Measuring environmental education program impacts and learning in the field: Using an action research cycle to develop a tool for use with young students

Despite the increasing importance of, and interest in, documenting the impact of environmental education programs on students' learning for sustainability, few tools are currently available to measure young students' environmental learning across all the dimensions of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours. This paper reports on the development of such a tool, using an iterative action research process with 134 students, aged six to eleven, attending programs at an Environmental Education Centre in Queensland. The resulting instrument, the Environmental Learning Outcomes Survey (ELOS) incorporates observations of students' engagement in learning processes as well as measuring learning outcomes, and allows both of these aspects to be linked to particular components of the environmental education program. Test data using the instrument are reported to illustrate its potential usefulness. It is envisaged that the refined instrument will enable researchers to measure student environmental learning in the field, investigate environmental education program impacts and identify aspects of programs that are most effective in facilitating student learning. [Author abstract]

A IMPORTÂNCIA DO PROCESSO COMUNICACIONAL NA GESTÃO DA MODALIDADE EAD ESTUDO DE CASO UNIVERSIDADE METODISTA DE SÃO PAULO

As instituições de ensino superior voltadas para a modalidade a distância, possuem em sua estrutura de gestão alguns mecanismos de comunicação e linguagem. A forma de comunicação online no ensino EAD, deve priorizar a qualidade da recepção e da identificação da mensagem visando atender com sucesso no processo de aprendizagem e melhor interpretação de aspectos culturais dos envolvidos neste processo comunicacional, entre o docente e o discente. Diante do exposto, o objetivo desta pesquisa é encontrar mecanismos para uma melhor comunicação e aprimoramento da linguagem dentro do ambiente virtual de aprendizagem (AVA). Para identificar possíveis tendências de gestão e diante das mudanças da sociedade moderna, as instituições de ensino inseriram a forma de aprendizagem à distância e o EAD foi inserido no cotidiano dos indivíduos com a globalização. A Universidade Metodista, seguindo exemplos de universidades estrangeiras também adotou a educação à distância e seus procedimentos. Ela apresenta em sua gestão inúmeras diferenças na forma de ensino-aprendizagem quando comparada com um curso presencial. Este estudo tem como metodologia a pesquisa qualitativa e como método o estudo de caso. A análise dos dados foi desenvolvida utilizando entrevistas estruturadas. As questões são diretas e abordam o cotidiano dos indivíduos envolvidos. A amostra foi composta de participantes docentes temáticos, auxiliares e discentes, inseridos na modalidade de educação à distância da Universidade Metodista de São Paulo. A unificação do estudo das relações entre discentes e docentes, aliada ao entendimento da forma de comunicação e linguagem no EAD, analisando critérios para a realização de uma gestão traz uma pesquisa com itens relacionados com a educação e formas de aprendizagem no ensino à distância. A pesquisa envolve estudos importantes relacionados com a gestão da educação, linguagem e a comunicação dos indivíduos. Conclui-se com a dissertação, que a comunicação entre os sujeitos pode ficar comprometida se o diálogo não existir com frequência e desta forma compromete o processo comunicacional. (AU)

Translation and interpreting as activities and as objects of research

Despite differences, translation and interpreting have much in common. This volume focuses on aspects of conducting research into these two modes. It reviews recent developments and explores kinship, differences and prospects for partnership between Translation Research and Interpreting Research.

Communities and emerging semantics in semantic link network:discovery and learning

The World Wide Web provides plentiful contents for Web-based learning, but its hyperlink-based architecture connects Web resources for browsing freely rather than for effective learning. To support effective learning, an e-learning system should be able to discover and make use of the semantic communities and the emerging semantic relations in a dynamic complex network of learning resources. Previous graph-based community discovery approaches are limited in ability to discover semantic communities. This paper first suggests the Semantic Link Network (SLN), a loosely coupled semantic data model that can semantically link resources and derive out implicit semantic links according to a set of relational reasoning rules. By studying the intrinsic relationship between semantic communities and the semantic space of SLN, approaches to discovering reasoning-constraint, rule-constraint, and classification-constraint semantic communities are proposed. Further, the approaches, principles, and strategies for discovering emerging semantics in dynamic SLNs are studied. The basic laws of the semantic link network motion are revealed for the first time. An e-learning environment incorporating the proposed approaches, principles, and strategies to support effective discovery and learning is suggested.

The role of learning design and learning analytics in MOOCs

The last couple of years there has been a lot of attention for MOOCs. More and more universities start offering MOOCs. Although the open dimension of MOOC indicates that it is open in every aspect, in most cases it is a course with a structure and a timeline within which learning activities are positioned. There is a contradiction there. The open aspect puts MOOCs more in the non-formal professional learning domain, while the course structure takes it into the formal, traditional education domain. Accordingly, there is no consensus yet on solid pedagogical approaches for MOOCs. Something similar can be said for learning analytics, another upcoming concept that is receiving a lot of attention. Given its nature, learning analytics offers a large potential to support learners in particular in MOOCs. Learning analytics should then be applied to assist the learners and teachers in understanding the learning process and could predict learning, provide opportunities for pro-active feedback, but should also results in interventions aimed at improving progress. This paper illustrates pedagogical and learning analytics approaches based on practices developed in formal online and distance teaching university education that have been fine-tuned for MOOCs and have been piloted in the context of the EU-funded MOOC projects ECO (Elearning, Communication, Open-Data: http://ecolearning.eu) and EMMA (European Multiple MOOC Aggregator: http://platform.europeanmoocs.eu).

