O ensino de empreendedorismo com fundamento na teoria effectuation

O objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender como professores ao redor do mundo ensinam empreendedorismo com fundamento na teoria effectuation. A pesquisa utiliza a metodologia de estudo de caso múltiplo para análise de cinco experiências em educação empreendedora em nível universitário, realizadas em cinco instituições de ensino de quatro países diferentes com intuito de compreender o contexto dessas experiências, a estrutura dos cursos, as metodologias de ensino utilizadas e as percepções de docentes e alunos sobre essas experiências. O estudo traz inicialmente um breve histórico sobre a evolução do ensino de empreendedorismo nos Estados Unidos e no Brasil. Ato contínuo, o estudo faz uma análise da evolução das perspectivas teóricas utilizadas para compreensão do fenômeno empreendedor e relaciona essas perspectivas às metodologias de ensino utilizadas para o ensino de empreendedorismo, com destaque para a recente discussão sobre a perspectiva do empreendedorismo como método. A teoria effectuation é apresentada em seguida e introduz seus os princípios norteadores e as teorias que deram origem à sua formulação. A análise dos casos resulta em contribuições teóricas referentes à estruturação de perguntas de pesquisa que relacionam a utilização da teoria effectuation no ensino de empreendedorismo ao aumento da intenção dos alunos em empreender e que analisam a influência da cultura e da formação dos alunos no processo de ensino e aprendizado. As contribuições práticas, por sua vez, referem-se à identificação do elemento integrador das metodologias de ensino de empreendedorismo com fundamento na teoria effectuation, da identificação de metodologias de ensino emergentes e da contribuição da teoria para o desenvolvimento do ensino de empreendedorismo no Brasil. Assim, os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem para aumentar o conhecimento existente sobre a utilização da teoria effectuation no ensino de empreendedorismo e sobre os efeitos dessa introdução, bem como por meio da formulação de perguntas de pesquisa para direcionamento de esforços de pesquisa futuros.

Vocabulário técnico e formação dos profissionais da área têxtil: necessidade, elaboração e avaliação de um dicionário de terminologia do vestuário

This research work deals with the compilation of a dictionary on clothing terminology intended to be used as a pedagogic tool as part of the teaching and learning process in the Textile Engineering Course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. The main terms were selected and assessed by a team of textile teachers and students with the objective to be structured as a conceptual body of information on the following sub-areas of clothing terminology: materials (fabrics and trimmings) and products (garments). This research comprises three main steps: (a) characterization and understanding of the technical vocabulary in the clothing area as well as the identification of a pedagogic demand for a dictionary on clothing terminology, clearly expressed by the textile lecturers and students involved in the assessment of the need and validation of this project development; (b) a proposal for a specific methodology for the compilation of the dictionary which could help the communication process in the lecturing of clothing terminology and (c) based on the terminological principles and the technique of focal groups the dictionary was assessed. The technique of focal groups was used in the first step. In the second step the technique used was that of the terminological methodology adapted to the teaching approach in the Textile Course. In the third step the technique of focal groups was again utilized. It was observed that the main concern of lecturers and students is the lack of a standardized vocabulary, which renders difficult the communication process in both the teaching and learning activities as well as the professional ones in the textile industries. Various aspects, which can overlap, cause this lack of standardization. The main ones pointed out by the study team in the focal groups are: usage of regional words or expressions, usage of foreign words or expressions, analogies, and the low level of formal education, mainly among the industry workers. Another aspect to be considered is the lack of textile literature written in the Portuguese language of Brazil. This evidence shows the importance of a clothing terminology dictionary which will benefit both the education and professional activties in this field of knowledge. This dictionary will also give a substantial contribution to terminological standardization in our research field. With view to fulfill this demand, a dictionary of clothing terminology was compiled with 760 main entries, according to the modern practice in terminology with the necessary modifications concerning our needs. The result of the dictionary assessment was very assertive regarding its structure, contents and possible use in various contexts. The team work emphasized their contribution to the standardization process of the terms that proved to be one of the most important and difficult aspects of this researh work. The significance of this structured terminological dictionary was confirmed by the focal group participants relating to its use for teaching and learning activities, as a reference book, as a source of technical information and also as a tool for pedagogic studies and planning, as well as a significant collaboration to the pedagogic practices in the textile engineering course at University or any other educational institution. Besides, this dictionary can also be used to supply information within the textile field. We are aware that the present work will not exhaust the objectives of this research due to its limitations in opposition to the vast complexity demanded by the compilation of a complete work including all the areas and sub-areas of textile engineering. However, it is an important source for dissemination of concepts on the field of clothing terminology and a tool to effective standardization of the terms used in this subject field

