A relação de amizade nas redes sociais de estudantes universitários de Natal/RN

The basis of sociability in humans is based on cooperation. The relationship of friendship is vital to the social, emotional and cognitive development of an individual and can be understood as a consequence of selection for reciprocal altruism in humans. The period of adulthood is considered very suitable and appropriate for the investigation of the relations of friendship, but the Brazilian literature on friendship in adults is still nascent. Therefore, the objective was to characterize the relationship of friendship among college students. The study gathered 500 students from higher education institutions in the city of Natal-RN, Brazil, and 250 women (average age 24.1 ± 7.66 years) and 250 men (mean age 26.77 ± 9.64 years). Two questionnaires anonymously and individual were applied: a sociodemographic questionnaire and the other with the desired characteristics in idealized friends. Study 1 assessed the degree of importance of characteristics in the process of choosing a friend of the same sex and opposite sex of the participant. Study 2 investigated the relationship between patterns of idealization of friends and self-assessment of participants. Overall, were the preferred characteristics "Companionship" and "Sincerity" to idealized friends. We also found the influence of sex on the characteristics attributed to an female ideal friend, with emphasis on men for "Beauty/Good looks" and "Intelligence" and women to "Companionship" and "Sincerity". Finally, we observed a positive correlation between participants' self-assessment and preferences for the characteristics of the friends devised. This study revealed important elements for understanding the relationship of friendship, specifically the process of choosing friends. The results reinforce the importance of studying the relationship of friendship to a better understanding of human social behavior.

Criar o próprio jogo didático ou apenas jogar? Efeitos de diferentes estratégias de ensino na motivação e aprendizado de ciências

The use of games as educational tools is common, however the effectiveness of games with educational purposes is still poorly known. In this study we evaluated three different low-cost teaching strategies make and play your own board game, just play an educational science game and make a poster to be exposed in the school regarding: (1) science learning; (2) use of deep learning strategies (DLS); and (3) intrinsic motivation. We tested the hypothesis that, in these three parameters evaluated, scores would be higher in the group that made and play their own game, followed respectively by the group that just played a game and the group that made a poster. The research involved 214 fifth-grade students from six elementary schools in Natal/RN. A group of students made and played their own science board game (N = 68), a second group played a science game (N = 75), and a third group made a poster to be exposed at school (N = 71). Our hypothesis was partly empirically supported, since there was no significant difference in science learning and in the use of DLS between the group that made their own game and the group that just played the game; however, both groups had significantly higher scores in science learning and in use of DLS than the group that made the poster. There was no significant difference in the scores of intrinsic motivation among the three experimental groups. Our results indicate that activities related to non-digital games can provide a favorable context for learning in the school environment. We conclude that the use of games for educational purposes (both making a game and just playing a game) is an efficient and viable alternative to teach science in Brazilian public school

A água nossa de cada dia : percepção, uso e predisposições comportamentais de alunos do ensino médio de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

Embora a escassez de água seja reconhecida como um dos principais problemas mundiais a ser enfrentado pela humanidade, padrões comportamentais ecologicamente insustentáveis ainda persistem. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar determinantes do comportamento pró-ambiental relativo à água, bem como os significados que lhe são atribuídos por alunos do ensino médio do Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Rio Grande do Norte, em Natal. Compuseram a amostra de conveniência 315 estudantes, 146 mulheres e 169 homens, que responderam a um questionário sobre uso e percepção da água, contendo também indicadores de pró-ambientalismo, cuidado ambiental, desenvolvimento sustentável, perspectiva temporal, externalidades e coletivismo, além de inquérito sócio-demográfico. Para os participantes, água é sinônimo de vida, muito embora a relação que mantém com ela parece dúbia e, muito mais funcional que ecológica; consideram-na um recurso finito, um patrimônio indispensável à vida, contudo não foi observada coerência entre as concepções manifestadas e os comportamentos auto-relatados de uso da água. Os resultados encontrados apontaram preditores importantes do comportamento pró-ambiental relativo à água: sexo do respondente, Escala Novo Paradigma Ecológico e deixar forma de contato para participar de campanhas futuras. Seja para aprofundamento teórico em novos estudos, seja para auxiliar na elaboração de programas de educação ambiental, que poderiam contribuir para inibir os efeitos de uma cultura de consumo e de uma visão utilitarista da água, ampliando esforços individuais e coletivos para a preservação de bens comuns, como a água. Palavras-chave: psicologia ambiental; sustentabilidade; água; comportamento próambiental. x xi Abstract Although water scarcity is recognized as one of the main world-wide problems to be faced by human kind, ecologically unsustainable patterns of behavior still persist. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze pro-environmental behavior related to water, as well as meanings associated to it by high school students of Federal Center of Technological Education of Rio Grande do Norte, in Natal. The convenience sample was composed by 315 students, 146 women and 169 men, who answered a questionnaire about use and perception of water, containing indicators of proenvironmentalism, environmental care, sustainable development, time perspective, externalities and collectivism, besides socio-demographic items. According to participants, water is synonymous of life, even though the relationship they present with it is ambiguous, much more functional than ecological; they consider it a finite resource, an indispensable life patrimony, however there was no coherence between such conceptions and the self-reported behaviors of water use. Results indicated three important predictors of pro-environmental behavior: sex of respondent, New Ecological Paradigm Scale and telephone/address left for eventual contact to participate in future environmental campaigns. They may be used in additional studies for theoretical development, or to assist in the planning of programs of environmental education, aimed at the inhibition of the effects of a culture of consumption and of an utilitarian perception of water, extending individual and collective efforts towards the preservation of common resources as water

