A aplicação de tópicos de História da Química no processo de ensino e aprendizagem: dificuldades dos alunos

This research project aims to determine the main way that the inclusion of topics of history and philosophy of science education activities aimed at high school, influence the process of teaching and learning of chemistry. The subject of research will be a teacher, undergraduate student in chemistry and public school students that the teaching units developed will be applied. The literature presents a large of research indicating the need to include these topics in education and present the results of large withdrawals of original sources of the development of scientific knowledge. Despite of the large number of these works are not very common reports of application of the results of these studies on activities of the classroom, which reinforces the importance of this study

O desenvolvimento de habilidades argumentativas no ensino médio: perspectiva a partir de um minicurso investigativo com base na história da ciência

The performance of investigative activities with lessons in teaching Science and Chemistry has promoted meaningful learning of scientific knowledge. This study aimed to develop the links between higher education for research and skills argumentative, aimed at building the scientific concept on combustion of the candle in a closed container, for students from two classes of 3rd year of high school, two city schools Bauru, São Paulo. We decided to do a short course investigative, to respond argumentative skills which are developed during the minicourse using investigative activities, knowledge from the history and philosophy of science. The results were gathered from analysis of video recordings of episodes of the short course in both the groups, to produce a higher rate of use of argumentative skill, which were classified into categories according to the prior knowledge of the subject, 'factual knowledge' , 'understanding of concepts' and 'reasoning and analysis.' From the information obtained, it was found that both the teachers and the students were consistent in their actions, and that the activity of reasoning is key to learning. Thus, one can realize that knowledge is not acquired all at the same time, each individual depends on the mediation of the teacher in order to reach different design more appropriate teaching and investigative linked with the argument can be the key tool to acquire this knowledge

História da ciência no ensino de Física: um estudo sobre o ensino de atração gravitacional desenvolvido com futuros professores

We report here some outcomes of a research related to a didactical experience aiming to integrate the History of Science to the Physics Teaching, taking as background the historical development of the gravitational attraction. The research, of qualitative approach, is a case study and it was carried out in a sample of eleven students belonging to an undergraduate physics program (called licenciatura in Brazil) designed to from High School physics teachers in a São Paulo State Public University. We tried initially to reveal prospective teachers’ conceptions in order to provide a prepare that was used to guide the activities from the reality’s diagnosis. The aim was to promote discussions on the existence and persistence of alternative conceptions, on the historical evolution of the subject gravitational attraction, through readings and debates of texts contemplating recent subjects on the Science Education research, in order to generate dissatisfaction with traditional teaching models. The future High School physics teachers were asked to construct their own teaching proposal, through the development, in real situations, in a High School, of a minicourse based on: debates and synthesis developed in University classroom, the History of the Science and the student’s alternative conceptions. In this paper we will analyze future teachers’ alternative conceptions, the development of the course proposed, and details of the mini-courses taught by the prospective teachers in real situations, among High School students, its coherence and the posture changes observed in them.

Um estudo dos avanços conceituais dos estudantes sobre calor e temperatura decorrentes da aplicação de uma estratégia de ensino inspirada na teoria de Lakatos

We report here a study about the application of a formal teaching strategy about heat and temperature concepts applied among high school students. The strategy belongs to a research trend which deals with epistemological analogies and has an innovative character related to the students’ preparation for rational debates between conceptions and/or rival theories, using didactical rational reconstruction (DRR) which aims to help scientific concepts rational learning. We investigate the outcomes of this preparation and students’ conceptual development, analyzed through a qualitative-interpretative methodological approach.

Contribuições da reconstrução racional didática no desenvolvimento de concepções epistemologicamente mais aceitáveis sobre a natureza da ciência e do progresso científico

This study inserts itself in the research line conceptions on the nature of the science (CNC) in the school atmosphere. More specifically, on that teacher of natural sciences who claims not to be interested in philosophy, it is usually noticed a tendency to understand and to teach a vision of a ready/ finished and unalterable science, which directly influences the students conception of science. Discussed here is the application of a didactic rational reconstruction in high school, the results of which are compatible with a more epistemologically acceptable educational concep tion on the nature of science as something provisory, variable and controversial.

The Rechtslehre doctrine and Kant's philosophy of history

The text is divided in two phases. In the first phase, consisting of three parts, the main concepts of Kant's Doctrine of Right are considered in a comprehensive approach related to: the issue of the relations between natural right and positive right, problem closely connected to that of the relations between natural state and civil state, private right and public right; to the doctrine of property and its connection with political right. on treating the right in its several types, we intend to appoint the practical reasoning as a background of the Doctrine. In the second phase, concerning its last section, the consideration on the presence of the practical reasoning into the right is placed before some specificities of Kant's phylosophy of history, with the intent of establishing the possible relation between Rechtslehre and that philosophy.

Piranha Attacks on Humans in Southeast Brazil: Epidemiology, Natural History, and Clinical Treatment, with Description of a Bite Outbreak

There are many tales describing ferocious schools of piranha attacking humans, but there are few scientific data supporting such behavior. The very few documented instances of humans attacked and eaten by piranha schools include 3 that occurred after death by other causes (eg, heart failure and drowning). These predaceous fishes, however, do occasionally injure bathers and swimmers in lakes and rivers. The characteristic profile of most injuries is a single bite per victim, generally related to the fish defending its brood. This paper describes an outbreak of piranha bites in a dammed river portion in southeast Brazil. The outbreak was caused by the speckled piranha, Serrasalmus spilopleura, a widespread species which benefits from the growing tendency of damming rivers all over Brazil. This article focuses on the epidemiological and clinical aspects of the injuries, as well as on piranha biology, to gain a better understanding of the natural history of bite outbreaks.