Corporeidade e educação: sinfonia de saberes na educação musical

This study investigates the implications between the musical theory and pedagogical practice based on a study that questions the reasons why some students feel incapable of learning the music language, as well as, if the musical codes are truly so difficult to be apprehended by them. To answer these questions takes itself as reference, the classes I have minister while teaching the disciplines: Music Workshop and Music Language I in the Art Department, Scenic Art Course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. I have searched the knowledge that constitutes the teacher formation based on the union between the pedagogical efficiency and sensibility, searching in the Corporality the theoretical port for my investigation. This way, advocating is a methodological principle for musical education originated from the experience of knowledge: creating, playing, feeling, thinking, and the interaction among them, conducting the students not only to music learning, but to a process of human formation. It adopts itself as methodological resource, amongst the qualitative methods, some of the techniques that are associated with the ethnographic research, for having as its main objective, to study the meaning of the actions and events of the investigated group. The analysis of the data leads to the conclusion that when the teacher displays his or her pedagogical knowledge in an environment constructed with affectivity, in a playful and pleasant form, the assimilation and construction of the musical concepts happen naturally and efficiently, surpassing the taboo that music learning is only possible to the especially well endowed people for music. Very aware that the scientific debate is important for the strengthening of formative programs involved in the growth and consolidation of the musical teaching and learning area, it is expected to promote this research discussions and reflections in the general educational field with this research, as well as, to contribute significantly to the specific growth of musical education

A (re)significação conceptual nas práticas colaborativas com professores do Ensino Fundamental

The work objectified to apprehend the degree of the teachers' concept concerning the territory concept and to intervene with situations of critical reflections to accompany and to analyze the process of conceptual elaboration. It contemplates on the (new)meaning of knowledge and (new)elaboration of the concept in study done inside a pedagogic intervention. The Municipal School Dr. Julio Senna - Ceará-Mirim/RN and six (6) teacher-collaborators that taught in the 3rd and 4th grades of the fundamental teaching, constitutes the empiric field of the research. Its theoretical-methodological contributions are built in the studies of Vigotski (2000a, 2000b and 2001) on the formation process and development of concepts; in the methodology colaborate (Ibiapina (2004), Bartomé (1986), Kemmis and Mctaggart (1988), Arnal, Del Ricon and Latorre (1992), Pepper and Ghedin (2002), among others) and in the critical-reflexive conception of the Geography (Soares Júnior (2000 and 1994), Silva (1998), Raffestin (1993), Santos (1994), Felipe (1998), among others). The accomplishment of the work presupposed starting from the reflections on the following subjects: which the teachers' understanding in the school space concerning the territory concept? How does happen the process of conceptual construction territory for the teachers? The analysis of the teachers' previous knowledge on the concept in study, evidenced that its apprehensions on the attributes of the referred concept went mentioned the to light of the perceptible dimension of the real-concrete relationships of the reality linked to the degree of the spontaneous concepts and followed by the ideas of the traditional, humanistic and cultural geographical conceptions (positivism and phenomenology), restricting the territory meaning the notion of State-Nation and place of the men's dwelling. In the intervention process, it was verified to real possibility of the acquisition of indispensable scientific concepts to the process of (new)meaning conceptual of geographical knowledge through the continuous practice of the educational formation, when it was evidenced that the teacher-collaborators acquired high degrees of attributions of the significance of the territory concept to the they elaborate generalizations by means of analyses and syntheses of the concept-attribute (essential and multiples) of the reference conceptual in study