Estratégias de aprendizagem utilizadas por estudantes cegos

Learning strategies can be understood as a planned sequence of procedures or activities, selected in order to facilitate the acquisition, storage and use of information. Although important to the learning process, the knowledge on these strategies is still insufficient, especially with regard to students with visual impairments. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize learning strategies used by blind and sighted students, registered in elementary education in schools and special institutions. Were participants 23 teachers, male and female, aged between 26 and 51 years, and 102 students, of whom 25 were blind and 77 seers, of both genders, registered on the 3rd to the 9th grade of elementary school, aged 7 to 16 years old. The instruments used were: field diary (students and teachers); structured questionnaire (teachers); sociodemographic questionnaire, interview and Assessment Scale of Learning Strategies for Elementary School (students). Initially were made observations in the classroom and the teachers received the questionnaires, with instructions for completion. Then were made the interviews with blind students and the scale was administered with these and with the seers. All instruments were administered individually. We conducted content analysis of the questionnaires with teachers and the interviews with blind students. The scale of strategies and sociodemographic questionnaire were analyzed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics. It was noticed that the blind students use few learning strategies in the classroom, regardless of city, series, sex or age. It was found that teachers didn t receive training to deal with blind students, either during graduation or after have completed it, in such a way that few of them were able to inform about the learning strategies the students use, and demonstrated low ability to deal with these inefficiencies. It was also found that the blind and the sighted use cognitive and metacognitive strategies during learning, but those used by the blind seem to be more basic, low complexity, given that the seers have achieved higher scores on all subscales. We conclude that the repertoire of learning strategies for blind students is inflexible, requiring increments so that they can achieve significant results. It is important that teachers receive training to understand the learning strategies and how they positively influence learning

Dados normativos do teste de atenção por cancelamento em estudantes de Natal/RN

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

A Água nossa de cada dia: percepção, uso e predisposições comportamentais de alunos do ensino médio de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

Although water scarcity is recognized as one of the main world-wide problems to be faced by human kind, ecologically unsustainable patterns of behavior still persist. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze pro-environmental behavior related to water, as well as meanings associated to it by high school students of Federal Center of Technological Education of Rio Grande do Norte, in Natal. The convenience sample was composed by 315 students, 146 women and 169 men, who answered a questionnaire about use and perception of water, containing indicators of proenvironmentalism, environmental care, sustainable development, time perspective, externalities and collectivism, besides socio-demographic items. According to participants, water is synonymous of life, even though the relationship they present with it is ambiguous, much more functional than ecological; they consider it a finite resource, an indispensable life patrimony, however there was no coherence between such conceptions and the self-reported behaviors of water use. Results indicated three important predictors of pro-environmental behavior: sex of respondent, New Ecological Paradigm Scale and telephone/address left for eventual contact to participate in future environmental campaigns. They may be used in additional studies for theoretical development, or to assist in the planning of programs of environmental education, aimed at the inhibition of the effects of a culture of consumption and of an utilitarian perception of water, extending individual and collective efforts towards the preservation of common resources as water

