The Transformation of Practical Teaching Focusing on Dialogic Learning

This study investigates the transformation of practical teaching in a Catalan school, connected to the design, implementation and development of project-based learning, and focusing on dialogic learning to investigate its limits and possibilities. Qualitative and design-based research (DBR) methods are applied. These methods are based on empirical educational research with the theory-driven of learning environments. DBR is proposed and applied using practical guidance for the teachers of the school. It can be associated with the current proposals for Embedding Social Sciences and Humanities in the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges. This position statement defends the social sciences and the humanities as the most fundamental and important ideas to face all societal challenges. The results of this study show that before the training process, teachers apply dialogic learning in specific moments (for example, when they speak about the weekend); however, during the process and after the process, they work systematically with dialogic learning through the PEPT: they start and finish every activity with a individual and group reflection about their own processes, favouring motivation, reasoning and the implication of all the participants. These results prove that progressive transformations of teaching practice benefit cooperative work in class

Dilemas implicativos, psicopatologia e construção do self: mudança durante o primeiro ano da Universidade.

O objectivo deste estudo foi comparar os indicadores de sintomatologia psicológica, competências de resolução de problemas e de construção pessoal, quando avaliados no início e no final do primeiro ano da Universidade. Analisámos também os preditores quer de sintomatologia psicológica, quer de competências de resolução de problemas avaliadas no final do ano lectivo. Vinte e oito estudantes do primeiro ano da Universidade do Minho, preencheram uma medida de sintomatologia psicológica (SCL-90-R), uma medida de competências de resolução de problemas (IRP) e a grelha de repertório para análise da sua construção pessoal. Os resultados indicam uma diminuição significativa na sintomatologia e um aumento significativo da auto-estima, no segundo período de avaliação. Verificámos que a sintomatologia e as competências manifestadas no início do ano são, respectivamente, os melhores preditores de sintomatologia e competências no final do ano. Os resultados são discutidos sublinhando as implicações para a promoção da adaptação dos estudantes universitários.

From "being to the self" to "become to be": on development of autonomy construction in nursing students

Objective: To understand nursing student's self-consciousness and his/her autonomy in the discipline of fundamentals of professional care in the context of a liberating pedagogical proposal. Methodology. This qualitative, case-based research in the model of Ludke and André involved 14 students participating in the discipline. Data were collected by non-participatory observation and analysis of documents. Field observation was conducted from March to July 2010 and data were collected according to the proposal of Minayo: pre-analysis, exploration of material and treatment of results. Results. We constructed two thematic units of analysis: from "being to the self" and exercise of "become to be". Conclusion. When nursing students feel more liberty, they have the opportunity to substitute the scary prospect of learning something new material to something that motivates their curiosity and leads them to become more autonomous.