Como vão se formando os professores em física e química: embates entre o ser, o ter e o fazer na formação de licenciandos da UFRN sob a perspectiva da teoria das representações sociais

The purpose of this work is to approach and understand the Social Representations (SR) (MOSCOVICI, 2003) about Physics and Chemistry from people who are major in these courses, as well as their Social Representations about teaching . We took as principle that approaching these representations it would be possible to relate their symbolic contents, in order to show how people who are following the first segments of bachelor degree courses in Physics and Chemistry become teachers, taking into account a psychosocial view. Two source of data was used during this research: Free-association Technique FA (ABRIC, 1994); and Multiple Classification Procedure (MCP) (ROAZZI, 1995). The analytical treatment of the collected data from FA was done according to the proposition of Grize, Vergés and Silem (1987 apud ABRIC, 1994, p. 66). MCP data were analyzed through MSA (Multidimensional Scalogram Analysis) and SSA (Singular Spectrum Analysis) methods associated with the Facet Theory (BILSKY, 2003). The discourses of MCP discussing groups at the moment of explanations were studied by Content Analysis as it was proposed by Bardin (1977) and Franco (2005). Indicative of an approach to the relations with knowledge (CHARLOT, 2000), the connections which aroused from the analyses showed that the group of future majors in Physics thought that this scientific field was based on a rationalist conception, influencing the idealization sense of the phenomena to be explained by Physics. Thus, Physics as school content started to require the student of the fundamental and high school to think abstractly as a cognitive skill of learning. The identifying elements observed in the relations between SR about Physics and Teaching aroused from the antagonism between future majors and their teacher, as well as from the speculation between their fundamental and high school students and themselves, mainly when they had to face the act of teaching due to the obstacles imposed by the own educational system, and by the weakness of the initial preparation. The group of future majors in Chemistry, through its discourses, showed these relations when they conceived empiricist Chemistry and said that teaching was the way of transmission of this knowledge, and didactics of Chemistry teaching was the direction to learning through pedagogic methods in order to lead the students to discoveries. The psychosocial contents which were built and showed from the symbolic relations in the studied SR achieved the relation of identity. This relation revealed identifying elements for these people, resulting from the traffic between their condition as students of Chemistry, and as teachers regarding their work, what placed the current relational contents in the teaching space, named as Knowledge changing and Adaptability . In order to study emerging questions in the discussing environment about formation and teaching professionalization, we focused the psychosocial view on this traffic and managed to observe epistemological practical and pedagogic obstacles that limited a configuration of the teaching work as a professional activity, especially from the particular conditions which led the relations of senses to Physics , Chemistry and Teaching ; and Chemistry and Physics as it was seen in this research. Generally speaking, we noted that these obstacles can denounce such obstacles concerning to the pedagogic doings which mainly impair the learning process of fundamental and high school students

Utilizando processos geométricos da história da matemática para o ensino de equações do 2º grau

The present work had as principal objective to analyze the, 9th grade students understanding about the solutions of an equation of the 2° degree, using geometric processes of the History of the Mathematics. To do so, the research had as base the elaboration and application of a group of teaching activities, based on Jean Piaget's construtivism. The research consisted of a methodological intervention, that has as subjects the students of a group of 9th grade of the State School José Martins de Vasconcelos, located in the municipal district of Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte. The intervention was divided in three stages: application of an initial evaluation; development of activities‟ module with emphasis in constructive teaching; and the application of the final evaluation. The data presented in the initial evaluation revealed a low level of the students' understanding with relationship to the calculation of areas of rectangles, resolution of equations of the 1st and 2nd degrees, and they were to subsidize the elaboration of the teaching module. The data collected in the initial evaluation were commented and presented under descriptive statistics form. The results of the final evaluation were analyzed under the qualitative point of view, based on Richard Skemp's theory on the understanding of mathematical concepts. The general results showed a qualitative increase with relationship to the students' understanding on the mathematical concepts approached in the intervention. Such results indicate that a methodology using the previous student‟s knowledge and the development of teaching activities, learning in the construtivist theory, make possible an understanding on the part of the students concerning the thematic proposal

