Relatório de estágio

O presente relatório espelha o processo de desenvolvimento e aprendizagem da mestranda no âmbito das unidades curriculares Prática Pedagógica Supervisionada em Educação Pré-Escolar e no 1.º ciclo do Ensino Básico, integradas no Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. Enquanto futura profissional de educação, os saberes adquiridos e mobilizados ao longo das Práticas Pedagógicas Supervisionadas e da sua formação inicial foram imprescindíveis para uma ação educativa sustentada tanto para os momentos de estágio como para a sua prática futura. O quadro teórico que sustentou a sua ação permitiu-lhe o desenvolvimento da sua pessoalidade na forma de pensar e agir no contexto, com vista a uma melhor prática educativa. A metodologia de investigação-ação teve também um papel preponderante no processo de aprendizagem da mestranda. Esta metodologia é cíclica e integra as fases da observação, planificação, ação, avaliação e reflexão. Esta metodologia possibilitou à mestranda a planificação da sua ação educativa de forma intencional, de acordo com as especificidades dos dois grupos de crianças com que contactou diariamente nos diferentes contextos. Assim, a formanda procurou desenvolver as suas competências profissionais tendo por base a perspetiva holística e construtivista da educação – a criança no cerne do seu processo de ensino e aprendizagem – adotando, para isso, uma atitude indagadora, investigadora, reflexiva e crítica, com vista à melhoria das suas práticas. Através de processos reflexivos e colaborativos, esta formação permitiu à mestranda a construção de um perfil profissional duplo constituindo-se assim como o primeiro passo para a sua formação/aprendizagem ao longo da vida da mestranda.

Recursos digitais promotores de pensamento crítico em ciências no 1º ciclo

A sociedade em que vivemos hoje encontra-se submersa pela tecnologia em todas as áreas e saberes, exigindo-se aos cidadãos a capacidade de pensar e agir racionalmente perante os desafios e problemas que vão surgindo ao longo da vida. As tecnologias da informação e comunicação (TIC) são uma presença evidente no quotidiano e diversas investigações e estudos têm vindo a enfatizar o seu potencial no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Ademais, face aos desafios científicos e tecnológicos da nossa sociedade, é fundamental formar-se cidadãos capazes de pensar criticamente e racionalmente, de tomarem decisões focadas no que se deve fazer ou acreditar. Assim, reconhecendo a importância de se promover o pensamento crítico (PC) recorrendo-se às TIC, desenvolveu-se a presente investigação com o intuito de promover o PC dos alunos, através da exploração de diversos recursos digitais já disponíveis gratuitamente na internet. Decorrente da finalidade apresentada formularam-se as seguintes questões de estudo: (i) Quais os contributos dos recursos digitais explicitamente promotores de pensamento crítico dos alunos do 3.º ano de escolaridade?; e (ii) Quais os contributos dos recursos digitais explicitamente promotores de pensamento crítico para a construção de conhecimentos científicos, na área das Ciências, dos alunos do 3.º ano de escolaridade?. A presente investigação desenvolveu-se de acordo com um paradigma sócio-crítico, segundo uma perspetiva metodológica predominantemente qualitativa e com base num plano de Investigação-Ação. A implementação das três atividades construídas, incluindo a exploração dos recursos digitais, decorreu numa turma de 26 alunos inseridos num colégio do distrito de Aveiro, no qual se realizou a Prática Pedagógica Supervisionada da professora investigadora. Para a recolha dos dados utilizaram-se diversos instrumentos, nomeadamente testes de levantamento inicial e final das capacidades de PC, listas de verificação, diário do investigador, fichas de trabalho resolvidas pelos alunos (tendo por base a Taxonomia de Ennis) e questionários de autoavaliação do desempenho dos mesmos. Na análise de dados, privilegiou-se a análise de conteúdo recorrendo-se ao software WebQDA. Com base nos instrumentos de recolha de dados referidos verificou-se que os alunos manifestaram uma maior facilidade a responder a questões que promoviam o uso de capacidades de PC referentes à Clarificação Elementar e à Indução e uma dificuldade acentuada na dimensão das Estratégias e Táticas. No que diz respeito à construção de conhecimentos científicos, os alunos demonstraram, principalmente, dificuldades em reconhecer que o movimento é impulsionado pelas rodas dentadas e a constatar que o tamanho do fio influencia a velocidade do pêndulo. Pode-se concluir que os recursos digitais, de um modo geral, contribuíram para mobilizar o potencial de capacidades de PC e para a construção de conhecimentos científicos. O contributo deste estudo, embora modesto, prende-se com o potencial das TIC na Educação em Ciências dos 1º CEB, na promoção do pensamento crítico e de conhecimentos.

