Análise crítica da contribuição da Semana Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para a popularização do conhecimento científico

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

Evasão no cursinho pré-vestibular da FCA/UNESP: a interpretação do aluno evadido

The popular cram schools are voluntary initiatives aimed at people who are not able to afford the cost of private cram schools. The FCA popular cram school integrates a large project from UNESP, which has 30 cram school distributed throughout Sao Paulo State and located in different University units. Among the problems found in popular cram schools, school evasion, characterized when the student quits the course and is very common in this context. Thus, the aim of this work was to identify the profile of the drop out student from the FCA cram school as well as to know the reasons that led them to leave. The survey was conducted in two phases: 1) students´ profile when entering the cram school, through a structured questionnaire, 2) semi-structured interviews by telephone with all the drop out students, trying to identify the reasons that led them to abandon the course. The statistical analysis used was descriptive. Among the reasons that led them to leave, it was found that 65% of the students attributed this attitude to external factors as opposed to 35% who put the internal factors as the decisive reason of their departure. Some of the factors that could be attest for the FCA cram school evasion are: primarily, the heterogeneity of students and their need to work in order to support themselves and their family; students lack of motivation about a long-term success; lack of family encouragement; the difficulty of the student to establish significant personal links with cram school staff and the fact that the professors are mostly undergraduate students from different courses in different areas, with little didactic-pedagogic preparation and inability to work with students' heterogeneity.

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.

Toque da Ciência: bases para um estudo de acompanhamento

This paper discuss the bases for monitoring studies on A Science Touch, a science popularization product developed at Unesp. There are science initiationlevel researches for critical evaluation of the program, sorted in technical appropriation and reception studies and discourse analysis.

Quais saberes são mobilizados para suprir as lacunas na formação inicial referentes à história da ciência?

Nowadays it is increasingly required insertion History of Science on content to be worked in education, which raises many doubts and difficulties on the teachers did not have that content in their initial training. This work results from a qualitative empirical study aimed to investigate how a teacher of Biology and Science in a public school in the city of Bauru - SP was not in their initial training courses relating to the History of Science, mobilizes their knowledge to enter such an approach in their teaching practice. In the research methodology used as its theme the history of DNA present in the materials and also conduct open interviews and field notes to identify the knowledge involved in teaching practice and was adopted as the theoretical framework of Maurice Tardif’s Docent Knowledge. The results showed that even with difficulties arising from gaps in initial training, the teacher resorted to their experiential knowledge to meet these needs in addition to appropriate knowledge from the programs and textbooks, but its shortcomings make it difficult to analyze more critically. Thus, these data lead us to a reflection on the role of textbooks for these teachers is the process by which the consolidation of the knowledge they constructed.

Diferentes percepciones de un mismo ambiente: la cuestión del género en la enseñanza de la ciência

This paper relates some considerations resulting from a thesis study in Biological Sciences held at Universidade Estadual Paulista - Unesp, Bauru Campus. Considering the perceptual act endowed with simultaneous actions of the cognitive apparatus and the individual's life history as the merleau-pontyana phenmomenon tells us, the work aimed to identify how boys and girls in elementary school realize a natural savanna. The study was realized with the extension project "Walking and learning at the cerrado” in the Center for Memory and Dissemination of Science and Technology (CDMCT) of Postgraduate Education for Science in the same institution. Classes were held in these practical activities, monitored by undergraduate and graduate students, and, the project focuses on students from public and private schools in Bauru and region, and other visiting groups. Data collection was performed using the representations in the form of free drawings of students of their environment after the activity. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, the results allowed us to highlight differences in the way in which genders perceived and thus represented the fragment of cerrado vegetation. The male drawings contained a larger amount of non-living elements, whereas the representations by women, besides their botanical details, often drew on animals and people. The framework of the drawings by the boys took the nearest way, whereas by the girls more often considered the representations and the entire context of the site visited. So, we emphasize the need for further discussions within the perception of the environment to consider differences in the representations of boys and girls within the context of the teaching of natural sciences, seeking, however, to avoid unsubstantiated preconceptions that may cause any degree of discrimination.

Revista Toque da Ciência: fusão literária e científica

A Revista Toque da Ciência é um produto de divulgação científica do Laboratório de Estudos em Comunicação, Tecnologia e Educação Cidadã (LECOTEC) da UNESP, elaborado por alunos graduandos em Jornalismo, sendo veiculada por meio eletrônico, em site próprio (www.faac.unesp.br/revistatoque). Desenvolvida desde o início de 2009 e com a primeira edição lançada no segundo semestre do mesmo ano, ela visa à compreensão de conceitos e idéias complexas da ciência pelo público leigo, com o uso do Jornalismo Literário e destacando a participação do comunicador na mediação deste processo. Este artigo promove uma discussão acerca do uso de técnicas literárias no Jornalismo Científico e propõe a análise das matérias produzidas pelos participantes do Projeto Toque da Ciência para sua primeira edição.