Formação da habilidade de interpretar gráficos cartesianos em licenciandos em química segundo a teoria de P. Ya. Galperin

It has been remarkable among the Science Teaching debates the necessity that students do not learn only theories, laws and concepts, but also develop skills which allows them to act towards a critical citizenship. Therefore, some of the skills for the natural sciences learning must be taught consciously, intentionally and in a planned way, as component of a basic competence. Studies of the last twenty years have shown that students and teachers have plenty of difficulties about skills development and, among several, the skill of interpreting Cartesian graphics, essential for the comprehension of Natural Science. In that sense, the development of that type of professional knowledge during the initial education of future Chemistry teachers has become strategic, not only because they need to know how to use it, but also because they need to know how to teach it. This research has as its general objective the organization, development and study of a process of formation of the skill of interpreting Cartesian graphics as part of the teachers professional knowledge. It has been accomplished through a formative experience with six undergraduate students of the Teaching Degree Course of Chemistry of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte), in Brazil. In order to develop that skill, we have used as reference P. Ya. Galperin s Theory of the Stepwise Formation of Mental Actions and Concepts and its following qualitative indicators: action form, degree of generalization, degree of consciousness, degree of independence and degree of solidness. The research, in a qualitative approach, has prioritized as instruments of data collecting the registering of the activities of the undergraduate students, the observation, the questionnaire and the diagnosis tests. At the first moment, a teaching framework has been planned for the development of the skill of interpreting Cartesian graphics based on the presupposed conceptions and steps of Galperin s Theory. At the second moment, the referred framework has been applied and the process of the skill formation has been studied. The results have shown the possibility of develop the skill conscious about the invariant operation system, with a high degree of generalization and internalized the operational invariant in the mental plane. The students have attested the contributions at that type of formative experience. The research reveals the importance of going deeper about the teaching comprehension of the individualities tied to the process of internalization, according to Galperin s Theory, when the update of abilities as part of the teaching professional knowledge is the issue

O Evangelho segundo a Pastoral da Criança :por uma pedagogia da sobrevivência

This work aims to analyze social and educational actions at Pastoral da Criança, using education as a survival tool. This was done at Parque dos Coqueiros, a neighborhood in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The methodology for data collection was composed of comprehensive interview (Jean Kaufmann), participant observation (Robert Bogdan) and documental analysis (Le Goff); all os which bring reflections related to concepts such as strategies, tatics and know how (Michel de Certeau), configuration (Nobert Elias), and control technology (Michel de Foucault), care ethics (Leonardo Boff) and etno-theories (Natália Ramos). Pastoral da Criança is a social action organism that belongs to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, originated at Florestópolis, Londrina (Paraná), in the year of 1983. These actions have been an expression of a new logic of actions of the Catholic Church. It values the participation of laymen in the activities of the Pastoral. Thus, the parish is seen as a nucleus that irradiates the Church s Social Doctrine. At Rio Grande do Norte this institution has guided poverty stricken families on issues related to children s health as well as working with laymen for volunteer work. This is considered devotion, that is firmed by an individual and group mystique. The social and educational actions are done in three axes: 1) Monthly home visits, where there is mother-child support; 2) Life Celebration Day, where they weigh children and promote nutritional surveillance; 3) Meeting for Evaluation and Reflection, that aims to articulate community leaders to think about problems attached to the social actions they realize. This action tripod , as it is called by the Pastoral Agents are the types of actions that fundament survival education for poor children ranging from 0 to 6 years old. The families learn to deal with prevention, the essential, the alternative and probabilities of survival tactics due to exclusion matters or even social extermination. The Pastoral da Criança aims to recover childhood emotions in poverty stricken areas. It also has influence in the diminishing of malnutrition and mother and child mortality. This education for survival is the base on the art of teaching and learning of poverty stricken children. It is a social educational action, non assistencialist, but considered a shy action in order to promote mobilization of the communities that are accompanied for the emancipation and change of social conditions