Dispositivos de cuidados intermediários e a reestruturação produtiva em saúde - Os hospitais comunitários na Itália

A pesquisa-intervenção pretendeu cartografar e analisar os processos de trabalho e a produção de cuidados nos Hospitais Comunitários, enquanto dispositivos de cuidados intermediários da Região Emilia-Romagna, Itália. Nos diferentes encontros do percurso cartográfico, foram-se tecendo sentidos e contextos para aproximação do campo micropolítico, que na organização do estudo compõem as “pausas”, adensamentos que construíram ferramentas de intervenção e leituras. Estas “pausas” apresentaram os processos de aproximação cultural, de construção metodológica, de invenção e reinvenção dos modos de investigar cartografando encontros e afetos; além da construção de sentidos que impactaram nas intervenções produzidas pelo estudo. As interferências produzidas durante o percurso da pesquisa formação, a partir da realização do projeto de cooperação internacional - RERSUS, relevaram o campo micropolítico do cotidiano do Hospitais Comunitários e estão apresentadas pelos “platôs” nesta tese. São estas zonas de intensidades, que a partir coletivo marcaram os agenciamentos enquanto dispositivos presentes que disputam novos modos de fazer. Tais dispositivos, linhas de fugas visibilizados no percurso da pesquisa, são lançados à luz do contexto da pandemia Covid-19, em transposição atual e necessária aos sistemas de saúde, reapresentando à discussão recolocação das cogentes demandas de transição tecnológica e completa reestruturação produtiva da saúde.

TLR3 and Rig-like receptor on myeloid dendritic cells and Rig-like receptor on human NK cells are both mandatory for production of IFN-gamma in response to double-stranded RNA.

Cross-talk between NK cells and dendritic cells (DCs) is critical for the potent therapeutic response to dsRNA, but the receptors involved remained controversial. We show in this paper that two dsRNAs, polyadenylic-polyuridylic acid and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)], similarly engaged human TLR3, whereas only poly(I:C) triggered human RIG-I and MDA5. Both dsRNA enhanced NK cell activation within PBMCs but only poly(I:C) induced IFN-gamma. Although myeloid DCs (mDCs) were required for NK cell activation, induction of cytolytic potential and IFN-gamma production did not require contact with mDCs but was dependent on type I IFN and IL-12, respectively. Poly(I:C) but not polyadenylic-polyuridylic acid synergized with mDC-derived IL-12 for IFN-gamma production by acting directly on NK cells. Finally, the requirement of both TLR3 and Rig-like receptor (RLR) on mDCs and RLRs but not TLR3 on NK cells for IFN-gamma production was demonstrated using TLR3- and Cardif-deficient mice and human RIG-I-specific activator. Thus, we report the requirement of cotriggering TLR3 and RLR on mDCs and RLRs on NK cells for a pathogen product to induce potent innate cell activation.

cis- and trans-acting elements of the estrogen-regulated vitellogenin gene B1 of Xenopus laevis.

