Perceptions of kanji learning strategies: Do they differ among Chinese character and alphabetic background learners

This study investigates three important issues in kanji learning strategies; namely, strategy use, effectiveness of strategy and orthographic background. A questionnaire on kanji learning strategy use and perceived effectiveness was administered to 116 beginner level, undergraduate students of Japanese from alphabetic and character backgrounds in Australia. Both descriptive and statistical analyses of the questionnaire responses revealed that the strategies used most often are the most helpful. Repeated writing was reported as the most used strategy type although alphabetic background learners reported using repeated writing strategies significantly more often than character background learners. The importance of strategy training and explicit instruction of fundamental differences between character and alphabetic background learners of Japanese is discussed in relation to teaching strategies. [Author abstract]

Use of web-based formative assessment to support student learning in metabolism/nutrition unit

In 2002, an integrated basic science course was introduced into the Bachelor of Dental Sciences programme at the University of Queensland, Australia. Learning activities for the Metabolism and Nutrition unit within this integrated course included lectures, problem-based learning tutorials, computer-based self-directed learning exercises and practicals. To support student learning and assist students to develop the skills necessary to become lifelong learners, an extensive bank of formative assessment questions was set up using the commercially available package, WebCT®. Questions included short-answer, multiple-choice and extended matching questions. As significant staff time was involved in setting up the question database, the extent to which students used the formative assessment and their perceptions of its usefulness to their learning were evaluated to determine whether formative assessment should be extended to other units within the course. More than 90% of the class completed formative assessment tasks associated with learning activities scheduled in the first two weeks of the block, but this declined to less than 50% by the fourth and final week of the block. Patterns of usage of the formative assessment were also compared in students who scored in the top 10% for all assessment for the semester with those who scored in the lowest 10%. High-performing students accessed the Web-based formative assessment about twice as often as those who scored in the lowest band. However, marks for the formative assessment tests did not differ significantly between the two groups. In a questionnaire that was administered at the completion of the block, students rated the formative assessment highly, with 80% regarding it as being helpful for their learning. In conclusion, although substantial staff time was required to set up the question database, this appeared to be justified by the positive responses of the students.

Learning about life and death in early childhood

Inagaki and Hatano (2002) have argued that young children initially understand biological phenomena in terms of vitalism, a mode of construal in which life or life-force is the central causal-explanatory concept. This study investigated the development of vitalistic reasoning in young children's concepts of life, the human body and death. Sixty preschool children between the ages of 3 years, 7 months and 5 years, 11 months participated. All children were initially given structured interviews to assess their knowledge of (1) human body function and (2) death. From this sample 40 children in the Training group were taught about the human body and how it functions to maintain life. The Control group (n = 20) received no training. All 60 children were subsequently reassessed on their knowledge of human body function and death. Results from the initial interviews indicated that young children who spontaneously appealed to vitalistic concepts in reasoning about human body functioning were also more sophisticated in their understanding of death. Results from the posttraining interviews showed that children readily learned to adopt a vitalistic approach to human body functioning, and that this learning coincided with significant development in their understanding of human body function, and of death. The overall pattern of results supports the claim that the acquisition of a vitalistic causal-explanatory framework serves to structure children's concepts and facilitates learning in the domain of biology. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Cartografando movimentos curriculares produzidos nas redes de conversações nos encontrosformações do PROEJA/IFES/ES

