La política educativa y su compromiso con la equidad social y el desarrollo sostenible

The article centers its analysis in two areas of the current educational policies in Costa Rica: the statements that the document contains about its commitment with the social equity and the sustainable development, subject that has a strong relationship with rural education, its conceptualization, its planning, and its development. At the same time, it traces a brief description of the development of the right to education in the nation’s politics, showing advances of the country’s vulnerable groups, with the promulgation of new laws that these sectors have been reaching through fights and organized demands.

Integral Perspective of the Costa Rican Educational Development

The purpose of this essay is to raise the educational development that has been experienced in our country, outlining influential frames such as political, social, religious and economical ones. It aims to report statistical data as indicators of the development of our educational system, in areas of coverage, average education, repetition, desertion, among others. It is imperative to achieve changes and restructuring in our education system at all levels, from kindergarten to university, so it should take into account the contribution of all stakeholders in the education sector, as the human resource is valuable and all the innovative proposals should be heard, especially those that seek to build together and not ideas imposed that hinder the development of education in our country. Improvements must be necessary because there is an existing desire by many people of improving and achieving a true enrichment in our education.

The Support Educational Commitee Participation in the Pedagogical Approach of an Educational Integration

Educational services are essential to social and economical development of people, mainly to the progress of all sectors of society. Establishing actions that can promote the participation of various social groups is essential to improve their quality of life and building more respectful and fair human rights without any discrimination or exclusion. In recent years, the Costa Rican education system has undergone significant changes due to the pedagogical approach of inclusive education in which students with educational needs may require different support and specialized resources for training and development. For this, the Basic Educational Division of the Center for Teaching and Research in Education, generated a concern of investigating the participation of the Committee of Educational Support in the process of educational integration, thus, determine the functions performed in the educational context, under the rules of the 7600 Equal Opportunity Act for people with disabilities, which is the entity that corresponds to regulate access to education by identifying the support required for students with educational needs and, advice and trains, administrative staff in schools both public and private in the country. In addition, there is also a concern for exploring the role of the Special Education teacher for this Committee, as well as learning the perceptions of teachers and parents about the functions performed by the committee.

Educational Inclusion in the Regular Classroom: an Asperger Syndrome Case

The following paper resulted from the final research project conducted for my Master’s Degree in Teacher Training for Teachers of Primary Education (1st – 6th grade of the Basic General Education). This research project was conducted under the supervision of the Rural Education Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Education (CIDE-UNA, Spanish acronym), in coordination with the Central America Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC). The research is qualitative with an interpretative approach. Our main objective was to analyze the process of inclusive education in the regular classroom for a person with Asperger’s Syndrome, defined as a type of social impairment. The case study method was used in this research, as it allows a deeper study. A girl was chosen from a public school in an urban area of San José, Costa Rica. Three techniques were used to obtain information: interviews, questionnaires and documentation (personal file, behavior record, and psychological assessment) related to the girl with Asperger. The triangulation of sources was used as a method of analysis. The conclusion of the project was that regular schools may have children miss-diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and that our schools are still far from achieving inclusive education, but efforts are being made to achieve it. For a more opportune intervention, some recommendations based on this study were provided to the family and the school of the girl with Asperger.

La investigación científico-social: Un debate epistemológico desde la educación

Recibido 27 de julio de 2011 • Aceptado 26 de agosto de 2011 • Corregido 28 de octubre de 2011  El debate epistemológico de la investigación científico-social durante años ha consistido en confrontar los métodos, tratando de hacer valer más uno que el otro a partir de la gran teoría que lo soporta. Aunque propuestas más recientes recuperan métodos híbridos o planteamientos epistemológicos más diversos, la postura de la dualidad ha prevalecido. Descriptiva o explicativa; fenomenológica o positivista; clásica o emergente; los paradigmas de investigación son la manera en cómo tenemos acceso a la realidad investigada y así obtener principios y respuestas. Ello define los métodos. Aún cuando es posible agrupar y categorizar estos métodos en cuantitativos y cualitativos, el entramado epistemológico que establecen las estructuras de cualquier metodología permitirá el abordaje de un fenómeno mejor que otro, sin que esto pondere necesariamente alguno de manera definitoria. Dentro de la educación, tanto métodos cuantitativos como cualitativos han ayudado a abordar fenómenos de tal manera que han producido resultados favorables para el bienestar del quehacer educativo. Este ensayo, producto de una revisión bibliográfica y una trayectoria investigativa y educativa, pretende esclarecer el complejo panorama inicial de los investigadores educativos novatos antes de revisar y recuperar una postura epistemológica.

