Tècniques científiques integrades II: un nou model per impartir una assignatura de pràctiques de laboratori

La Facultat de Ciències ha desplegat els nous graus de Biologia, Química, Ciències Ambientals i Biotecnologia organitzats amb un primer curs comú per donar les bases científiques prèvies als següents cursos ja especialitzats. El disseny dels nous graus ha suposat un canvi en la metodologia i organització d’aquests estudis. Dins d’aquest primer curs es situa el mòdul de Tècniques Científiques Integrades (TCI), de caràcter pràctic i que consta de tres assignatures que van endinsant a l’alumne en l’experimentació científica. Dins d’aquest mòdul es situa l’assignatura Tècniques Científiques Integrades II, una assignatura de 6 crèdits, completament pràctica, que té per objectiu introduir l’alumne al laboratori científic, l’aplicació de tècniques bàsiques d’anàlisi, i el bon ús del material de laboratori. Complementant aquest objectiu, l’alumne ha de començar a treballar diferents competències transversals necessàries en l’àmbit científic

[Ressenya del llibre Rediscovering geography: new relevance for science and society, de Rediscovering Geography Committee, National Research Council]

El llibre ressenyat pretén ser una síntesi i una avaluació de la situació de la geografia als Estats Units. Estructurat en vuit capítols, els sis primers són una anàlisi de diversos aspectes de la geografia i els dos últims expliquen quina estratègia hauria de portar-se a terme per enfortir el paper de la geografia en el món acadèmic i en la societat en general

Experience in introduction of English terminology in engineering lessons: methodology and evaluation

This communication explains a experience for the introduction of English terminology in a technical degree of higher education. We present the methodology and assessment procedures used to evaluate the way the students perceived the introduction of terminology in English in two different subjects from 3rd and 5th year courses of a Computer Science degree in which English was not the vehicular language. We propose a strategy based on two main pillars, namely: 1) The design of materials, explanations, and exams, paying particular attention to the way in which the specific terminology was exposed to the students, and 2) The assessment of the impact in the students by means of the analysis of the feedback trough a set of enquiries. Our experience showed that the students responded very positively to the introduction of English terminology, and presented an affirmative feedback about the impact that an improvement of their linguistic abilities would have in their future work. Further, we present statistics regarding the use of English as the vehicular language for technical reports, which is envisaged as very useful by the students. Finally, we propose a set of questions for further debate which are centered in the role that English terminology should pay in technical degrees, and about the way in which universities should deploy resources in English languages within the different Syllabus

Research and teaching: a holy or an unholy alliance?

Much of the self-image of the Western university hangs on the idea that research and teaching are intimately connected. The central axiom here is that research and teaching are mutually supportive of each other. An institution lacking such a set of relationships between research and teaching falls short of what it means to be a university. This set of beliefs raises certain questions: Is it the case that the presence of such a mutually supportive set of relationships between research and teaching is a necessary condition of the fulfilment of the idea of the university? (A conceptual question). And is it true that, in practice today, such a mutually supportive set of relationships between research and teaching characterises universities? (An empirical question). In my talk, I want to explore these matters in a critical vein. I shall suggest that: a) In practice today, such a mutually supportive set of relationships between research and teaching is in jeopardy. Far from supporting each other, very often research and teaching contend against each other. Research and teaching are becoming two separate ideologies, with their own interest structures. b) Historically, the supposed tight link between research and teaching is both of recent origin and far from universally achieved in universities. Institutional separateness between research and teaching is and has been evident, both across institutions and even across departments in the same institution. c) Conceptually, research and teaching are different activities: each is complex and neither is reducible to the other. In theory, therefore, research and teaching may be said to constitute a holy alliance but in practice, we see more of an unholy alliance. If, then, in an ideal world, a positive relationship between research and teaching is still a worthwhile goal, how might it be construed and worked for? Seeing research and teaching as two discrete and unified sets of activity is now inadequate. Much better is a construal of research and teaching as themselves complexes, as intermingling pools of activity helping to form the liquid university that is emerging today. On this view, research and teaching are fluid spaces, ever on the move, taking up new shapes, and themselves dividing and reforming, as the university reworks its own destiny in modern society. On such a perspective, working out a productive relationship between research and teaching is a complex project. This is an alliance that is neither holy nor unholy. It is an uneasy alliance, with temporary accommodations and continuous new possibilities