Vitellogenin genes are expressed under strict estrogen control in the liver of female oviparous vertebrates. Gene transfer experiments using estrogen-responsive cells have shown that the 13 bp perfect palindromic element GGTCACTGTGACC found upstream of the Xenopus laevis vitellogenin gene A2 promoter mediates hormonal stimulation and thus, was called the estrogen-responsive element (ERE). In the Xenopus vitellogenin genes B1 and B2 there are two closely adjacent EREs with one or more base substitutions when compared to the consensus ERE GGTCANNNTGACC. On their own, these degenerated elements have only a low or no regulatory capacity at all but act together synergistically to form an estrogen-responsive unit (ERU) with the same strength as the perfect palindromic 13 bp element. Analysis of estrogen receptor binding to the gene B1 ERU revealed a cooperative interaction of receptor dimers to the two adjacent imperfect EREs which most likely explains the synergistic stimulation observed in vivo. Furthermore, a promoter activator element located between positions --113 and --42 of the gene B1 and functional in the human MCF-7 and the Xenopus B3.2 cells has been identified and shown to be involved in the high level of induced transcription activity when the ERE is placed at a distance from the promoter. Finally, a hormone-controlled in vitro transcription system derived from Xenopus liver nuclear extracts was exploited to characterize two additional novel cis-acting elements within the vitellogenin gene B1 promoter. One of them, a negative regulatory element (NRE), is responsible for repression of promoter activity in the absence of hormone. The second is related to the NF-I binding site and is required, together with the ERE, to mediate hormonal induction. Moreover, we detected three trans-acting activities in Xenopus liver nuclear extracts that interact with these regions and demonstrated that they participate in the regulation of the expression of the vitellogenin promoter in vitro.

Only connect: an annotated bibliography reflecting the breadth and diversity of systems thinking

The field of systems thinking is both broad and diverse. This paper tries to provide assistance to outsiders wishing to find out what systems thinking is and also to insiders interested in exploring areas of the systems movement other than their own. A selection of books, papers and articles is given. Each has a full reference and a brief annotation, this being an account of, and a critical comment on, its content. The selection does not aim to be definitive or authoritative and obviously displays the predilections of the authors. However, the hope is that it will convey a sense of the intellectual and practical endeavours that, to the authors, constitute systems thinking and that it may aid the exploration of the range of holistic ideas that people have found useful in thinking about and acting in the world.

Olhares de “crianças” sobre gênero, sexualidade e infância

Pós-graduação em Educação - FCT

Tolerance and Critical Thinking

Post-soviet countries are in the process of transformation from a totalitarian order to a democratic one, a transformation which is impossible without a profound shift in people's way of thinking. The group set themselves the task of determining the essence of this shift. Using a multidisciplinary approach, they looked at concrete ways of overcoming the totalitarian mentality and forming that necessary for an open democratic society. They studied the contemporary conceptions of tolerance and critical thinking and looked for new foundations of criticism, especially in hermeneutics. They then sought to substantiate the complementary relation between tolerance and criticism in the democratic way of thinking and to prepare a a syllabus for teaching on the subject in Ukrainian higher education. In a philosophical exploration of tolerance they began with relgious tolerance as its first and most important form. Political and social interests often lay at the foundations of religious intolerance and this implicitly comprised the transition to religious tolerance when conditions changed. Early polytheism was more or less indifferent to dogmatic deviations but monotheism is intolerant of heresies. The damage wrought by the religious wars of the Reformations transformed tolerance into a value. They did not create religious tolerance but forced its recognition as a positive phenomenon. With the weakening of religious institutions in the modern era, the purely political nature of many conflicts became evident and this stimulated the extrapolation of tolerance into secular life. Each historical era has certain acts and operations which may be interpreted as tolerant and these can be classified as to whether or not they are based on the conscious following of the principle of tolerance. This criterion requires the separation of the phenomenon