VOICES FROM THE SOUTH: DIALOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS AND COLLABORATION IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

This chapter presents a collaborative experience between two neighbouring countries from South America: Argentina and Brazil. Our purpose is to share a model of international collaboration that we consider to be an alternative to the classical movement of early mathematical and scientific knowledge between East and West and between North and South. We start our chapter with a general discussion about the phenomenon of globalization considering some local examples. We characterize our collaboration exploring the tensions and difficulties we faced along our own professional development at the local as well as the international level. We describe the development of our prior collaborative work that established the foundation for our international collaboration portraying the local mathematics education communities. We refer to some balances that were created among our relationships, the expansion of our collaborative network, and how this particular collaboration allows us to contribute to the regional field and inform the international one. We discuss the way that the search for balance and symmetry, or at least a complementary asymmetry in our collaborative relationships, has led us to generate a genuine and equitable collaboration.

Collectives of humans-with-media in mathematics education: Notebooks, blackboards, calculators, computers and ... notebooks throughout 100 years of ICMI

The main aim of this study was to present evidence of the ways in which different media have conditioned and dramatically reorganized education, in general, and mathematics education, in particular. After an introduction of the theme, we discuss the epistemological perspective that provides the foundation for our analysis: the notion of humans-with-media. Then, we briefly illustrate how the medium is related to the scientific production of mathematical knowledge. We take a detour into the world of art to examine how devices and instruments have historically been associated with the production of mathematical knowledge. Then, we review studies on the history of education to show how traditional media were introduced into schools and have influenced education. In particular, we examine how devices such as blackboards and notebooks, which were novelties a 100 years ago, came to be accepted in schools and the mathematical activities that were promoted with their use. Finally, we discuss how information technology has changed education and how the Internet may have an impact on mathematics education comparable to that of the notebook over a century ago. © FIZ Karlsruhe 2009.

Vocal complaint in physical education teachers and its association with the cardiovascular system

Background: We examined the vocal complaints and evaluated the correlation between the vocal handicap index (VHI) and heart rate variability (HRV) in physical education teachers. We evaluated 46 teachers. Method: The subjects were investigated regarding voice complaint and the VHI was applied. HRV was recorded at seated rest for ten minutes and it was analyzed in the time, frequency domains, geometric indices and fractal exponents. The three domains of the VHI were correlated with the indices of HRV. Results: The physical education teachers presented a VHI score much below the standard of the physiological normality. There was correlation of the organic domain of the VHI with the NN50 and pNN50 and correlation of the functional domain and organic domain of the VHI with the HF index of HRV. Conclusion: The physical education teachers evaluated reported vocal complaints that affected their function and it is suggested to be related with the cardiac autonomic regulation.

Notes on competencies in engineering education

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Future Brazilian teachers imaginaries about physics teaching in adults education

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

School activities in health education and their impact on parents

There is little empirical evidence establishing the value of schoolhouse education of children and the repercussions on their families; a quantitative analysis of instructional intervention in health and its reflection on the family permits quantification of its effectiveness outside of the school setting. To this end, we utilized instruction on head lice in schoolchildren was conducted. A randomized sample of those responsible for students enrolled from the third to fifth grade, from two public schools who had taken an instructional module on pediculosis, were invited to respond to a questionnaire that aimed to ascertain their opinions on the instruction and what its impact was on their family. The variables were assessed by univariat analysis. Of 155 total respondents, 89.9% were the parents of the students. The students that had infestation, in turn, had greater capacity to influence the family on measures against lice. The majority of those responsible supported the instruction and reported being satisfied with the school for having addressed the theme. When the subject pertains to the reality of the students, the school-family link is strengthened. Instruction on pediculosis in school helps bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical, a harmonization required in health education.