Física no cotidiano: da cozinha para a sala de aula relato de uma experiência didática no município de Limoeiro do Norte (CE)

Brazilian high school teaching has passing through important changes. Based on current legislation and other official documents this research focus on the notion of contextualization, discussing the possibilities of a Physics teaching contextualized at a kitchen environment. Given the difficulties presented by students in establishing the relation between the contents discussed in classroom and their own daily lives, we propose the elaboration and application of a didactic unity. This started after the analyses of an initial questionnaire answered by the students. The didactic unity was elaborated based on an earlier proposal made by GREF (Physics Teaching Reelaboration Group) for a Thermal Physics course, and involved situations on students daily lives, in particular, those activities tried to relate formal contents discussed in classrooms to the kitchen environment. The didactic unity was applied to a public high school classroom at Limoeiro do Norte (CE). After evaluation of this experience it is possible to state that contextualization is a challenge that shall be faced, so that students may have a more critical look at physics, understanding that this subject is of relevance to all of us and is present in all world around us

Os objetivos do laboratório didático na visão dos alunos do curso de Licenciatura em Física da UNESP-Bauru

Há mais de cinqüenta anos, existe a preocupação em se definir os objetivos para o laboratório didático, revisando currículos e buscando ações mais localizadas e orientadas de acordo com o avanço crescente de conhecimentos das concepções alternativas de vários tópicos da Física por parte dos alunos, levando-se em conta as dificuldades específicas enfrentadas por eles no processo ensino-aprendizagem. Podem-se identificar duas linhas filosóficas que norteiam o processo ensino-aprendizagem com relação aos objetivos do laboratório didático. Uma linha defende que para sedimentar os conceitos expostos em aulas teóricas é necessária a prática em laboratório. A outra linha defende que o alvo da prática em laboratório deveria ser a obtenção e análise de dados, levando-se em conta a teoria aprendida. Atualmente, se percebe um crescimento por parte de profissionais que entendem haver uma necessidade de planejar, definir e hierarquizar objetivos detalhados, além de propiciar atividades que favoreçam de acordo com cada classe dentro da linha filosófica a que se identifica o profissional, não se esquecendo que ainda existem profissionais que não aceitam essa postura. Dentro desta perspectiva, foi aplicado um questionário a trinta alunos do curso de Licenciatura em Física da UNESP-Bauru, que já cursaram as cinco disciplinas práticas básicas do curso. Os alunos pontuaram de acordo com a sua visão dos objetivos reais frente aos objetivos ideais do laboratório didático. Os resultados mostraram que o laboratório didático vem cumprindo seu papel na opinião dos alunos do curso de Licenciatura em Física.

POPT: uma abordagem de ensino de programação orientada a problema e testes

There is a growing interest of the Computer Science education community for including testing concepts on introductory programming courses. Aiming at contributing to this issue, we introduce POPT, a Problem-Oriented Programming and Testing approach for Introductory Programming Courses. POPT main goal is to improve the traditional method of teaching introductory programming that concentrates mainly on implementation and neglects testing. POPT extends POP (Problem Oriented Programing) methodology proposed on the PhD Thesis of Andrea Mendonça (UFCG). In both methodologies POPT and POP, students skills in dealing with ill-defined problems must be developed since the first programming courses. In POPT however, students are stimulated to clarify ill-defined problem specifications, guided by de definition of test cases (in a table-like manner). This paper presents POPT, and TestBoot a tool developed to support the methodology. In order to evaluate the approach a case study and a controlled experiment (which adopted the Latin Square design) were performed. In an Introductory Programming course of Computer Science and Software Engineering Graduation Programs at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The study results have shown that, when compared to a Blind Testing approach, POPT stimulates the implementation of programs of better external quality the first program version submitted by POPT students passed in twice the number of test cases (professor-defined ones) when compared to non-POPT students. Moreover, POPT students submitted fewer program versions and spent more time to submit the first version to the automatic evaluation system, which lead us to think that POPT students are stimulated to think better about the solution they are implementing. The controlled experiment confirmed the influence of the proposed methodology on the quality of the code developed by POPT students

Uma abordagem dialógica para a utilização de atividades experimentais em sala de aula