of tolerance from its concept and from tolerance as a value. Only the conjunction of a concept of tolerance with a recognition of its value can transform it into a principle dictating a norm of conscious behaviour. The analysis of the contemporary conception of tolerance focused on the diversity of the concept and concluded that the notions used cannot be combined in the framework of a single more or less simple classification, as the distinctions between them are stimulated by the complexity of the realty considered and the variety of its manifestations. Notions considered in relation to tolerance included pluralism, respect and particular-universal. The rationale of tolerance was also investigated and the group felt that any substantiation of the principle of tolerance must take into account human beings' desire for knowledge. Before respecting or being tolerant of another person different from myself, I should first know where the difference lies, so knowledge is a necessary condition of tolerance.The traditional division of truth into scientific (objective and unique) and religious, moral, political (subjective and so multiple) intensifies the problem of the relationship between truth and tolerance. Science was long seen as a field of "natural" intolerance whereas the validity of tolerance was accepted in other intellectual fields. As tolerance eemrges when there is difference and opposition, it is essentially linked with rivaly and there is a a growing recognition today that unlimited rivalry is neither able to direct the process of development nor to act as creative matter. Social and economic reality has led to rivalry being regulated by the state and a natural requirement of this is to associate tolerance with a special "purified" form of rivalry, an acceptance of the actiivity of different subjects and a specification of the norms of their competition. Tolerance and rivalry should therefore be subordinate to a degree of discipline and the group point out that discipline, including self-discipline, is a regulator of the balance between them. Two problematic aspects of tolerance were identified: why something traditionally supposed to have no positive content has become a human activity today, and whether tolerance has full-scale cultural significance. The resolution of these questions requires a revision of the phenomenon and conception of tolerance to clarify its immanent positive content. This involved an investigation of the contemporary concept of tolerance and of the epistemological foundations of a negative solution of tolerance in Greek thought. An original soution to the problem of the extrapolation of tolerance to scientific knowledge was proposed based on the Duhem-Quine theses and conceptiion of background knowledge. In this way tolerance as a principle of mutual relations between different scientific positions gains an essential epistemological rationale and so an important argument for its own universal status. The group then went on to consider the ontological foundations for a positive solution of this problem, beginning with the work of Poincare and Reichenbach. The next aspect considered was the conceptual foundations of critical thinking, looking at the ideas of Karl Popper and St. Augustine and at the problem of the demarcation line between reasonable criticism and apologetic reasoning. Dogmatic and critical thinking in a political context were also considered, before an investigation of critical thinking's foundations. As logic is essential to critical thinking, the state of this discipline in Ukrainian and Russian higher education was assessed, together with the limits of formal-logical grounds for criticism, the role of informal logical as a basis for critical thinking today, dialectical logic as a foundation for critical thinking and the universality of the contemporary demand for criticism. The search for new foundations of critical thinking covered deconstructivism and critical hermeneutics, including the problem of the author. The relationship between tolerance and criticism was traced from the ancient world, both eastern and Greek, through the transitional community of the Renaissance to the industrial community (Locke and Mill) and the evolution of this relationship today when these are viewed not as moral virtues but as ordinary norms. Tolerance and criticism were discussed as complementary manifestations of human freedom. If the completeness of freedom were accepted it would be impossible to avoid recognition of the natural and legal nature of these manifestations and the group argue that critical tolerance is able to avoid dismissing such negative phenomena as the degradation of taste and manner, pornography, etc. On the basis of their work, the group drew up the syllabus of a course in "Logic with Elements of Critical Thinking, and of a special course on the "Problem of Tolerance".