Problematiza a constituição do currículo (e da “formação docente” no campo curricular), no cotidiano escolar, na dimensão das conversações. Objetiva acompanhar os movimentos curriculares concernentes ao Proeja entre formas e forças complexas no cotidiano do Ifes – campus Venda Nova do Imigrante (VNI). Compõe com as linhas de pensamentos principalmente de Alves (2008, 2010, 2012); Carvalho (2004, 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2012); Deleuze (1988, 2002, 2010); Deleuze e Guattari (1995); Ferraço (2007, 2008a, 2008b); Garcia (2011); Guattari (1987, 2004, 2012); Kastrup (2009, 2013); Lopes e Macedo (2011); Lopes (2010, 2011); Oliveira (2005, 2009, 2012); Paiva (2004, 2009); Rolnik (1989); e Spinoza (2013), entremeando os conceitos de movimentos e afetos no campo do currículo em redes na relação híbrida com os encontros-formações docente do/no Proeja. Adota a (não) metodologia cartográfica ao acompanhar movimentos curriculares (des)(re)territorializantes nas redes de conversações, especialmente nos encontrosformações: “Rodas de conversas com professores e demais servidores do Proeja”. Utiliza como principais instrumentos metodológicos a observação participante, a gravação das vozes e o registro em diário de campo. Contribui para outros movimentos de pesquisa ao capturar produzir e analisar dados em que se percebe que: ainda que tenha ocorrido um planejamento coletivo, outras temáticas surgiram nos encontros formações (que não se pretendiam engessados e não objetivavam a paralisação dos fluxos que pedem passagem), e tais assuntos puderam ser usados como disparadores para criação de outros movimentos curriculares; as concepções dos professores sobre a “dificuldade/facilidade” em ministrar aulas para o Proeja e os lugares estabelecidos entre estudantes e docentes no processo ensino-aprendizagem não estão relacionados diretamente, em relação de causa e efeito, à disciplina/área de conhecimento específica que ministram, mas aos agenciamentos, aos ligamentos e às rupturas produzidas nas relações com essas redes de saberes fazeres poderes que envolvem múltiplos agentes: docentes, outros servidores, alunos, experiências e encontros múltiplos dentro fora no espaço tempo do Ifes; uma tríade-refrão coopera para a criação de uma fôrma triangular que enfatiza a noção de um padrão em um processo molar enraizado nas árvores do conhecimento: perfil, seleção e nivelamento, contudo, algumas linhas de fuga dissonantes são criadas por entre as fissuras dos pretensos tons harmônicos; as frases “os professores do IF não estão preparados para ministrar aulas para o Proeja” ou “não há formação/qualificação para os docentes se relacionarem com o Proeja” são utilizadas, em alguns discursos, como escudos-argumentos para a opção-política de não oferta de vagas para a modalidade EJA em composição com fios que afirmam tal especificidade da educação básica, dentro da rede federal, como um “favor social”; processos que envolvem a (des)organização da matriz curricular são considerados por alguns participantes como início, “produto” e objetivo das conversas curriculares e provocam tensões que (i)mobilizam, (não) movimentam entre os afetos dos corpos, podendo levar à (não) ação coletiva; a noção de “mercado de trabalho” ainda impera nos discursos, ciclicamente, enquanto início fim das problematizações do currículo do Ensino Médio e da EJA; a expressão “integração curricular” é constantemente usada nos discursos que circulam o campus, no entanto, os sentidos produzidos, as concepções e as teorias curriculares que embasam a noção de “integração” no currículo são bem diversos; não há totalidades nos discursos, não há homogeneização, não foi efetivada nenhuma coesão/única voz representante (e esse também não era o objetivo desta pesquisa); ainda que o tema da roda se propusesse às conversas curriculares do/no Proeja, nesses encontros, os participantes manifestaram a necessidade de intensificar os movimentos produzidos nas rodas visando à discussão dos currículos textos de todos os cursos e modalidades ofertados pelos campus VNI e na intensificação de espaços para trocas de experiências curriculares cotidianas; na potencialização das diferenças como possibilidades de inventividade nos encontros-formações docente e nas danças curriculares que envolvem diversas relações de aprendizagem no Ifes, algumas experimentações foram produzidas, entre afetos, criando composições(des)(re)territorializantes e ressonando com movimentos que não se restringiram às rodas de conversas, contudo, enredaram-se em fios de outros espaços tempos do campus em tentativas de propagações de currículos multidão.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF A MASTER DEGREE IN ANIMATION AND ILLUSTRATION

This paper aims to describe the processes of teaching illustration and animation, together, in the context of a masters degree program. In Portugal, until very recently, illustration and animation higher education courses, were very scarce and only provided by a few private universities, which offered separated programs - either illustration or animation. The MA in Illustration and Animation (MIA) based in the Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e Ave in Portugal, dared to join these two creative areas in a common learning model and is already starting it’s third edition with encouraging results and will be supported by the first international conference on illustration and animation (CONFIA). This masters program integrates several approaches and techniques (in illustration and animation) and integrates and encourages creative writing and critique writing. This paper describes the iterative process of construction, and implementation of the program as well as the results obtained on the initial years of existence in terms of pedagogic and learning conclusions. In summary, we aim to compare pedagogic models of animation or illustration teaching in higher education opposed to a more contemporary and multidisciplinary model approach that integrates the two - on an earlier stage - and allows them to be developed separately – on the second part of the program. This is based on the differences and specificities of animation (from classic techniques to 3D) and illustration (drawing the illustration) and the intersection area of these two subjects within the program structure focused on the students learning and competencies acquired to use in professional or authorial projects.

Teaching and learning production and operations management: the journey from identity crisis to a cross, disciplinary approach

Este artigo tem suas raízes em algumas questões relacionadas à "forma" e ao "conteúdo" do que nós, professores, ensinamos na área de Administração da Produção e Operações. Inicialmente, descrevo a evolução histórica desse campo no Brasil. Em seguida, discuto a crise de identidade que o campo está sofrendo. Com o objetivo de apresentar respostas para essa situação, apresento seis propostas para o desenvolvimento e consolidação do campo. Finalmente, descrevo uma iniciativa prática, envolvendo uma disciplina específica da área, ensinada para alunos de pós-graduação. Essa iniciativa enfatiza a "dimensão do conteúdo" (de uma abordagem técnico-operacional para uma abordagem estratégico-gerencial) como também a "dimensão da forma" (do foco no ensino para o foco no aprendizado). O sucesso dessa experiência em curso confirma a coerência da agenda proposta e induz futuros aperfeiçoamentos.

Systems thinking: learning or driving?

