Inside out and outside in. Thinking a Tagorean Future of Education.

Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas can still inspire education in the East as well as in the West today. In this paper, I survey Tagore’s philosophical anthropology and argue that there is more coherence to his philosophy and pedagogy than is usually seen. For Tagore, the highest goal is to make the world one’s own, as well as to enlarge one’s self to encompass the world. The educational practices through which this ideal can be reached can be classified as “creative action,” “love,” and “freedom.” On the basis of such an ideal, realms such as the arts, nature, and movement no longer remain expendable additions to the kind of knowledge-driven education that aims primarily at making everyone economically productive.One of the problems with such a pedagogical strategy is that it treats human beings as means and not as ends. Tagore’s educational approach (his “method of nature”) refrains from turning children into adults as soon as possible and accepts the deceleration of learning and the simplification of living asmost forward-leading approach to a successful and comprehensive education.

Construções geométricas como recurso pedagógico no ensino médio

This work aims to provide high school students an development in his mathematical and geometrical knowledge, through the use of Geometric Constructions as a teaching resource in Mathematics classes. First a literature search to understand how it emerged and evolved the field of geometry was carried out and the Geometric Constructions. The ways in which the teaching of geometry happened in our country, also were studied some theories related to learning and in particular the Van Hiele theory which deals with the geometric learning also through the literature search were diagnosed. Two forms of the Geometric Constructions approach are analyzed in class: through the design of hand tools - ruler and compass - and through the computational tool - geometric software - being that we chose to approach using the ruler and compass instruments. It is proposed a workshop with nine Geometric Construction activities which was applied with a group of 3rd year of high school, the Escola de Educac¸ ˜ao B´asica Professor Anacleto Damiani in the city of Abelardo Luz, Santa Catarina. Each workshop activity includes the following topics: Activity Goals, Activity Sheet, Steps of Construction Activity Background and activity of the solution. After application of the workshop, the data were analyzed through content analysis according to three categories: Drawing Instruments, angles and their implications and Parallel and its Implications. Was observed that most of the students managed to achieve the research objectives, and had an development in their mathematical and geometrical knowledge, which can be perceived through the analysis of questionnaires administered to students, audio recordings, observations made during the workshop and especially through the improvement of the students in the development of the proposed activities.

[Rough survey map of the White House and grounds, Washington D.C.].

Shows White House and Treasury buildings and grounds in the condition of 1808 or later.

Public and user participation in public service delivery: tensions in policy and practice

Social-scientific analysis of public-participation initiatives has proliferated in recent years. This review article discusses some key aspects of recent work. Firstly, it analyses some of the justifications put forward for public participation, drawing attention to differences and overlaps between rationales premised on democratic representation/representativeness and those based on more technocratic ideas about the knowledge that the public can offer. Secondly, it considers certain tensions in policy discourses on participation, focusing in particular on policy relating to the National Health Service and other British public services. Thirdly, it examines the challenges of putting a coherent vision for public participation into practice, noting the impediments that derive from the often-competing ideas about the remit of participation held by different groups of stakeholders. Finally, it analyses the gap between policy and practice, and the consequences of this for the prospects for the enactment of active citizenship through participation initiatives.

Hygiene and biosecurity: the language and politics of risk in an era of emerging infectious diseases

Infectious diseases, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and avian influenza, have recently been high on the agenda of policy makers and the public. Although hygiene and biosecurity are preferred options for disease management, policy makers have become increasingly aware of the critical role that communication assumes in protecting people during outbreaks and epidemics. This article makes the case for a language-based approach to understanding the public perception of disease. Health language research carried out by the authors, based on metaphor analysis and corpus linguistics, has shown that concepts of journeys, pathways, thresholds, boundaries and barriers have emerged as principal framing devices used by stakeholders to advocate a hygiene based risk and disease management. These framings provide a common ground for debate, but lead to quite different perceptions and practices. This in turn might be a barrier to global disease management in a modern world.

Orientation and external morphology of burrows of the mangrove crab Ucides cordatus (Crustacea: Brachyura: Ucididae)

The aim of the present study was to characterize the external morphology and the orientation of burrows constructed by the mangrove crab Ucides cordatus. Data were obtained from two mangrove forests of similar vegetation dominance (Laguncularia racemosa) but differing in flooding heights. These mangroves were located near Barra de Icapara, Iguape City (SP), Brazil, (24 degrees 50'36 '' S-47 degrees 59'53'W). A total of 221 burrows were examined (120 on the high mangrove and 101 on the low mangrove). External morphology of the burrows was recorded by photographs for categorization and description. The directions of the burrow openings were recorded using a geological compass and the declivities of the ducts were measured with a clinometer. Females constructed 70.8% at Site A and 69.4% at Site B of the occupied burrows with the opening facing the margin of the river (P < 0.001), whilst males showed no significant difference in the burrow orientation (P > 0.05) at either site. In females, the tendency for burrow orientation possibly has a reproductive connotation as larval dispersal may be favoured and enhanced by the tides. Four groups of distinct tracks related to the morphotypes and developmental stages of U. cordatus were observed, No sediment constructions associated with the burrows were recorded for this species. Declivity of the burrows from juveniles was lower than from adults (P < 0.05), probably caused by the differential growth of the chelipeds in this species.