Mechanical behaviour and rupture of normal and pathological human ascending aortic wall

The mechanical properties of aortic wall, both healthy and pathological, are needed in order to develop and improve diagnostic and interventional criteria, and for the development of mechanical models to assess arterial integrity. This study focuses on the mechanical behaviour and rupture conditions of the human ascending aorta and its relationship with age and pathologies. Fresh ascending aortic specimens harvested from 23 healthy donors, 12 patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and 14 with aneurysm were tensile-tested in vitro under physiological conditions. Tensile strength, stretch at failure and elbow stress were measured. The obtained results showed that age causes a major reduction in the mechanical parameters of healthy ascending aortic tissue, and that no significant differences are found between the mechanical strength of aneurysmal or BAV aortic specimens and the corresponding age-matched control group. The physiological level of the stress in the circumferential direction was also computed to assess the physiological operation range of healthy and diseased ascending aortas. The mean physiological wall stress acting on pathologic aortas was found to be far from rupture, with factors of safety (defined as the ratio of tensile strength to the mean wall stress) larger than six. In contrast, the physiological operation of pathologic vessels lays in the stiff part of the response curve, losing part of its function of damping the pressure waves from the heart.

Sequence conservation at human and mouse orthologous common fragile regions, FRA3B/FHIT and Fra14A2/Fhit

It has been suggested that delayed DNA replication underlies fragility at common human fragile sites, but specific sequences responsible for expression of these inducible fragile sites have not been identified. One approach to identify such cis-acting sequences within the large nonexonic regions of fragile sites would be to identify conserved functional elements within orthologous fragile sites by interspecies sequence comparison. This study describes a comparison of orthologous fragile regions, the human FRA3B/FHIT and the murine Fra14A2/Fhit locus. We sequenced over 600 kbp of the mouse Fra14A2, covering the region orthologous to the fragile epicenter of FRA3B, and determined the Fhit deletion break points in a mouse kidney cancer cell line (RENCA). The murine Fra14A2 locus, like the human FRA3B, was characterized by a high AT content. Alignment of the two sequences showed that this fragile region was stable in evolution despite its susceptibility to mitotic recombination on inhibition of DNA replication. There were also several unusual highly conserved regions (HCRs). The positions of predicted matrix attachment regions (MARs), possibly related to replication origins, were not conserved. Of known fragile region landmarks, five cancer cell break points, one viral integration site, and one aphidicolin break cluster were located within or near HCRs. Thus, comparison of orthologous fragile regions has identified highly conserved sequences with possible functional roles in maintenance of fragility.

Culture and World Vision: The Cognitive Mythical Mode

Culture is the system of knowledge, from whose meanings the human being screened and selected their understanding of Reality in the broad sense, and interprets and regulates the facts and data of social behavior. In this sense, culture is a program for social action and acting in humans during the process of socialization and social interaction. The meanings of each culture are the cumulative product of collective and individual thinking, in ecological economic, social and political specific situations, so are the expression of each particular cultural historical conjuncture. Moreover, the universal cognitive structure for the apprehension of cultural reality is the World Vision (WV). Due to its importance and significance as substratum of religious and political belief systems, we will gird our study to mythical cognitive mode or mythical WV.

Representational modes of thinking employed by children aged thirteen and fourteen, and their relationship to performance in standardised tests of ability, measures of creativity and personality

This thesis proposes that despite many experimental studies of thinking, and the development of models of thinking, such as Bruner's (1966) enactive, iconic and symbolic developmental modes, the imagery and inner verbal strategies used by children need further investigation to establish a coherent, theoretical basis from which to create experimental curricula for direct improvement of those strategies. Five hundred and twenty-three first, second and third year comprehensive school children were tested on 'recall' imagery, using a modified Betts Imagery Test; and a test of dual-coding processes (Paivio, 1971, p.179), by the P/W Visual/Verbal Questionnaire, measuring 'applied imagery' and inner verbalising. Three lines of investigation were pursued: 1. An investigation a. of hypothetical representational strategy differences between boys and girls; and b. the extent to which strategies change with increasing age. 2. The second and third year children's use of representational processes, were taken separately and compared with performance measures of perception, field independence, creativity, self-sufficiency and self-concept. 3. The second and third year children were categorised into four dual-coding strategy groups: a. High Visual/High Verbal b. Low Visual/High Verbal c. High Visual/Low Verbal d. Low Visual/Low Verbal These groups were compared on the same performance measures. The main result indicates that: 1. A hierarchy of dual-coding strategy use can be identified that is significantly related (.01, Binomial Test) to success or failure in the performance measures: the High Visual/High Verbal group registering the highest scores, the Low Visual/High Verbal and High Visual/Low Verbal groups registering intermediate scores, and the Low Visual/Low Verbal group registering the lowest scores on the performance measures. Subsidiary results indicate that: 2. Boys' use of visual strategies declines, and of verbal strategies increases, with age; girls' recall imagery strategy increases with age. Educational implications from the main result are discussed, the establishment of experimental curricula proposed, and further research suggested.