Ensino do processo de enfermagem: visão dos discentes de graduação de Natal/RN

The nursing process (NP) it s the systematized way of offering humanized care with the objective of reaching the expected results. The concern of the health and education institutions of elaborating implementation strategies of it is growing. The objective of this research was to know the vision of the senior students of the nursing graduation courses from Natal/RN, about the teaching of the NP. It s about a descriptive and exploratory study of the qualitative and quantitative type, done in five teaching institutions of the undergraduate nursing course of the municipality of Natal- RN in 2011. The research was composed by 48 students of the last 2 years of the nursing course. The gathering of the data was done through an online survey with open and closed questions via SurveyMonkey. For the quantitative data it was used the descriptive statistics from Microsoft Office Excel and for the qualitative data the Content Analysis of Bardin. The results pointed a predominance of female students (81,25%) with an age between 21- 39 years old (75,00%) and in the last year of the course (62,50%). As the opinion of the students about the NP two categories emerged: 1) Nursing Process as grounded method in scientific knowledge and established in two stages; 2) Nursing Assistance Quality, with two subcategories: Nursing Process as Nursing Practice and Nursing Process as instrument of improvement of the aid quality and promotion of well-being. In relation to the tuition of the NP the students (45,83%) said that the knowledge on the subject of the instructor was good; 81,25% reported that the professors use a traditional teaching methodology with the problem solving components and 45,83% answered that is addressed in specific disciplines in an isolated way starting from the professional line. The phase of NP that the nursing students have more difficulties of learning and implementing, being mentioned 22 times (29,70%). In relation to the student s difficulties, in the fields of supervised internships, in applying the NP it was stated for 83,50% that the barriers were related to the non implementation of the practice, overwork and the lack of trust of the nurse in the NP. The teaching-care strategies described as the internship fields were: the training of nurses to be able to contribute with the University in the implementation of the service and teaching; and the need of the universities to focus, continuously throughout the course, the NP with the involvement and incentive of the instructors in this process. These results show that the NP for the nursing students is a work methodology of the profession that needs to be implemented effectively in the practical reality for its teaching to turn effective and for the future professionals to be able to bring real contributions in the achievement of systematized actions trying to improve the assistance quality and the nursing actions. It is expected that this study could help bringing some strategies to facilitate the merging between theory and practice in teaching the NP and stimulate a discussion about the topic at the Nursing Schools where the research was held together with the coordinators, instructors and students

Mapa de Conteúdos e Mapa de Dependências:Ferramentas Pedagógicas para uma Metodologia de Planejamento baseada em Objetivos Educacionais e sua Implementação em um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem

Furthered mainly by new technologies, the expansion of distance education has created a demand for tools and methodologies to enhance teaching techniques based on proven pedagogical theories. Such methodologies must also be applied in the so-called Virtual Learning Environments. The aim of this work is to present a planning methodology based on known pedagogical theories which contributes to the incorporation of assessment in the process of teaching and learning. With this in mind, the pertinent literature was reviewed in order to identify the key pedagogical concepts needed to the definition of this methodology and a descriptive approach was used to establish current relations between this conceptual framework and distance education. As a result of this procedure, the Contents Map and the Dependence Map were specified and implemented, two teaching tools that promote the planning of a course by taking into account assessment still in this early stage. Inserted on Moodle, the developed tools were tested in a course of distance learning for practical observation of the involved concepts. It could be verified that the methodology proposed by the above-mentioned tools is in fact helpful in course planning and in strengthening educational assessment, placing the student as central element in the process of teaching and learning

