The sociological approach to teaching and learning in higher education with special reference to first year sociology courses at a technological university

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On Neuron Mechanisms Used to Resolve Mental Problems of Identification and Learning in Sensorium

The paper considers some possible neuron mechanisms that do not contradict biological data. They are represented in terms of the notion of an elementary sensorium discussed in the previous authors’ works. Such mechanisms resolve problems of two large classes: when identification mechanisms are used and when sensory learning mechanisms are applied along with identification.

Communities of Practice and Learning in a Senior Living Environment

Adults participate in communities of practice (COP) in diverse environments. As the number of US citizens 55 years or older increases, so might the number residing in adult living environments. COP research would be valuable in such settings.

Validation study of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey at a Hispanic-serving institution

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) has been widely acknowledged as a useful measure of student cognitive attitudes about science and learning. The initial University of Colorado validation study included only 20% non-Caucasian student populations. In this Brief Report we extend their validation to include a predominately under-represented minority population. We validated the CLASS instrument at Florida International University, a Hispanic-serving institution, by interviewing students in introductory physics classes using a semistructured protocol, examining students’ responses on the CLASS item statements, and comparing them to the items’ intended meaning. We find that in our predominately Hispanic population, 94% of the students’ interview responses indicate that the students interpret the CLASS items correctly, and thus the CLASS is a valid instrument. We also identify one potentially problematic item in the instrument which one third of the students interviewed consistently misinterpreted.

Experience, Education and Subjectivity: A Comparison of John Dewey's and Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Conceptions of Experience and Their Implications for Education

This thesis compares John Dewey’s philosophy of experience and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, and illustrates how Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology can strengthen and further Dewey’s philosophy of education. I begin by drawing the connection between Dewey’s philosophy of experience and his philosophy of education, and illustrate how Dewey’s understanding of growth, and thinking in education, is rooted in and informed by his detailed philosophy of experience. From there, I give an interpretation of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology with a focus on his descriptions of subjectivity that he presents in the Phenomenology of Perception. Following this, I outline some of the implications Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology has on our understanding of rationality, expression and existence. In the final chapter, I make the comparison between Dewey’s philosophy of experience and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. After demonstrating how these two philosophies are not only similar but also complementary, I then look to Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology to provide insight into and to advance Dewey’s philosophy of education. I will illustrate how Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of subjectivity helps to support, and reinforce the rationale behind Dewey’s inquiry-based approach to education. Furthermore, I will show how Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and its implications for rationality, expression and existence support Dewey’s democratic ideal and add a hermeneutical element to Dewey’s philosophy of education.

Adequações curriculares e estratégias de ensino em turmas inclusivas: um estudo exploratório no 1º Ciclo

A inclusão de alunos com necessidades educativas especiais (NEE) no sistema educativo não tem sido fácil para as escolas nem para os professores, uma vez que exige mudanças na organização escolar e nas práticas curriculares. Este estudo centra-se nas decisões de planeamento curricular e estratégias de ensino protagonizadas por professores que lecionam em turmas inclusivas e tem como objetivo identificar conceções e práticas de diferenciação curricular para alunos com NEE. O estudo incide sobre 4 professores e respetivas turmas do 1º ciclo do Ensino Básico do mesmo Agrupamento de Escolas. Como processo de recolha dos dados utilizámos a entrevista e a observação direta. Concluímos que os professores assumem a necessidade de implementar adequações curriculares como resposta às diferenças e particularidades de cada aluno. No entanto, revelaram dificuldades ao nível da gestão curricular em turmas inclusivas e as práticas que desenvolvem nem sempre facilitam a implementação das adequações que reconhecem ser necessárias.

Kielikeskuksissa toimivien kieltenopettajien käsityksiä ja kokemuksia massayliopiston luomista haasteista

Challenges of mass university conceived and experienced by university language centre language teachers The massification of the university involved not only an expansion but also a transition from one period to another, from elite higher education to mass higher education. Massification cannot be viewed as expansion and structural change but it has to be viewed in a context of a number of changes involving universities, state, economy, society and culture as well as science, technology, education and research. In the Finnish academic context, massification is often associated with negative development and it may be used as an excuse for poor teaching. The objective of the present study is to find out how the mass context is manifested in the work of university language centre language teachers. The data were collected by means of semi-structured questionnaires from 32 language teachers working at language centres at the universities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Tampere and Turku in Finland. Both Finnish and native speakers, 6 male and 26 female teachers, were included. All the teachers in the study had taught more than 10 years. The data were complemented by interviews of four teachers and email data from one teacher. Phenomenographic analysis of the informants’ conceptions enabled a description of their experiences of students at a mass university, conceptions of teaching and learning and of issues related to work health. Some conceptions were consonant with earlier results. The conceptions revealed differences between two teacher groups, teachers of subject-specific language, or language for specific purposes (LSP), and teachers of elementary and advanced language courses (general language teachers). For the first, the conceptions of the investigated teachers provided a picture of the students as a member of a mass university. The students were seen as customers who demanded special services to facilitate their studies or were selective about the contents of the course. The finding that appeared only in the LSP teachers’ data was the unengaged attitude towards language study, which appeared as mere hunt for credits. On the other hand, the students were also seen as language learning individuals, but a clear picture of a truly interested language learner was evident in the data of general language teachers. The teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning revealed a picture of experienced teachers with a long background of teaching, reflecting experiences from different time periods and influences from their own education and illustrating the increasing problems with organizing individual tutoring due to large, heterogeneous groups. It seemed, however, that in spite of the large student groups, general language teachers were able to support the students’ learning processes and to use learner-centred methods, whereas LSP teachers were frequently compelled to resort to knowledge transmission type of teaching. The conditions of the mass university were clearly manifested in the respondents’ conceptions about work satisfaction: there were a number of factors related to administration, teaching arrangements and the status of the language centres that were likely to add to the teachers’ work stress, whereas traditional characteristics of academic work were viewed as promoting work satisfaction. On the basis of the teachers’ conceptions, it is safe to assume that academic mass context and students’ orientations have an effect on the teacher’s approach to teaching, while there is no unequivocal association between mass university teaching and poor teaching.