The belief of using experimental activities in the teaching of Physics as a strategy to produce a more efficient teaching-learning process is great among teachers and the school community. However, there are many difficulties for their implementation and when it happens they do not contribute for an improvement in class efficiency due to the method used. In this work, we developed a proposal for using these activities in Physics classes in high school, from a critical-reflexive approach in which the constant dialogue between the participants in the teaching-learning process is fundamental. The work was developed in two ways. The first, where the author/writer created an educational material and applied it in classroom and a second one, where he presented the idea to other teachers and undergraduate students from the Physics course at UFRN and IFRN (former CEFET-RN) through an extended workshop entitled "The role of experimental activities in the Physics teaching". This workshop had the duration of 60 hours and was implemented in 4 steps: i) sensitization and formation, ii) material development, iii) material implementation and iv) evaluation by teachers and students from the classes where the material was applied. The goal of this workshop was to present the approach, evaluate how the participants received the idea and how they would apply it in real situations. The results of the application in classroom allowed us to reach some conclusions. This approach was well received by the students as well as by the workshop participants. Despite some difficulties in relation to the handling of the implementation results by the workshop participants, they indicated changes in these professionals teaching practice and the introduction of experimental activities has been an important subsidy to assist them in Physics class in high school

A temática ambiental e as diferentes compreensões dos professores de física em formação inicial

Procuramos identificar as concepções dos licenciandos de física em relação à temática ambiental, bem como analisamos as propostas por eles elaboradas e os obstáculos que se lhes apresentam quando decidem tratar alguns aspectos da problemática ambiental em suas atividades de ensino. Os dados foram coletados a partir do desenvolvimento de algumas atividades na disciplina de Prática de Ensino oferecida a alunos concluintes de um curso de Licenciatura em Física de uma universidade pública no estado de São Paulo. Os dados evidenciam que as concepções que os licenciandos elaboram sobre a temática ambiental podem tornar-se obstáculos para a incorporação desses aspectos em suas propostas de ensino. da mesma forma, não há, por parte dos licenciandos, uma compreensão mais ampla quanto ao significado da temática ambiental, quanto às implicações do movimento ambientalista para as práticas culturais e pedagógicas e possibilidades de exploração de temas ambientais associados a propostas de ensino de física.

A formação de professores de física na visão de formandos e recém formados: um estudo na Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Pós-graduação em Educação - FCT

Contribuições do PIBID para a formação inicial de professores: um olhar dos licenciandos em física da Faculdade de Engenharia de Guaratinguetá

The current work aims to analyze the contributions of PIBID for initial graduation of the teachers, in view of the undergraduates of Physics Course at UNESP Guaratinguetá . A brief literature survey about the national situation of teacher education was performed, at which the main difficulties and challenges, as well as the solutions stated in place by the government to solve them, have been highlighted. A description of the historical of PIBID at UNESP, from the institutional project to reach the subproject developed by Physics Course of Guaratinguetá, was presented. To characterize the development of the subproject, it was performed a survey on the activities performed by the PIBID’s scholars, since its implementation on campus in 2010 until the end of the year 2013, in order to map the experiences lived by program participants. These data were obtained from the analysis of reports by scholars themselves, video analyzes and record of the weekly meetings held by the group, reading electronic messages exchanged on a specific group of e-mails and written evaluations by members of the program. Completing data collection, eleven scholars undergraduates of the program were interviewed, and the results were classified by topics, defined from recurrence in the interviewees speech. The global analysis of the data was based on theoretical references commonly used in research on graduation of teachers, as Nóvoa (1992), Mizukami (2005, 2006) and Gatti (2008). The results indicate that the licensed ones see in PIBID a differentiated opportunity for initial teaching graduation, for adding practical learning experiences for students of EB within the school context, and especially for creating space for reflection on their experiences with the support of more experienced teachers, committed to the training of all involved ones

Medindo a temperatura de um gás no regime de micro-Kelvin

O desenvolvimento científico nos permite trabalhar hoje com gases em temperaturas muito inferiores aos 10-6 K. Estes gases, uma vez obtidos por técnicas de resfriamento óptico, precisam ser caracterizados com relaçãao às suas propriedades termodinâmicas. a a medida da temperatura. Dentre tais propriedades está a medida da temperatura. Neste trabalho mostramos de forma tutorial como são medidas tais baixas temperaturas, através de técnicas de tempo de voo. Tais técnicas combinam conhecimento básico de mecânica, termodinâmica dentre outros tópicos convencionalmente estudados nos cursos básicos de física.

Rugby, self-efficacy and prosocial behaviour: evidence from the italian "rugby project for schools"

[EN] This study examined the effectiveness of a school-based rugby introductory training course (“Rugby Project For Schools”) in a sample of one hundred and three Italian adolescents, sixty-three attending the program (rugby group), and forty not taking part in the project (control group).