The Hidden benefits of “poster presentation assessment”: Skill acquirement and learning; evaluated from the nursing students perspective

Introduction
This paper reports to an exercise in evaluating poster group work and poster presentation and the extra learning and skill acquisition that this can provide to nursing students, through a creative and stimulating assessment method. Much had been written about the benefits of using posters as an assessment method, yet there appears to be a lack of research that captures the student experience.
Aim
This evaluative study sought to evaluate the student experience by using a triangulation approach to evaluation:
Methodology
All students from the February 2015 nursing intake, were eligible to take part (80 students) of which 71 participated (n=71). The poster group presentations took place at the end of their first phase of year one teaching and the evaluation took place at the end of their first year as undergraduate. Evaluation involved;
1. Quantitative data by questionnaires
2. Qualitative data from focus group discussions
Results
A number of key themes emerged from analysis of the data which captured the “added value” of learning from the process of poster assessment including:
 Professionalism: developing time keeping skills, presenting skills.
 Academic skills: developing literature search, critic and reporting
 Team building and collaboration
Overall 88% agreed that the process furnished them with additional skills and benefits above the actual production of the poster, with 97% agreeing that these additional skills are important skills for a nurse.
Conclusion
These results would suggest that the process of poster development and presentation furnish student nurses with many additional skills that they may not acquire through other types of assessment and are therefore beneficial. The structure of the assessment encourages a self-directed approach so students take control of the goals and purposes of learning. The sequential organization of the assessment guides students in the transition from dependent to self-directed learners.

Dimensão intercultural da linguagem não-verbal em contexto de sala de aula: um estudo com uma turma de espanhol

O presente relatório tem como principal objetivo desenvolver a competência da interculturalidade no âmbito da linguagem não-verbal de alunos portugueses, do 3º ciclo do ensino básico, com frequência à disciplina de Espanhol. A Linguagem não-verbal tem um contributo preponderante na comunicação e, quando há a pretensão de se conhecer outra cultura, é forçoso que se interpretem os diferentes sistemas onde cada indivíduo se integra e interage, porque comunicar eficazmente com o outro implica um conhecimento das estruturas simbólicas e dos códigos culturais intrínsecos, não só à cultura de um outro específico, mas também ao seu próprio contexto sociocultural, histórico-cultural e económico-cultural. Este trabalho faz apologia de um ensino intercultural que promova o diálogo entre culturas, sabendo-se de antemão que há representações que devem ser desconstruídas, bem como uma linguagem não-verbal específica que pode interferir na pragmática da interculturalidade. Trata-se de uma investigação-ação demarcada por dois momentos distintos: um primeiro estudo vocacionado para a consciencialização dos alunos de que a comunicação não-verbal é uma competência que se ensina e se aprende e um segundo estudo dedicado a aspetos culturais diferenciadores, entre Espanha e Portugal, na linguagem não-verbal , com enfoque nos gestos culturais e no tratamento do tempo. Os dados a analisar são: a transcrição de uma aula gravada, onde foram aplicados vários recursos audiovisuais e escritos consentâneos com as unidades programáticas, e as respostas a um questionário dirigido à turma de intervenção e a uma turma de nacionalidade espanhola que com ela colaborou. A implementação destas atividades/estratégias didáticas permitiu concluir que, por um lado, os alunos interpretam os diferentes códigos não -verbais à luz de uma perspetiva universal, por outro, há uma forte influência de estereótipos herdados e filtrados, a partir de diferentes marcos histórico-temporais. Este estudo sobre o não- verbal também se traduziu num alicerce bastante hábil para motivar à aprendizagem em geral e para enriquecer o conhecimento sobre a cultura do outro e a sua própria cultura, através da aquisição de códigos não- verbais comunicativo-funcionais.

Corrective feedback in oral interaction: A comparison of a CLIL and an EFL classroom

[EN] Since Long's Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1983) multiple studies have suggested the need of oral interaction for successful second language learning. Within this perspective, a great deal of research has been carried out to investigate the role of corrective feedback in the process of acquiring a second language, but there are still varied open debates about this issue. This comparative study seeks to contribute to the existing literature on corrective feedback in oral interaction by exploring teachers' corrective techniques and students' response to these corrections. Two learning contexts were observed and compared: a traditional English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom and a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classroom .The main aim was to see whether our data conform to the Counterbalance Hypothesis proposed by Lyster and Mori (2006). Although results did not show significant differences between the two contexts, a qualitative analysis of the data shed some light on the differences between these two language teaching settings. The findings point to the need for further research on error correction in EFL and CLIL contexts in order to overcome the limitations of the present study.