The space for social media in structured online learning

In this paper, we explore the benefits of using social media in an online educational setting, with a particular focus on the use of Facebook and Twitter by participants in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed to enable educators to learn about the Carpe Diem learning design process. We define social media as digital social tools and environments located outside of the provision of a formal university-provided Learning Management System. We use data collected via interviews and surveys with the MOOC participants as well as social media postings made by the participants throughout the MOOC to offer insights into how participants’ usage and perception of social media in their online learning experiences differed and why. We identified that, although some participants benefitted from social media by crediting it, for example, with networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities, others objected or refused to engage with social media, perceiving it as a waste of their time. We make recommendations for the usage of social media for educational purposes within MOOCs and formal digital learning environments.

[the Teaching Of Social Sciences In Health: Between Practice And Theory].

The models of teaching social sciences and clinical practice are insufficient for the needs of practical-reflective teaching of social sciences applied to health. The scope of this article is to reflect on the challenges and perspectives of social science education for health professionals. In the 1950s the important movement bringing together social sciences and the field of health began, however weak credentials still prevail. This is due to the low professional status of social scientists in health and the ill-defined position of the social sciences professionals in the health field. It is also due to the scant importance attributed by students to the social sciences, the small number of professionals and the colonization of the social sciences by the biomedical culture in the health field. Thus, the professionals of social sciences applied to health are also faced with the need to build an identity, even after six decades of their presence in the field of health. This is because their ambivalent status has established them as a partial, incomplete and virtual presence, requiring a complex survival strategy in the nebulous area between social sciences and health.

[almost An Autobiography: A Study Of Social Scientists In Health Based On The Lattes Curriculum].

Among the various ways of adopting the biographical approach, we used the curriculum vitaes (CVs) of Brazilian researchers who work as social scientists in health as our research material. These CVs are part of the Lattes Platform of CNPq - the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, which includes Research and Institutional Directories. We analyzed 238 CVs for this study. The CVs contain, among other things, the following information: professional qualifications, activities and projects, academic production, participation in panels for the evaluation of theses and dissertations, research centers and laboratories and a summarized autobiography. In this work there is a brief review of the importance of autobiography for the social sciences, emphasizing the CV as a form of autobiographical practice. We highlight some results, such as it being a group consisting predominantly of women, graduates in social sciences, anthropology, sociology or political science, with postgraduate degrees. The highest concentration of social scientists is located in Brazil's southern and southeastern regions. In some institutions the main activities of social scientists are as teachers and researchers with great thematic diversity in research.

The Consequences Of Refractory Epilepsy And Its Treatment.

Seizures in some 30% to 40% of patients with epilepsy fail to respond to antiepileptic drugs or other treatments. While much has been made of the risks of new drug therapies, not enough attention has been given to the risks of uncontrolled and progressive epilepsy. This critical review summarizes known risks associated with refractory epilepsy, provides practical clinical recommendations, and indicates areas for future research. Eight international epilepsy experts from Europe, the United States, and South America met on May 4, 2013, to present, review, and discuss relevant concepts, data, and literature on the consequences of refractory epilepsy. While patients with refractory epilepsy represent the minority of the population with epilepsy, they require the overwhelming majority of time, effort, and focus from treating physicians. They also represent the greatest economic and psychosocial burdens. Diagnostic procedures and medical/surgical treatments are not without risks. Overlooked, however, is that these risks are usually smaller than the risks of long-term, uncontrolled seizures. Refractory epilepsy may be progressive, carrying risks of structural damage to the brain and nervous system, comorbidities (osteoporosis, fractures), and increased mortality (from suicide, accidents, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, pneumonia, vascular disease), as well as psychological (depression, anxiety), educational, social (stigma, driving), and vocational consequences. Adding to this burden is neuropsychiatric impairment caused by underlying epileptogenic processes (essential comorbidities), which appears to be independent of the effects of ongoing seizures themselves. Tolerating persistent seizures or chronic medicinal adverse effects has risks and consequences that often outweigh risks of seemingly more aggressive treatments. Future research should focus not only on controlling seizures but also on preventing these consequences.