Comunicación en ciencias con modelos pictóricos

Ejemplos y modelos son instrumentos habituales de los docentes para contextualizar la Ciencia y uno de los principales tipos de modelos son las analogías. El proceso de enseñanza- aprendizaje lleva implícito la comprensión y el razonamiento y para tal fin, la elaboración de modelos. La comprensión supone la construcción de un modelo mental que es particular para cada uno de los alumnos. Sin embargo, cuando un alumno se encuentra frente a un concepto teórico y abstracto para el que no existen ejemplos perceptibles en el entorno, la construcción de un modelo de comprensión puede no ser una tarea sencilla y se facilita ofreciendo uno inicial, ya confeccionado, en forma de comparación. Este modelo de comprensión es el objetivo de la analogía. La analogía es, por tanto, un intento más de modelizar en aras del aprendizaje. Puede considerarse como un recurso didáctico útil para aplicar en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Facilita la visualización de los conceptos teórico-abstractos, facilita el recuerdo de la información y su contextualización y aporta una disposición positiva hacia el aprendizaje. Permite construir el conocimiento y desarrollar el pensamiento creativo. La analogía conecta el nuevo conocimiento con el que ya tienen los alumnos. Y se debe averiguar en primer lugar el conocimiento que poseen los alumnos para conectarlo posteriormente con el nuevo concepto a aprender. De esta manera se posibilita que cada uno de los alumnos adquiera un modelo mental inicial que sirva de base para organizar la información de lo que va aprendiendo. Las analogías pictóricas pueden mostrar objetos reales, pero se refieren a otras cosas que el contenido para el que aparecen en el texto. Es decir, aunque se utilizan para explicar un determinado concepto o tópico, hacen referencia a un tema que en principio no guarda relación con el. Con frecuencia las analogías pictóricas pueden contener algún elemento humorístico o de simulación que la hacen parecer más atractiva. Docentes y editores de libros de texto utilizan las analogías sin profundizar en el análisis de su eficacia para el aprendizaje. Tras estudiar 84 libros de texto de Ciencias para estudiantes entre 12 y 18 años, la distribución de analogías pictóricas, verbales y pictórico-verbales en los distintos niveles y asignaturas muestra disparidades entre los resultados de las investigaciones didácticas y su uso en la práctica. Las conclusiones incluyen recomendaciones para la adecuada utilización de las analogías tanto para docentes como para editores

Simulando catástrofes : recursos para la enseñanza de los riesgos naturales

Los riesgos naturales son abordados por distintas asignaturas de ciencias naturales a lo largo de la ESO y el bachillerato. Su tratamiento en el aula es una evidencia del interés y el carácter aplicado de muchos aspectos de las ciencias de la tierra. Para facilitar su enfoque didáctico se proponen algunas actividades prácticas

Artistic education an alternative formative pedagogical and didactic tool: folder, blog

The pedagogical and didactic dynamic system is focused on individual learning process and aims at the development of artistic knowledge, helping and guiding learners through different strategies or individual support, thus reinforcing the process. In consequence, this presentation looks for an alternative to the intercommunication student-teacher supported on the educational paradigm, through textual analyses of the daily diaries, developped by teacher and students, so as to discover successes or difficulties

Els Ensenyaments d'ordenació del territori i urbanisme a les universitats catalanes: Societat Catalana d'Ordenació del Territori-Institut d'Estudis Catalans (setembre de 2000-juny de 2001)

Over the academic year 2000-2001, the Societat Catalana d'Ordenació del Territori organised, together with other departments of Catalan public universities, a debate on the teaching of regional and urban planning within the following disciplines: environmental science, geography, architecture, engineering, economy, law and landscape management. Moreover it was considered that attention should be paid to urban and regional planning related to postgraduate degrees. The aim was on one hand to analyse present situation, and on the other, to propose future strategies

Enhanced convolution approach for CAC in ATM networks, an analytical study and implementation

The characteristics of service independence and flexibility of ATM networks make the control problems of such networks very critical. One of the main challenges in ATM networks is to design traffic control mechanisms that enable both economically efficient use of the network resources and desired quality of service to higher layer applications. Window flow control mechanisms of traditional packet switched networks are not well suited to real time services, at the speeds envisaged for the future networks. In this work, the utilisation of the Probability of Congestion (PC) as a bandwidth decision parameter is presented. The validity of PC utilisation is compared with QOS parameters in buffer-less environments when only the cell loss ratio (CLR) parameter is relevant. The convolution algorithm is a good solution for CAC in ATM networks with small buffers. If the source characteristics are known, the actual CLR can be very well estimated. Furthermore, this estimation is always conservative, allowing the retention of the network performance guarantees. Several experiments have been carried out and investigated to explain the deviation between the proposed method and the simulation. Time parameters for burst length and different buffer sizes have been considered. Experiments to confine the limits of the burst length with respect to the buffer size conclude that a minimum buffer size is necessary to achieve adequate cell contention. Note that propagation delay is a no dismiss limit for long distance and interactive communications, then small buffer must be used in order to minimise delay. Under previous premises, the convolution approach is the most accurate method used in bandwidth allocation. This method gives enough accuracy in both homogeneous and heterogeneous networks. But, the convolution approach has a considerable computation cost and a high number of accumulated calculations. To overcome this drawbacks, a new method of evaluation is analysed: the Enhanced Convolution Approach (ECA). In ECA, traffic is grouped in classes of identical parameters. By using the multinomial distribution function instead of the formula-based convolution, a partial state corresponding to each class of traffic is obtained. Finally, the global state probabilities are evaluated by multi-convolution of the partial results. This method avoids accumulated calculations and saves storage requirements, specially in complex scenarios. Sorting is the dominant factor for the formula-based convolution, whereas cost evaluation is the dominant factor for the enhanced convolution. A set of cut-off mechanisms are introduced to reduce the complexity of the ECA evaluation. The ECA also computes the CLR for each j-class of traffic (CLRj), an expression for the CLRj evaluation is also presented. We can conclude that by combining the ECA method with cut-off mechanisms, utilisation of ECA in real-time CAC environments as a single level scheme is always possible.