The ability to foresee how behaviour of a system arises from the interaction of its components over time - i.e. its dynamic complexity – is seen an important ability to take effective decisions in our turbulent world. Dynamic complexity emerges frequently from interrelated simple structures, such as stocks and flows, feedbacks and delays (Forrester, 1961). Common sense assumes an intuitive understanding of their dynamic behaviour. However, recent researches have pointed to a persistent and systematic error in people understanding of those building blocks of complex systems. This paper describes an empirical study concerning the native ability to understand systems thinking concepts. Two different groups - one, academic, the other, professional – submitted to four tasks, proposed by Sweeney and Sterman (2000) and Sterman (2002). The results confirm a poor intuitive understanding of the basic systems concepts, even when subjects have background in mathematics and sciences.

A Feedback Learning and Mental Models Perspective on Strategic Decision Making

This study aims to be a contribution to a theoretical model that explains the effectiveness of the learning and decision-making processes by means of a feedback and mental models perspective. With appropriate mental models, managers should be able to improve their capacity to deal with dynamically complex contexts, in order to achieve long-term success. We present a set of hypotheses about the influence of feedback information and systems thinking facilitation on mental models and management performance. We explore, under controlled conditions, the role of mental models in terms of structure and behaviour. A test based on a simulation experiment with a system dynamics model was performed. Three out of the four hypotheses were confirmed. Causal diagramming positively influences mental model structure similarity, mental model structure similarity positively influences mental model behaviour similarity, and mental model behaviour similarity positively influences the quality of the decision.

Systems thinking: learning or driving?

The ability to foresee how behaviour of a system arises from the interaction of its components over time - i.e. its dynamic complexity – is seen an important ability to take effective decisions in our turbulent world. Dynamic complexity emerges frequently from interrelated simple structures, such as stocks and flows, feedbacks and delays (Forrester, 1961). Common sense assumes an intuitive understanding of their dynamic behaviour. However, recent researches have pointed to a persistent and systematic error in people understanding of those building blocks of complex systems. This paper describes an empirical study concerning the native ability to understand systems thinking concepts. Two different groups - one, academic, the other, professional – submitted to four tasks, proposed by Sweeney and Sterman (2000) and Sterman (2002). The results confirm a poor intuitive understanding of the basic systems concepts, even when subjects have background in mathematics and sciences.

A Feedback Learning and Mental Models Perspective on Strategic Decision Making

This study aims to be a contribution to a theoretical model that explains the effectiveness of the learning and decision-making processes by means of a feedback and mental models perspective. With appropriate mental models, managers should be able to improve their capacity to deal with dynamically complex contexts, in order to achieve long-term success. We present a set of hypotheses about the influence of feedback information and systems thinking facilitation on mental models and management performance. We explore, under controlled conditions, the role of mental models in terms of structure and behaviour. A test based on a simulation experiment with a system dynamics model was performed. Three out of the four hypotheses were confirmed. Causal diagramming positively influences mental model structure similarity, mental model structure similarity positively influences mental model behaviour similarity, and mental model behaviour similarity positively influences the quality of the decision

Mortality problems in Brazil and in Germany: past-present-future. Learning from each other?

This article was written by a Swiss-German historical demographer after having visited different Brazilian Universities in 1984 as a guest-professor. It aims at promoting a real dialog between developed and developing countries, commencing the discussion with the question: Can we learn from each other? An affirmative answer is given, but not in the superficial manner in which the discussion partners simply want to give each other some "good advice" or in which the one declares his country's own development to be the solely valid standard. Three points are emphasized: 1. Using infant mortality in S. Paulo from 1908 to 1983 as an example, it is shown that Brazil has at its disposal excellent, highly varied research literature that is unjustifiably unknown to us (in Europe) for the most part. Brazil by no means needs our tutoring lessons as regards the causal relationships; rather, we could learn two things from Brazil about this. For one, it becomes clear that our almost exclusively medical-biological view is inappropriate for passing a judgment on the present-day problems in Brazil and that any conclusions so derived are thus only transferable to a limited extent. For another, we need to reinterpret the history of infant mortality in our own countries up to the past few decades in a much more encompassing "Brazilian" sense. 2. A fruitful dialog can only take place if both partners frankly present their problems. For this reason, the article refers with much emprasis to our present problems in dealing with death and dying - problems arising near the end of the demographic and epidemiologic transitions: the superanuation of the population, chronic-incurable illnesses as the main causes of death, the manifold dependencies of more and more elderly and really old people at the end of a long life. Brazil seems to be catching up to us in this and will be confronted with these problems sooner or later. A far-sighted discussion already at this time seems thus to be useful. 3. The article, however, does not want to conclude with the rather depressing state of affairs of problems alternatingly superseding each other. Despite the caution which definitely has a place when prognoses are being made on the basis of extrapolations from historical findings, the foreseeable development especially of the epidemiologic transition in the direction of a rectangular survival curve does nevertheless provide good reason for being rather optimistic towards the future: first in regards to the development in our own countries, but then - assuming that the present similar tendencies of development are stuck to - also in regard to Brazil.