Problemas de aprendizagem sobre ligações químicas para estudantes de graduação

This research aims at identifying the learning problems in newly undergraduate students at university, interpreting the nature and causes of these problems, offering subsidies to overcome these difficulties and enabling a meaningful learning through which students give meaning to their learning. As an object for this work was chosen the theme Chemical Bonds - where were studied the forces between atoms to form molecules, compound ions and ionic crystalline structures - and is characterized as one of the most important subjects of Chemistry. In research, it was used a questionnaire with five open questions, answered by 147 students from the early periods of degrees in Chemistry at Universidade Federal do f Rio Grande do Norte. The answers revealed uncertainty on the part of students, both conceptual and representation, with superficial justifications, always using the octet rule to describe models of chemical bonds. Results suggest that these students had inadequate training in high school and that the examinations for entrance into the ranks were made according to flexible criteria less demanding in terms of knowledge. These observations have led to the conclusion that for future changes, it is necessary for high schools and in the early periods in universities favoring the adoption of pedagogical approaches in context and applying strategies to overcome the teaching of superficial memorization on Chemical Bonds, which probably have applied to the teaching of other subjects of chemistry

A energia e suas implicações no ensino-aprendizagem da química

The area of Education in Chemistry in Brazil has appeared over 30 years and its growth has been accelerated by the need of comprehension of the processes of teaching and learning in chemistry. Many researches, in this area, has among its investigation objects the teaching tools like teaching materials and the learning processes of students in high school and basic education, but when dealing with higher levels of education, they are seldom portrayed. This study aimed to investigate the General Chemistry textbooks with respect to approach the concept of energy; know the main ideas of graduate students in Chemistry on the relation of the concept of energy and chemical transformations; finally, developing a cicle of studies with the proposition of an approach wich inter-relate the concept of energy and its implications in the teaching-learning process of a chemical transformation. To do so, we used as instruments a questionnaire, press conference, conceptual map and experimental activities. All activities of the study cicle were videotaped and recorded, transcribed and the results organized in tables. For the activities of the study cicle texts that have been developed and inter-relating concepts of chemistry and energy, which in turn gave theoretical support to the activities in the cycle. In the analysis it was used as a theoretical content the analysis of Laurence Bardin. The results revealed that the analysis of the book might be perceived that not always the concept of energy is used in order to generate the abstract thought of chemical transformations, but that the main macroscopic thermodynamic variables are present in the explanation of these transformations. During the study cicle, were studied two chemical reactions: the first one, made possible to approach the macroscopic dimension to quantify the concept of energy and the second one, made possible to demonstrate the macro and microscopic dimension of the concept of energy during a chemical transformation. In all reactions proposed, students used, in most of the times, as explanations, only macroscopic observations of the reactions under study and failed to realize that the concept of energy can be used to explain macro and microscopic chemical transformation. As a final action of the study cicle, students requested further discussion, to clarify the link between the concept of energy and the meanings constructed in the process of studying the reactions. This is done through an oral explanation, during the cycle, and registered in this thesis and attempts to show the interrelationship existing conceptual

O uso de analogias para o ensino de equilíbrio químico no ensino médio: facilitação da aprendizagem ou transmissão de erros conceituais?

The use of analogies in high school is often useful for chemistry teaching, either on textbooks or by teachers in the classroom.This use is justified by the large number of abstract concepts that rules this course. Analogies are conceptualized by several authors, which converge on the idea that these are tools that seek a way to elucidate an unknown concept by comparing it to a familiar one, relating their similar and dissimilar features. An analysis on a survey of analogies found in high school chemistry textbooks and chemical equilibrium studies is performed in order to verify whether they are leading to misconceptions for their use by students and/or for their use by teachers in the classroom, or whether they promote a learning facilitation

Aprendizagem na interação ensino-serviço-comunidade: a formação na perspesctiva dialógica com a sociedade