Alfabetização: dinâmica das práticas didáticas e as interações das crianças com a linguagem escrita

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Ciclo alfabetização: as propostas e as práticas pedagógicas

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

Concepções e práticas de ensino na educação infantil: psicologia e educação

The general objective of this work is to analyze the conceptions of teaching and learning of kindergarten teachers use in their teaching practices and resources they adopt to work the subjects with the children. As a starting point for the research we considered the assumption that the teaching activities of teachers were supported by some principles of the psychogenetic paradigm, the theoretical basis of the constructivist pedagogical movement. However, by means of the observations and analysis carried out, our hypothesis was not consolidated because the practices of teachers and their conceptions of learning differ from the constructivist perspective announced. What can be concluded is that these teachers understand their role and the role of the school, more specifically the processes of teaching, as something that actually promotes the intellectual development of children effectively.

Concepções e práticas de avaliação de professores de ciências físico-químicas do ensino básico

Este estudo teve como objetivo caracterizar as concepções e práticas de avaliação de professores portugueses de Ciências Físico-Químicas do ensino básico e conhecer como estes integram a avaliação nas suas aulas no contexto de uma reorganização curricular. Realizaram-se três estudos de caso, em que participaram professores com menos de três anos de serviço. A recolha de dados consistiu na observação naturalista de aulas, entrevistas semiestruturadas e documentos fornecidos pelos participantes. Os resultados evidenciam duas concepções de avaliação das aprendizagens: avaliação da aprendizagem e avaliação para a aprendizagem. Um dos participantes evidencia uma concepção de avaliação da aprendizagem, valorizando uma avaliação de natureza sumativa. Os professores com uma concepção sobre avaliação para a aprendizagem promovem uma avaliação orientada para a melhoria das aprendizagens, valorizando o carácter formativo da avaliação. Relativamente às práticas avaliativas dos três participantes, verificou-se que os critérios de avaliação não são explicitados aos alunos, o feedback é pouco frequente e os alunos têm um papel reduzido no processo de avaliação. Todos os professores demonstram dificuldades na avaliação das competências atitudinais e processuais, sendo que, apenas um dos participantes elabora registos de observação para avaliar estas competências. Os testes constituem o principal instrumento de avaliação nas aulas dos professores participantes neste estudo, o que é coerente com uma concepção de ensino e aprendizagem ainda, marcadamente tradicional.

Concepções e práticas de avaliação de professores de ciências físico-químicas do ensino básico

Este estudo teve como objetivo caracterizar as concepções e práticas de avaliação de professores portugueses de Ciências Físico-Químicas do ensino básico e conhecer como estes integram a avaliação nas suas aulas no contexto de uma reorganização curricular. Realizaram-se três estudos de caso, em que participaram professores com menos de três anos de serviço. A recolha de dados consistiu na observação naturalista de aulas, entrevistas semiestruturadas e documentos fornecidos pelos participantes. Os resultados evidenciam duas concepções de avaliação das aprendizagens: avaliação da aprendizagem e avaliação para a aprendizagem. Um dos participantes evidencia uma concepção de avaliação da aprendizagem, valorizando uma avaliação de natureza sumativa. Os professores com uma concepção sobre avaliação para a aprendizagem promovem uma avaliação orientada para a melhoria das aprendizagens, valorizando o carácter formativo da avaliação. Relativamente às práticas avaliativas dos três participantes, verificou-se que os critérios de avaliação não são explicitados aos alunos, o feedback é pouco frequente e os alunos têm um papel reduzido no processo de avaliação. Todos os professores demonstram dificuldades na avaliação das competências atitudinais e processuais, sendo que, apenas um dos participantes elabora registos de observação para avaliar estas competências. Os testes constituem o principal instrumento de avaliação nas aulas dos professores participantes neste estudo, o que é coerente com uma concepção de ensino e aprendizagem ainda, marcadamente tradicional.