Cognitive And Behavioral Heterogeneity In Genetic Syndromes.

this study aimed to investigate the cognitive and behavioral profiles, as well as the psychiatric symptoms and disorders in children with three different genetic syndromes with similar sociocultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. thirty-four children aged 6 to 16 years, with Williams-Beuren syndrome (n=10), Prader-Willi syndrome (n=11), and Fragile X syndrome (n=13) from the outpatient clinics of Child Psychiatry and Medical Genetics Department were cognitively assessed through the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III). Afterwards, a full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ), verbal IQ, performance IQ, standard subtest scores, as well as frequency of psychiatric symptoms and disorders were compared among the three syndromes. significant differences were found among the syndromes concerning verbal IQ and verbal and performance subtests. Post-hoc analysis demonstrated that vocabulary and comprehension subtest scores were significantly higher in Williams-Beuren syndrome in comparison with Prader-Willi and Fragile X syndromes, and block design and object assembly scores were significantly higher in Prader-Willi syndrome compared with Williams-Beuren and Fragile X syndromes. Additionally, there were significant differences between the syndromes concerning behavioral features and psychiatric symptoms. The Prader-Willi syndrome group presented a higher frequency of hyperphagia and self-injurious behaviors. The Fragile X syndrome group showed a higher frequency of social interaction deficits; such difference nearly reached statistical significance. the three genetic syndromes exhibited distinctive cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric patterns.

Juan César García: Social Medicine As Project And Endeavor.

This paper analyses some aspects of the trajectory of the Argentinian physician and sociologist Juan César García (1932-1984) in the field of Latin American Social Medicine. Three dimensions constituting his basic orientations are highlighted: the elaboration of systematic and reflective social thought; a critical attitude in questioning teaching and professional practices; a commitment to the institutionalization and dissemination of health knowledge.

Diretrizes curriculares nacionais para o ensino médio: avaliação de documento

This text offers some contributions to the debate on the changes proposed to the National Curricular Directives to reform secondary education in Brazil. In the first part, the political and economic scene is evaluated as the context which generated the last stage of reforms in the educational field in the 90s. It questions the option for a model of structural reform (in the Brazilian case more restricted to the Program for Reform of Professional Education - PROEP) and of the curriculum, whose themes find their justification in the contemporary economic, social cultural and political context. It discusses the use of a model that bases itself on experiences developed in other countries and takes the international orientation of the multilateral organizations as its theoretical methodological reference, leaving out the peculiarities and injunctions of the Brazilian political administrative system. Such a policy measure can increase the tension and distance normally existing between government programs and the possibility of their real implementation in the school network. In the second part, it discusses the Resolution of the National Education Council, the Congress on Basic Education, no.3, of 16.698 that instituted the National Curricular Directives for secondary education, as well as the Legal Bases - Part I - of the National Curricular Parameters for secondary education. The analysis of official discourse takes Bardin's (1977, p. 209) proposals as its methodological reference for the models of structural analysis, seeking to make the implicit values and the connotations of the legal texts explicit

Diagnóstico da Educação Ambiental no ensino de Geografia: Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí hidrographic basins

The goals of this study are to identify the potencialities avaiable in elementary public schools for the development of an educational process wich includes environmental issues helpping to find its integration with university in order to contribuite raises teaching levels for a better comprehension of regional environmental problems. Research data were collected through questionnaires and interviews with geography teachers analyising theirs activities and perspectives on the environmental crisis and environmental education. The study also offers sugestions for the devellopment of interdisciplinaires programs trying to contibute for the construction of citizenship showing the importance of better comprehension from environmental problems which includes physical, economics, social, political and cultural aspects.

Homogeneidade e heterogeneidade nos sistemas educacionais: Argentina, Brasil, Chile e México

This study focus on the reconfiguration of educational management in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, which was promoted by the new logic of social regulation and the new role attributed to the State, considering each country's own historicity. So, the cultural factors that interfere on the dynamics of the 90' school reform are analyzed. Aspects that show the homogeneity or heterogeneity of these reforms in the region, as well as local specificities that block out the concretization of the reform are underlined. It is shown that the historicity that characterizes the educational reform has taken, in each country, a form that can be called, in Mexico, conservative rupture; in Chile, conservative continuity; in Brazil, conservative renovation; and, in Argentina, interrupted rupture. Some conclusions about the impact of educational reform in the selected countries are recuperated through the analysis of 186 academic texts on the subject.

Reflexão sobre alguns desafios do ensino médio no Brasil hoje

The purpose of this article is to develop some ideas that may contribute to the debate about the secondary education in Brazil, giving emphasis to the conditions existing in the educational institutions, the ongoing educational policies and the challenges posed by the social, economic and political reality of the country. It is also discussed the political, social and economic importance of the expansion and the compulsory character of secondary education as well as the school's culture dimension, in its relationship to the so-called knowledge society. Finally, the role of secondary education for the youth and the new demands it poses for teachers are presented, among some others aspects.