Considerando o papel do ensino superior em saúde para a sociedade brasileira, em que os egressos dos cursos ofertados na área serão os profissionais prestadores de serviços à população, este estudo objetivou analisar o componente ensino do PET-Saúde da Família - Natal-RN na formação de estudantes dos cursos de graduação em saúde da UFRN. Foi realizada pesquisa qualitativa com análise de documentos das disciplinas SACI e POTI datados entre 2009 e 2011 (portfólios, avaliações de desempenho e oficina de avaliação), mediante o auxílio do software Alceste© e análise de conteúdo, segundo Bardin. Na análise foi encontrado como potencialidades: o alunato trabalhando em grupo tutorial multidisciplinar, cuja interação e contato com a Unidade de Saúde da Família, incluídos os profissionais, bem como a comunidade, instiga nos aprendizes o diálogo consigo mesmo e com o outro, numa construção dos ser/agir no mundo. Os textos trabalhados durante as aulas permitem refletir e teorizar a respeito da realidade observada, auxiliando-os na identificação dos problemas e no traçar estratégias de intervenção. Já a observação da realidade reveste o aluno de humanização. Este passa a captar as necessidades e dificuldades enfrentadas pela comunidade observada. Nas fragilidades ficaram evidenciados: problemas de relações interpessoais entre os estudantes da SACI; a maioria dos projetos de intervenção ocorrendo numa perspectiva paternalista, reproduzindo o modelo de prestação de serviços na saúde mais praticado nas sociedades brasileiras; dificuldades em aprofundar no aprendiz, a importância da teorização dos assuntos; problemas de financiamento de projetos de intervenção; descumprimento do plano de ensino em alguns grupos tutoriais; e, por fim, dificuldades dos alunos e monitores em acompanhar as atividade de pesquisa e extensão do PET-Saúde, pela falta de integração dos projetos pedagógicos dos cursos. Conclui-se que o componente ensino do PET-Saúde da Família adota metodologias ativas de ensino na inserção de alunos na Atenção Primária em Saúde, proporcionando uma formação dentro de princípios éticos e humanísticos a partir do trabalho em equipe e da inclusão reflexiva dos alunos na Estratégia Saúde da Família. Apesar da existência de fragilidades concernentes às relações interpessoais, descompasso entre as proposições multiprofissionais e interdisciplinares da SACI e POTI e as dificuldades de pô-las em prática em currículos fragmentados e organizados por disciplinas pouco flexíveis, potencialmente, ao fim dessas experiências conectadas a Atenção Primária, os discentes apresentam uma nova visão do cuidado com a saúde, próxima às necessidades da população, iniciando uma tomada de postura crítica e reflexiva, entendendo-se com sujeitos ativos no construir a saúde coletivamente

PET-saúde na percepção de estudantes: contribuições para a formação na área de saúde

This dissertation aimed to analyze the perception of students about (EPW Health) Education Program at Work for Health Training in the area of Health. It discusses the proposed theme from the perception of students graduating from the EPW- Health courses participants (dentistry, medicine, physiotherapy, nursing, nutrition, physical education) who have developed their school activities in family health units in the city of João Pessoa between 2009/2011.The program aims policies curricular changes as a potential route of contributions to training in healthcare. Attention is drawn to the new possibilities of working health training contextualized, ethically grounded, socially endorsed. It is pointed out in this process the need to adapt to the demands of professional profiles of SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde). This is an exploratory, descriptive study within a qualitative approach, conducted in the city of João Pessoa in the context of health care courses at the Federal University of Paraiba. The empirical material of this study was treated by the use of technical analysis "Categorical Content Theme" by Bardin. The results indicate prospects for promoting new practices and curricular changes, which highlights the EPW- Health, which has been presenting important experiences in teaching -community -service- with the inclusion of students in the municipal health network. We conclude that the path from collection to data analysis, corroborated with the literature to reaffirm the importance and urgency of change in educational processes with a view to greater proximity to the health needs and the SUS. The EPW- Health project is incipient and requires further investigation in terms of effective interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary character of its proposal

Ensino superior em Turismo: uma análise da relação dos cursos acadêmicos de Turismo da cidade do Natal-RN e o mercado de trabalho na percepção dos egressos dos anos de 2009 e 2010

The process of development of any area is closely linked to teaching and research, and in Tourism it is not different. Thus, in this area in which service is one of the factors intrinsically related to its success , it is observed the need for people with deep and critical training in the various aspects of this activity acting in this sector. However, we can see the existence of some differences between what is offered by the academy from what is required by the market. Therefore, the objective of this research is to verify the relationship between higher education in Tourism and labor market through the perception of the bachelor in this area, graduated in Natal-RN, since it is the tourismologist who makes the link between this two fields. To know the perception of these tourismologists, it was necessary to apply a questionnaire to those ones graduated in the years 2009 and 2010. In accordance with the aim of this study, this research was exploratory-descriptive. Related to the technical procedures, it was a documentary, literature and field research. To have it analyzed, some qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied according to our specific objectives and the types of data collected, such as: content analysis, factorial analysis to synthesize the information and identify the basic dimensions that represent the different variables studied, the standard deviation to verify the variation of the responses in some items and the correlation technique that allows the analysis of the relationship between two variables. In response to the objectives proposed here, we could finally conclude that: the syllabuses of these courses are too general and the graduates themselves consider them so. It was diagnosed that the graduates 1) are mostly female, 2) a very small part of them is working in the area that they are graduated in, and 3) not all of them receive satisfactory wages which contributes to having a negative view of their degree course. Moreover, the educational institution where they studied was not a decisive factor to get a job. It was still diagnosed that most part of them do not have positive perceptions when thinking about the future of their careers as bachelors in Tourism. Many of them, including, if it was possible to change something in their careers so far, they could have chosen another college degree. It was found that, although there is a negative perception about their professional future, almost half of them believe that the course met the needs of the market. However, those ones that are not working have a more positive point of view related to the applicability of higher education. On the other hand, the other ones who already worked in this area have a more negative perception about it and do not believe that the course meets the market's needs. In summary, this study allowed the understanding of the existence of some gaps that exist between higher education in Tourism and the market needs, professionally speaking, thus contributing to the spreading of ideas on that subject for teachers, researchers and the current and future students of the area.