As quatro operações básicas: uma compreensão dos procedimentos algorítmicos

The current research had as main objective to analyze the possibility of knowledge elaboration/re-elaboration about ideas and algorithmic procedures related to basic operations by pupils of the 6th degree fundamental teaching in a significant learning process. This way the study had as basis a methodological intervention developed in a 6th degree class of a Fundamental Teaching Municipal School in the city of João Pessoa, PB. The research had as central steps the application of pre-tests (1 and 2); the execution of semi-structured interviews with the pupils involved in the theme deep studies; the elaboration and development of teaching activities, having as referential the significant learning and the application of a pre-test. The data collected in the pre-tests (1 and 2) showed a low level of the pupils comprehension about the contents related to the four operations. The answers to the post-test questions were analyzed mainly from the qualitative point of view based on the mathematic concepts comprehension theory proposed by Skemp (1980) having as complementary subsidy data collected through interviews. The analysis of the results obtained in the post-test showed that the major part of pupils reached a relational comprehension about the ideas and algorithmic procedures related to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Such results showed us that the application of a teaching methodology that privileges the content comprehension, considering the pupils previous knowledge and the reflection about the action along the activities proposed, made possible the elaboration or re-elaboration of knowledge by pupils regarding to contents adopted as theme for our research

Um hipermídia sobre fases da lua para o ensino de astronomia a distância

The interdisciplinary nature of Astronomy makes it a field of great potential to explore various scientific concepts. However, studies show a great lack of understanding of fundamental subjects, including models that explain phenomena that mark everyday life, like the phases of the moon. Particularly in the context of distance education, learning of such models can be favored by the use of technologies of information and communication. Among other possibilities, we highlight the importance of digital materials that motivate and expand the forms of representation available about phenomena and models. It is also important, however, that these materials promote the explicitation of student's conceptions, as well as interaction with the most central aspects of the astronomical model for the phenomenon. In this dissertation we present a hypermedia module aimed at learning about the phases of the moon, drawn from an investigation on the difficulties with the subject during an Astronomy course for teaching training at undergraduate level at UFRN. The tests of three semesters of course were analyzed, taking into account also the alternative conceptions reported in the literature in astronomy education. The product makes use of small texts, questions, images and interactive animations. Emphasizes questions about the illumination of the Moon and other bodies, and their relationship to the sun, the perception from different angles of objects illuminated by a single source, the cause of the alternation between day and night, the identification of Moon's orbit around the Earth and the occurrence of the phases as a result of the position of observing it, and the perception of time involved in the phenomenon. The module incorporated considerations obtained from interviews with students in two poles where its given presential support for students of the course, and subjects from different pedagogical contexts. The final form of the material was used in a real situation of learning, as supplementary material for the final test of the discipline. The material was analyzed by 7 students and 4 tutors, among 56 users, in the period in question. Most students considered that the so called "Lunar Module" made a difference in their learning, the animations were considered the most prominent aspect, the images were indicated as stimulating and enlightening, and the text informative and enjoyable. The analysis of learning of these students, observing their responses to issues raised at the last evaluation, suggested gains in key aspects relating to the understanding of the phases, but also indicates more persistent difficulties. The work leads us to conclude that it is important to seek contributions for the training of science teachers making use of new technologies, with attention to the treatment of computer as a complementary resource. The interviews that preceded the use of the module, and the way student has sought the module if with questions and/or previous conflicts - established great difference in the effective contribution of the material, indicating that it should be used with the mediation of teacher or tutor, or via strategies that cause interactions between students. It is desirable that these interactions are associated with the recovery of memories of the subjects about previous observations and models, as well as the stimulus to new observations of phenomena

