that intended to stimulate creative thinking and artistic production; and b) discuss the results of the project, by analysing the students’ productions across verbal and visual modes (ie. script writing and dubbing an excerpt of an animation film, interviews, news reports, drawings, the creation and recitation of poems…). Future activities are on the table, meaning that the School of Education’s commitment to feeding the students’ creativity has shown promising results. Creativity in Portuguese classes is not a guarantee of success but it certainly is food for thought.

Dairy cattle-slurry treatment technologies: towards an integrating approach of crop production, animal feeding and environmental impacts

Dairy cattle farms have a well-known environmental impact that affects all ecological compartments: air, soil, water and biosphere [1]. Dairy cattle farming are a significant source of anthropogenic gases from enteric fermentation, manure storage and land application, mainly ammonia (NH3), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). The emission of such gases represents not only an environmental problem but also leads to energy and nitrogen (N) losses in ruminant production systems [2-5]. Several efforts are required on the development of new technologies and strategies that mitigate gaseous emissions, N losses and improve the efficiency of the energy and N cycles [6, 7]. In the Northwest of Portugal, dairy cattle production has a major impact on the economy, with strong repercussions at national scale. Therefore, our Ph.D. thesis project aims to: a) Study natural supplements as additives in the dairy cattle diet towards a decrease in GHG emissions from feeding operations; b) Compare commercial dairy cattle diets with and without additives on gaseous emissions from manure deposited in a simulated concrete floor; c) Assess the concentrations and emissions of NH3 and greenhouse gases from commercial dairy cattle facilities; d) Evaluate the effects of different additives on lowering gaseous emissions from dairy cattle excreta, using a laboratory system simulating a dairy house concrete floor.