O ensino da língua portuguesa na televisão: uma análise através do programa afinando a língua

The present dissertation aims to an approach of the teaching of Portuguese language on television, trying to find how possible is the contribution of this communication media in the sense to give a higher classroom dynamism and to excite the students for that subject. The TV show Afinando a Língua (roughly, putting the language in tune ), a Canal Futura feature, have as one of these main purpose be shown on the classrooms as a tool that could enlarge the possibilities of a subject often took as particularly difficult. Blocked by the traditional grammatical teaching, the Portuguese lessons have been for years pictured as hermetic and far from the Brazilian speakers reality. So, people create myths around the language that earns adjectives as complicate and inaccessible and that Brazilians can t speak the Portuguese really good, because it only happens in Portugal, the original country of the language. These myths start exactly because the teaching orientation take their basis only on the standard language, in fact just one of the language variations by the way, anywhere in the world dictated by ancestral rules, once produced in Portugal. The regular school don t accept the Portuguese variation as a natural fact for a huge country as Brazil, with almost 190 million people, regarding it as a wrong way of talking. The repression that follows the students from the early school days make them repel the language supposedly learned at school. In fact, they normally face it as something unfamiliar, different from the language that they have use to learn at home, from the family and neighbors Instead of giving new possibilities for the language learning, the television, a powerful audiovisual device, only reinforces the idea that everyone, in any life situation, should talk the standard Portuguese, turning its back to the learning acquired much earlier that any person reach the school. This conservative attitude brings almost no changes, between the shows that try to teach the idiom and the traditional Portuguese lessons, wasting valuable tools that could lead to the possibility to open the classroom to the outside world, and to the wider knowledge of the differences from each Brazilian region culture, a positive attitude that could much enlarge the cultural and linguistic students universe

Uma abordagem no ensino de frações baseadas em atividades para o 6º ano do ensino fundamantal

The objective of this work if constitutes in creation a proposal for activities, in the discipline of mathematics, for the 6th year of Elementary School, that stimulates the students the develop the learning of the content of fractions, from the awareness of the insufficiency of the natural numbers for solve several problems. Thus, we prepared a set with twelve activities, starting by the comparison between measures, presenting afterward some of the meanings of fractions and ending with the operations between fractions. For so much, use has been made of materials available for use in the classroom, of forma ludic, for resolution of challenges proposed. Through these activities, it becomes possible students to recognize the necessity of using fractions for solve a amount larger of problems

Abordando o sono no ensino médio: proposta de unidade didática contextualizada com o tema saúde

Biological rhythms are part of the life from the simplest to the most complex living beings. In humans, one of the most important biological rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle (SWC), which represents an indispensable behavior for health, since sleep deprivation can lead to deficits in attention and memory, mood and daytime sleepiness which may affect school performance. Nevertheless, the SWC is a content rarely discussed in schools. Thus, the aim of this research was to address contents of the sleep-wake cycle, related to the content of Health to encourage healthy sleep habits. This study was conducted in a public school with 33 students of the 3rd year of high school and is divided into four stages: 1st) Study and analysis of the content of the textbook adopted by the school to subsidize the activities covered in the teaching unit (TU) and approximation with the biology teacher from the class to evaluated the feasibility of schedules for the development of TU; 2nd) Survey of students' prior knowledge, through a questionnaire, to guide the development of the TU; 3rd) Development and implementation of a TU based on meaningful learning and characterization of the students sleep habits, 4th) Evaluation of the TU as a viable proposal to teach biological rhythms concepts. Previous knowledge of students about the SWC are scarce and this content is not covered in the books adopted by the school. Alternative conceptions were observed, particularly with regard to individual differences in sleep, which may contribute to the occurrence of inadequate sleep habits, as reported by the adolescents in this study. The activities developed during UD were well received by the students who showed participative, motivated and evaluated positively the procedures used by the researcher. After the TU, students' knowledge about the concept of biological rhythms has been increased and they started to identify that the SWC changes throughout life and occur due biological and socio-cultural factors. Thus, the UD elaborated in this study represents a viable proposal to teach the concepts of biological rhythms contextualized to the content of Health, in high school