Contribuições de uma unidade de ensino potencialmente significativa UEPS para o ensino de ecologia em escola pública da educação básica

The research aims to evaluate the contributions of a teaching unit to enhance the learning contents ecological green areas in elementary school. The work was conducted with elementary students in a public school in Natal-RN. We sought to identify the students´ previous knowledge about the contents of ecology, develop and implement a Potentially Meaningful Teaching Units PMTU; assess learning of ecological concepts in Teaching Unit Potentially Significant; assess the contribution of interpretative trail as strategy teaching to learning content ecology. The survey of students´ previous knowledge through the pre-test was essential to identify the appropriate subsumers and partially correct, since they served as "anchor" for further expansion of scientific concepts contained in this research. The green areas of the school as an educational, contributed the motivational aspect, as students were protagonists throughout the entire process of teaching and learning. The method of stimulated memory was effective to evidence learning ecological concepts in interpretive trails. The use of diverse activities organized on a PMTU promoted intellectual autonomy of the students and facilitated the acquisition of new meanings through progressive differentiation, and integrative reconciliation consolidation of ecological content and concepts related to biotic and abiotic factors on the basis of the central ideas thematic Life and Environment. The development of procedural skills to capture and share meanings, observe, collect and record data, hypotheses, ability to explain, to apply knowledge to solve problem situations, argue, identify, compare, differentiate and relate concepts, negotiate meanings, reflecting Critically, systematize data was evidenced. Collaborative activities promoted the incorporation of attitudinal contents as developing respect for differences, learn to work in teams to plan, develop and implement actions together for citizenship and environmental responsibility. The application of the Potentially Meaningful Teaching Units PMTU showed evidence of Critical meaningful learning ecological concepts covered in elementary school.

Fontes primárias da história do vácuo e da pressão atmosférica na sala de aula: cartas e jornais históricos em articulação com o livro-texto do ensino médio

The use of the History and the Philosophy of Science (HPS) for the teaching of science and scientific subjects has been advocated in recent decades. It has been pointed out that the History of Science could make for a deeper learning of scientific concepts, since it would promote a contact with the problems which that knowledge has set out to solve. Furthermore, historical episodes would serve to put the discussions about the nature of scientific knowledge into context. With a view to explore those potentialities, the literature in the field has sought to identify the challenges and obstacles for the didactic transposition of subjects from the History of Science. Amongst many aspects, the deficiencies in the training of teachers, so that they can work with the insertion of HPS in the classroom have been highlighted. Another aspect that has been mentioned to be a challenge has to do with the didactic transposition of the Primary Sources, that is, of the original texts on the History of Science. The Primary Sources have significant potentialities: making a connection possible between scientists and concepts, showing the difficulties faced during scientific endeavors, perceiving the role of mistakes as obstacles to be surpassed, not as defeat, etc. On the other hand, there has been little exploration of these concepts in an educational context, due to their own peculiarities. The original texts are often hard to understand and their interpretation demands knowledge of the historical and scientific context in which they were written, as well as skills pertaining to the conduction of research in the field of the History of Science. With this scenario in mind, the research towards this Professional MSc degree starts from the challenge of elaborating and discussing proposals which could enable the didactical transposition of the Primary Sources. We have worked specifically with Primary Sources on the History of the Vacuum and of the Atmospheric Pressure, because of the insertion of these subjects in the Brazilian High School curriculum, in connection with the didactical textbooks. "Historic Journals" were made up from clippings of the original historical texts, as was a Didactical Unit, which takes the usual textbooks as a basis and contemplates using the Journals and the entire Primary Sources in High School. At last, we have elaborated and implemented a course designed for the preparation of teachers and for being an opportunity for the discussion of the feasibility of putting these kinds of proposal into practice

The Growing Impact of Niobium in Organic Synthesis and Catalysis

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)