Advertisement call, colour variation, natural history, and geographic distribution of Proceratophrys caramaschii (Anura: Odontophrynidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

NOTES on THE BIOLOGY and BEHAVIOUR of THE JEWEL WASP, AMPULEX COMPRESSA (FABRICIUS, 1781) (HYMENOPTERA; AMPULICIDAE), IN THE LABORATORY, INCLUDING FIRST RECORD of GREGARIOUS REPRODUCTION

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Reproductive biology and recruitment of Xiphopenaeus kroyeri in a marine protected area in the Western Atlantic: implications for resource management

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Nesting biology and fungiculture of the fungus-growing ant, Mycetagroicus cerradensis: New light on the origin of higher-attine agriculture

The genus Mycetagroicus is perhaps the least known of all fungus-growing ant genera, having been first described in 2001 from museum specimens. A recent molecular phylogenetic analysis of the fungus-growing ants demonstrated that Mycetagroicus is the sister to all higher attine ants (Trachymyrmex, Sericomyrmex, Acromyrmex, Pseudoatta, and Atta), making it of extreme importance for understanding the transition between lower and higher attine agriculture. Four nests of Mycetagroicus cerradensis near Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil were excavated, and fungus chambers for one were located at a depth of 3.5 meters. Based on its lack of gongylidia (hyphal-tip swellings typical of higher attine cultivars), and a phylogenetic analysis of the ITS rDNA gene region, M. cerradensis cultivates a lower attine fungus in Clade 2 of lower attine (G3) fungi. This finding refines a previous estimate for the origin of higher attine agriculture, an event that can now be dated at approximately 21-25 mya in the ancestor of extant species of Trachymyrmex and Sericomyrmex.

Integrating species life-history traits and patterns of deforestation in amphibian conservation planning

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Tectonic history and the biogeography of the freshwater fishes from the coastal drainages of eastern Brazil: an example of faunal evolution associated with a divergent continental margin

As drenagens costeiras do leste do Brasil correspondem a áreas de grande significado biogeográfico, apresentando um alto grau de endemismo em sua fauna de peixes. Padrões filogenéticos sugerem uma relação próxima entre os rios que correm para o Atlântico a os adjacentes das terras altas do escudo cristalino. Entretanto, pouco tem sido dito sobre a dinâmica dos processos geológicos relacionados aos eventos cladogenéticos entre estas áreas. Padrões de distribuição e filogenéticos sugerem uma íntima associação com a história geológica da margem continental passiva da América do Sul, desde o Cretáceo aos dias atuais. Soerguimentos macrodômicos, rifteamento, movimentos verticais entre blocos falhados e o recuo erosivo da margem leste sul-americana são considerados como as principais forças geológicas atuando sobre a distribuição da ictiofauna de água doce nestas áreas. A atividade tectônica associada à ruptura do Gondwana e separação da América do Sul e África criou seis megadomos que são responsáveis por configurar a maior parte do atual curso das principais bacias hidrográficas do escudo cristalino. Com exceção das bacias localizadas às margens de tais megadomos, estes rios desenvolveram longos e sinuosos circuitos sobre o antigo escudo cristalino brasileiro antes de desaguarem no então recentemente aberto Oceano Atlântico. Eventos cladogenéticos iniciais entre drenagens de terras altas do escudo cristalino e tributários do Atlântico podem estar associados com processos vicariantes desta fase inicial, e alguns táxons antigos, basais, grupos-irmão de táxons muito inclusivos e de ampla distribuição são encontrados nestas bacias hidrográficas. Mais tarde, a denudação erosiva generalizada resultou em um ajuste isostático da margem leste da plataforma. Tal ajuste, concomitantemente a reativações de antigas zonas de falha, resultou em movimentos verticais entre blocos falhados, dando origem, no sudeste do Brasil, a bacias tafrogênicas. Tais bacias, como a de Taubaté, São Paulo, Curitiba e Volta Redonda, entre outras, capturaram drenagens e fauna de terras altas adjacentes. Os peixes fósseis da Formação Tremembé (Eoceno-Oligoceno da Bacia de Taubaté) exemplificam este processo. Outros sistemas tafrogênicos de idade Terciária foram também identificados em outros segmentos da margem continental Atlântica, como na Província Borborema, no NE do Brasil, com marcada influência sobre o padrão de drenagem. Ao mesmo tempo, o recuo erosivo da margem leste da plataforma capturou sucessivamente rios de planalto, os quais se tornaram tributários atlânticos, evoluindo associados aos principais sistemas de falha. A natureza continuada destes processos explica os padrões filogenéticos e de distribuição miscigenados entre os tributários atlânticos e as terras altas do escudo cristalino adjacente, especialmente na margem sudeste do continente, representados por sucessivos, cada vez menos inclusivos, grupos irmãos, associados a eventos cladogenéticos desde o final do Cretáceo ao presente.