WAKING (TO) THINKING BEING: A STUDY OF EDUCATION, METAPHYSICS, MIND, AND LANGUAGE

This dissertation articulates the basic aims and achievements of education. It recognizes language as central to thinking, and philosophy and education as belonging profoundly to one another. The first step is to show that although philosophy can no longer claim to dictate the foundations of knowledge or of disciplines of inquiry, it still offers an exceptionally general level of self-understanding. Education is equally general and faces a similar crisis of self-identity, of coming to terms with reality. Language is the medium of thought and the repository of historical mind; so a child’s acquisition of language is her acquisition of rational freedom. This marks a metaphysical change: no longer merely an animal, she comes to exercise her powers of rationality, transcending her environment by seeking and expressing reasons for thinking and doing. She can think about herself in relation to the universe, hence philosophize and educate others in turn. The discussion then turns to the historical nature of language. The thinking already embedded in language always anticipates further questioning. Etymology serves as a model for philosophical understanding, and demonstrates how philosophy can continue to yield insights that are fundamental, but not foundational, to human life. The etymologies of some basic educational concepts disclose education as a leading out and into the midst of Being. The philosophical approach developed in previous chapters applies to the very idea of an educational aim. Discussion concerning the substantiality of educational ideals results in an impasse: one side recommends an open-­ended understanding of education’s aims; the other insists on a definitive account. However, educational ideals exhibit a conceptual duality: the fundamental achievements of education, such as rational freedom, are real; but how we should understand them remains an open question. The penultimate chapter investigates philosophical thinking as the fulfillment of rational freedom, whose creative insights can profoundly transform our everyday activities. That this transformative self-understanding is without end suggests the basic aims of education are unheimlich. The dissertation concludes with speculative reflection on the shape and nature of language, and with the suggestion that through education reality awakens to itself.

System innovation and life cycle thinking in packaging value chain: the circularity of plastics.

Compared to other, plastic materials have registered a strong acceleration in production and consumption during the last years. Despite the existence of waste management systems, plastic_based materials are still a pervasive presence in the environment, with negative consequences on marine ecosystem and human health. The recycling is still challenging due to the growing complexity of product design, the so-called overpackaging, the insufficient and inadequate recycling infrastructure, the weak market of recycled plastics and the high cost of waste treatment and disposal. The Circular economy package, the European Strategy for plastics in a circular economy and the recent European Green Deal include very ambitious programmes to rethink the entire plastic value chain. As regards packaging, all plastic packaging will have to be 100% recyclable (or reusable) and 55% recycled by 2030. Regions are consequently called upon to set up a robust plan able to fit the European objectives. It takes on greater importance in Emilia Romagna where the Packaging valley is located. This thesis supports the definition of a strategy aimed to establish an after-use plastics economy in the region. The PhD work has set the basis and the instruments to establish the so-called Circularity Strategy with the aim to turn about 92.000t of plastic waste into profitable secondary resources. System innovation, life cycle thinking and participative backcasting method have allowed to deeply analyse the current system, orientate the problem and explore sustainable solutions through a broad stakeholder participation. A material flow analysis, accompanied by a barrier analysis, has supported the identification of the gaps between the present situation and the 2030 scenario. Eco-design for and from recycling (and a mass _based recycling rate (based on the effective amount of plastic wastes turned into secondary plastics), valorized by a value_based indicator, are the key-points of the action plan.

Human Mitochondrial Hsp70 (mortalin): Shedding Light On Atpase Activity, Interaction With Adenosine Nucleotides, Solution Structure And Domain Organization.

The human mitochondrial Hsp70, also called mortalin, is of considerable importance for mitochondria biogenesis and the correct functioning of the cell machinery. In the mitochondrial matrix, mortalin acts in the importing and folding process of nucleus-encoded proteins. The in vivo deregulation of mortalin expression and/or function has been correlated with age-related diseases and certain cancers due to its interaction with the p53 protein. In spite of its critical biological roles, structural and functional studies on mortalin are limited by its insoluble recombinant production. This study provides the first report of the production of folded and soluble recombinant mortalin when co-expressed with the human Hsp70-escort protein 1, but it is still likely prone to self-association. The monomeric fraction of mortalin presented a slightly elongated shape and basal ATPase activity that is higher than that of its cytoplasmic counterpart Hsp70-1A, suggesting that it was obtained in the functional state. Through small angle X-ray scattering, we assessed the low-resolution structural model of monomeric mortalin that is characterized by an elongated shape. This model adequately accommodated high resolution structures of Hsp70 domains indicating its quality. We also observed that mortalin interacts with adenosine nucleotides with high affinity. Thermally induced unfolding experiments indicated that mortalin is formed by at least two domains and that the transition is sensitive to the presence of adenosine nucleotides and that this process is dependent on the presence of Mg2+ ions. Interestingly, the thermal-induced unfolding assays of mortalin suggested the presence of an aggregation/association event, which was not observed for human Hsp70-1A, and this finding may explain its natural tendency for in vivo aggregation. Our study may contribute to the structural understanding of mortalin as well as to contribute for its recombinant production for antitumor compound screenings.