Gaining Insight into Teaching: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experience of the Teachers of the Year

What qualities, skills, and knowledge produce quality teachers? Many stake-holders in education argue that teacher quality should be measured by student achievement. This qualitative study shows that good teachers are multi-dimensional; their effectiveness cannot be represented by students’ test scores alone. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of quality in teaching by examining the lived experiences of 10 winners or finalists of the Teacher of the Year (ToY) Award. Phenomenology describes individuals’ daily experiences of phenomena, examines how these experiences are structured, and focuses analysis on the perspectives of the persons having the experience (Moustakas, 1994). This inquiry asked two questions: (a) How is teaching experienced by recognized as outstanding Teachers of the Year? and (b) How do ToYs feelings and perceptions about being good teachers provide insight, if any, about concepts such as pedagogical tact, teacher selfhood, and professional dispositions? Ten participants formed the purposive sample; the major data collection tool was semi-structured interviews (Patton, 1990; Seidman, 2006). Sixty to 90-minute interviews were conducted with each participant. Data also included the participants’ ToY application essays. Data analysis included a three-phase process: description, reduction, interpretation. Findings revealed that the ToYs are dedicated, hard-working individuals. They exhibit behaviors, such as working beyond the school day, engaging in lifelong learning, and assisting colleagues to improve their practice. Working as teachers is their life’s compass, guiding and wrapping them into meaningful and purposeful lives. Pedagogical tact, teacher selfhood, and professional dispositions were shown to be relevant, offering important insights into good teaching. Results indicate that for these ToYs, good teaching is experienced by getting through to students using effective and moral means; they are emotionally open, have a sense of the sacred, and they operate from a sense of intentionality. The essence of the ToYs teaching experience was their being properly engaged in their craft, embodying logical, psychological, and moral realms. Findings challenge current teacher effectiveness process-product orthodoxy which makes a causal connection between effective teaching and student test scores, and which assumes that effective teaching arises solely from and because of the actions of the teacher.

Fluency and attitudes

The goal of this article is to review how, when, and why f luency, or processing ease, affects attitudes. The current article first defines f luency and then discusses its direct impact on attitudes, noting that f luency usually makes attitudes more positive and that it does so for a wide array of attitude objects. Mechanisms and moderators of these direct effects are also described. The article then summarizes how f luency can affect attitudes indirectly, through its impact on other judgments (like perceptions of confidence or truth) and on cognitive operations (like information processing). The article ends by highlighting a few areas where additional research is likely to reap impressive benefits.

Grandes historias a pasos cortos

Documental de carácter intimista protagonizado por Paola Nieto, Álvaro Novoa y Mauricio Ardila, tres personas que a raíz de su enanismo siempre han visto el mundo desde una perspectiva única. En su día a día, enfrentan complejos estereotipos sociales y estigmas por su baja estatura, pero a través de su profesión, su vida social y acompañados de sus seres queridos, han superado esos retos para vivir a plenitud en un mundo de gigantes.

WOMAN IN SILENT EMANCIPATION: PARCIALITY OF VICTORY IN BARREN LIVES [VIDAS SECAS]

Brazilian literature critics’ theorizations concerning feminine emancipation in the modern novel tend to consider a single form of resistance, the exacerbation of sexuality, which leads characters to discrimination and subsequent punishment, often culminates into their deaths. In this sense, a hypothesis to be followed is one to state that this type of criticism underestimates the feminine power, especially in women who reached “respectability” through marriage, i.e., there are other kinds of escape to masculine oppression that do not necessarily include the use of the body. Therefore, the objective of this work is to examine a case study, of sinha Vitória in Barren lives [Vidas secas], a revealing example of empowerment potentialities of married women, through other expedients, such as intellectual superiority. Theoretically, this article dialogs with both canonical studies, including Candido (1992) and Mourão (1971), as well as contemporary ones, like Bueno (2006) and Brunacci (2008). Setting form and arriving at the ambiguity in the name sinha Vitória, the analysis could observe the assumed relevance of the character in the family, as a decision-making authority, representing an intellectual and ideological compass. However, within the unmeasured inequalities of the northeastern society in the first half of the XX Century, this highlighted position in the family and sagacity to read the surrounding world do not prevent the social oppression of her nucleus by the powerful farmers, making her victory a merely partial one.

Efeitos de Priming Sintático Intra e Translinguístico no Processamento De Francês Como L2

No presente estudo investigamos o fenômeno de priming sintático – ou seja, a facilitação do processamento linguístico de uma estrutura sintática pela exposição prévia à estrutura semelhante – nos níveis intra e translinguístico, em bilíngues de português brasileiro (PB)-francês, durante a  compreensão de sentenças. Participaram do estudo 15 adultos, falantes nativos do português brasileiro que tinham francês como segunda língua em nível intermediário. Os efeitos de priming sintático foram obtidos através de um experimento comportamental que consistiu em uma tarefa de leitura auto-monitorada. Os resultados apontaram para o aparecimento de efeitos de priming sintático no nível intralinguístico (em francês como L2), mas não no translinguístico. Tais efeitos se mostraram dependentes da repetição do verbo principal da sentença. Esses resultados foram interpretados como evidência de que os efeitos de priming sintático no nível intralinguístico em L2 são lexicalmente dependentes, dando suporte à visão de abordagens lexicalistas, em que a informação necessária para o processamento sintático está localizada nos frames sintáticos armazenados no léxico mental. Quanto ao nível translinguístico, nossos resultados sugerem a separação dos sistemas sintáticos das duas línguas.