[insomnia Symptoms, Daytime Naps And Physical Leisure Activities In The Elderly: Fibra Study Campinas].

The practice of physical activities contributes to reducing the risk of chronic diseases and improves sleep patterns in the elderly. This research aimed to investigate the association between insomnia symptoms and daytime nap and the participation in physical leisure activities in elderly community residents. Data from the Studies Network of the Fragility in Brazilian Elderly (Campinas site), were used. Information from 689 elderly was analyzed, regarding sociodemographic characterization, physical leisure activity, occurrence of daytime napping and its duration, symptoms of insomnia and use of sleep medication. A significant association was found between the practice of walking and the daytime nap of short duration. Studies indicate that a short nap can benefit the quality of sleep and health of the elderly. Therefore, promoting the practice of walking can be a nursing intervention that favors the sleep patterns of the elderly.

Chemical Composition And Free Radical-scavenging, Anticancer And Anti-inflammatory Activities Of The Essential Oil From Ocimum Kilimandscharicum.

The essential oil from the leaves of Ocimum kilimandscharicum (EOOK), collected in Dourados-MS, was investigated for anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity and chemical composition. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation, and the chemical composition was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The essential oil was evaluated for free radical-scavenging activity using the DPPH assay and was tested in an anticancer assay against ten human cancer cell lines. The response parameter (GI50) was calculated for the cell lines tested. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated using carrageenan-induced pleurisy in mice. The chemical composition showed 45 components with a predominance of monoterpenes, such as camphor (51.81%), 1,8 cineole (20.13%) and limonene (11.23%). The EOOK exhibited potent free radical-scavenging activity by the DPPH assay with a GI50 of 8.31 μg/ml. The major constituents, pure camphor (IC50=12.56 μg/ml) and mixture of the limonene: 1, 8 cineole (IC50=23.25 μg/ml) displayed a potent activity. The oral administration of EOOK (at 30 and 100 mg kg(-1)), as well as the pure camphor or a mixture of 1,8 cineole with limonene, significantly inhibited the carrageenan (Cg) induced pleurisy, reducing the migration of total leukocytes in mice by 82 ± 4% (30 mg kg(-1) of EOOK), 95 ± 4% (100 mg kg(-1) of EOOK), 83 ± 9% (camphor) and 80 ± 5% (mixture of 1,8 cineole:limonene 1:1). In vitro cytotoxicity screening against a human ovarian cancer cell line displayed high selectivity and potent anticancer activity with GI50=31.90 mg ml(-1). This work describes the anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antioxidant effects of EOOK for the first time. The essential oil exhibited marked anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer effects, an effect that can be attributed the presence of majorital compounds, and the response profiles from chemical composition differed from other oils collected in different locales.

Overview of the taxonomy and of the major secondary metabolites and their biological activities related to human health of the Laurencia complex (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) from Brazil

In Brazil, the Laurencia complex is represented by twenty taxa: Laurencia s.s. with twelve species, Palisada with four species (including Chondrophycus furcatus now that the proposal of its transference to Palisada is in process), and Osmundea and Yuzurua with two species each. The majority of the Brazilian species of the Laurencia complex have been phylogenetically analyzed by 54 rbcL sequences, including five other Rhodomelacean species as outgroups. The analysis showed that the Laurencia complex is monophyletic with high posterior probability value. The complex was separated into five clades, corresponding to the genera: Chondrophycus, Laurencia, Osmundea, Palisada, and Yuzurua. A bibliographical survey of the terpenoids produced by Brazilian species showed that only six species of Laurencia and five of Palisada (including C. furcatcus) have been submitted to chemical analysis with 48 terpenoids (47 sesquiterpenes and one triterpene) isolated. No diterpenes were found. Of the total, 23 sesquiterpenes belong to the bisabolane class and eighteen to the chamigrene type, whose biochemical precursor is bisabolane, two are derived from lauranes and four are triquinols. Despite the considerable number of known terpenes and their ecological and pharmacological importance, few experimental biological studies have been performed. In this review, only bioactivities related to human health were considered.

A gestão do conhecimento na educação ambiental

Information and knowledge are resources of environmental education (EE) that can be performed through knowledge management (KM). The aim of this paper is to propose measures of knowledge creation (KC) to improve performance of EE. This study is based on the research literature without empirical findings; therefore, the results are limited by the methodological resources of the theoretical essay. However, this limitation is the greatest motivation for future research which could investigate the proximity of EE with KM and KC in empirical investigations. Some suggestions for developing the requirements of KC programs to EE are presented as the results: possibility of the SECI process to better perform various aspects of environmental education such as social learning, interaction activities, dialogue, experience exchanging, information and knowledge, and of different ideas and ways of acting, done by EE and, finally, the possibility of Ba to develop a proper space for creation of new environmental knowledge. This article contains academic contributions to KM by providing greater discussion and understanding of KC; to EE when it allows a different view based on the work of information and knowledge about the processes of teaching, when contributing to social programs for EE, improving their practices and, consequently, contributing to an environmentally sustainable economic development.