Reconstructing Quantum Field Theory from an Educational Perspective

The research work concerns the analysis of the foundations of Quantum Field Theory carried out from an educational perspective. The whole research has been driven by two questions: • How the concept of object changes when moving from classical to contemporary physics? • How are the concepts of field and interaction shaped and conceptualized within contemporary physics? What makes quantum field and interaction similar to and what makes them different from the classical ones? The whole work has been developed through several studies: 1. A study aimed to analyze the formal and conceptual structures characterizing the description of the continuous systems that remain invariant in the transition from classical to contemporary physics. 2. A study aimed to analyze the changes in the meanings of the concepts of field and interaction in the transition to quantum field theory. 3. A detailed study of the Klein-Gordon equation aimed at analyzing, in a case considered emblematic, some interpretative (conceptual and didactical) problems in the concept of field that the university textbooks do not address explicitly. 4. A study concerning the application of the “Discipline-Culture” Model elaborated by I. Galili to the analysis of the Klein-Gordon equation, in order to reconstruct the meanings of the equation from a cultural perspective. 5. A critical analysis, in the light of the results of the studies mentioned above, of the existing proposals for teaching basic concepts of Quantum Field Theory and particle physics at the secondary school level or in introductory physics university courses.

A textbook of chemistry for university students /

"This book is based on tape recordings of lectures in the large introductory chemistry course at Cornell University"--Pref.

Factors affecting student attitudes toward flexible online learning in management education

In response to recent technological advances and the trend toward flexible learning in education, the authors examined the factors affecting student satisfaction with flexible online learning. The authors identified 2 key student attributes of student satisfaction: (a) positive perceptions of technology in terms of ease of access and use of online flexible learning material and (b) autonomous and innovative learning styles. The authors derived measures of perceptions of technology from research on the Technology Acceptance Model and used locus of control and innovative attitude as indicators of an autonomous and innovative learning mode. First-year students undertaking an introductory management course completed surveys at the beginning (n = 248) and at the end (n = 256) of course work. The authors analyzed the data by using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that student satisfaction is influenced by positive perceptions toward technology and an autonomous learning mode.

Въвеждане на рекурсията чрез абстракция и редици от задачи

Pavel Azalov - Recursion is a powerful technique for producing simple algorithms. It is a main topics in almost every introductory programming course. However, educators often refer to difficulties in learning recursion, and suggest methods for teaching recursion. This paper offers a possible solutions to the problem by (1) expressing the recursive definitions through base operations, which have been predefined as a set of base functions and (2) practising recursion by solving sequences of problems. The base operations are specific for each sequence of problems, resulting in a smooth transitions from recursive definitions to recursive functions. Base functions hide the particularities of the concrete programming language and allows the students to focus solely on the formulation of recursive definitions.

Moving toward change: Institutionalizing reform through implementation of the Learning Assistant model and Open Source Tutorials

Florida International University has undergone a reform in the introductory physics classes by focusing on the laboratory component of these classes. We present results from the secondary implementation of two research-based instructional strategies: the implementation of the Learning Assistant model as developed by the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Open Source Tutorial curriculum developed at the University of Maryland, College Park. We examine the results of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) for introductory students over five years (n=872) and find that the mean raw gain of students in transformed lab sections was 0.243, while the mean raw gain of the traditional labs was 0.159, with a Cohen’s d effect size of 0.59. Average raw gains on the FCI were 0.243 for Hispanic students and 0.213 for women in the transformed labs, indicating that these reforms are not widening the gaps between underrepresented student groups and majority groups. Our results illustrate how research-based instructional strategies can be successfully implemented in a physics department with minimal department engagement and in a sustainable manner.

Validation study of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey at a Hispanic-serving institution

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) has been widely acknowledged as a useful measure of student cognitive attitudes about science and learning. The initial University of Colorado validation study included only 20% non-Caucasian student populations. In this Brief Report we extend their validation to include a predominately under-represented minority population. We validated the CLASS instrument at Florida International University, a Hispanic-serving institution, by interviewing students in introductory physics classes using a semistructured protocol, examining students’ responses on the CLASS item statements, and comparing them to the items’ intended meaning. We find that in our predominately Hispanic population, 94% of the students’ interview responses indicate that the students interpret the CLASS items correctly, and thus the CLASS is a valid instrument. We also identify one potentially problematic item in the instrument which one third of the students interviewed consistently misinterpreted.