A competência em informação como fator crítico de sucesso para a pesquisa na área de ciência da informação: transferência de princípios para reflexão

This study is to provide parameters from theoretical and exploratory research in the creation and institutionalization of information science to establish a link with Information Literacy. Approaches are presented in which contributions allow us to understand the relationships and kinds of science in general and their applicability to the population studied, since these theories have a big relationship with the deepening of the area and their social, cultural and economic relationships. We hope to contribute with selective reference to assist the understanding of the issues arising from information science and the knowledge generated by its researchers. This requires developing new skills of access and use of information, providing an interaction between information literacy and knowledge building in Information Science.

A pesquisa em psicologia: ensaio sobre a Psicologia enquanto ciência, a pesquisa qualitativa e o uso da entrevista como principal instrumento de coleta de dados

For constituting itself a science, Psychology has coursed along way. From the time he was considered a Philosophy’s discipline until to be recognized as a legitimate science, Psychology had to devoteto the definition of its object of study, the development and refinement of theoretical-methodological frameworks and, in particular, to consolidation process of their research strategies and knowledge construction. Therefore, in order to regard the demands of the classical scientific paradigm, which is very influenced by Positivism, Psychology made use, initially, of quantitative methodology and laboratory research. This article presents some of the process of identity construction of Psychology as a science, focusing on its transition path between the quantitativist paradigm of scientific knowledge production to the qualitativist paradigm, until that is more commonly practiced nowadays: the collaborative use of these methodological strategies. For presenting the qualitative researching Psychology, we discussed, beyond its proposal and differentiation elements in relation to quantitative research, the different methods used for this mode and, in particular, the interview - which is considered the main way of data collection in surveys conducted by psychologists and, therefore, it is an important element the process of knowledge building that science, in addition to being the most qualified space for dialogue between there searcher and the research subject.

A criança com necessidades especiais no projeto de equoterapia da UNESP

O Projeto de Extensão Universitária “EQUOTERAPIA: uma atividade motora para o desenvolvimento de Pessoas com deficiências” tem como objetivo oferecer atividades motoras para pessoas com deficiências, promovendo o desenvolvimento dos aspectos neuropsicomotor com a utilização do cavalo. Os resultados encontrados até o momento foram: em relação a praticante do sexo feminino (6 anos) com paralisia cerebral teve como objetivo do programa controle motor, equilíbrio e interação, encontrando-se como resultados parciais: avaliação da postura – evolução de ruim para regular; melhora no posicionamento de cabeça e realinhamento do tronco; controle de tônus muscular; interação - diminuiu a insegurança e aumentou o contato tátil com o cavalo. O praticante do sexo masculino de 10 anos sem quadro clínico conclusivo teve como objetivo controle de tronco, diminuição dos reflexos patológicos, diminuição da hipotonia. Os resultados parciais apresentaram: diferenças quanto aos reflexos patológicos; controle de tronco; equilíbrio; coordenação motora; diminuição da hipotonia. A praticante do sexo feminino de 12 anos com distúrbio emocional teve como objetivo auto-confiança, auto-estima, aprendizagem, relacionamento interpessoal. Em seus resultados parciais observou-se superação da dificuldade com a fase de aproximação e montaria. O praticante do sexo masculino de 12 anos com deficiência visual objetivou em seu programa maiores interesses pelas atividades escolares e equilíbrio corporal. Foi possível analisar nos resultados parciais: melhor relacionamento com familiares; melhora no equilíbrio e coordenação motora; melhora na utilização do Braille. Pudemos assim verificar que a mudança de ambiente (casa e/ou escola – ambiente equoterápico) teve relação com a capacidade de aprendizagem dos praticantes, além disto, analisamos diferenças no comportamento motor dos praticantes, sendo observadas evoluções posturais, coordenação motora, equilíbrio. Conclui-se a importância de desenvolver o projeto de equoterapia, sendo possível aprimorar conhecimentos científicos e analisar diferentes casos.

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.

Reflexão sobre a atuação de mulheres nas áreas de ciência e tecnologia

This paper proposes an observation that leads to new ways of thinking regarding to women's in science and technology fields, based on previous researches that report this matter. The first detailed work on the participation and achievement of women in Science was "Women in Science" in 1913, written by HJ Mozans, a Catholic priest. According to Schienbinger (2001), this work used to invite women to develop activities in scientific areas and unleash the energies of half population of the planet. It's also important to consider the role of international organs, such as UNESCO, which since the 1990s develops studies, researches and conferences in order to discuss the inclusion of women in activities which involve science and technology. A survey based on data from literature is necessary to make a assessment on this subject in current times.

Analises da nanociência e nanotecnologia na perspectiva de ciência, tecnologia e sociedade cts

In this contribution, we discuss and analyze some aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, based on the approach kwon as Science, Technology and Society (STS), as well as the prospects of Philosophy of Technology. In this context, we specify the constitute the nanoscience and nanotechnology analytic research field. I is also reported its genesis and limits, emphasizing the impacts of nanotechnology in the development of the contemporary society, such as the possible benefits and problems associated to the use of nanotechnology, as well as environmental impacts, doubts and uncertainties that permeate this areas, in addition some ethical questions and public policies for the sector are analyzed.

Formação continuada de professores: contribuições de estudos sobre história da ciência

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)