The future of engineering - Do primary school engineering education interventions leave a lasting impression?

This positional paper proposes a conceptual framework and methodological approach for use in a PhD study investigating the longer term educational and social impact of 'active' engineering focused interventions for children age 8-10 in the UK. The study will critically analyse how a child's participation in an engineering education activity contributes to the Engineering Capital that the child possesses; focusing on how the child's awareness and perceptions about engineering are affected. To achieve this aim it is proposed that Grounded Theory methodology be used to enable an in-depth analysis of participation from the perspective of the child participant. The study proposed will be longitudinal, taking place over three formative years for the education and career aspirations of the child, from age 8-10 to 11-13. Although the research is in its infancy, this paper will provide the opportunity to develop theory in an underdeveloped area of engineering education research.

Lions and roses: An interpretive history of Israeli-Iranian relations

This multi-disciplinary research project explores the religious and cultural foundations within the "master commemorative narratives" that frame Israeli and Iranian political discourse. In articulating their grievances against one another, Israeli and Iranian leaders express the tensions between religion, nationalism, and modernity in their own societies. The theoretical and methodological approach of this dissertation is constructivist-interpretivist. The concept of "master commemorative narratives" is adapted from Yael Zerubavel's study of ritualized remembrance in Israeli political culture, and applied to both Israeli and Iranian foreign policy. Israel’s master commemorative narrative draws heavily upon the language of the Hebrew Bible, situating foreign policy discourse within a paradigm of covenantal patrimony, exile, and return, despite the unrelenting hostility of eternal enemies and "the nations." Iran’s master commemorative narrative expresses Iranian suspicion of foreign encroachment and interference, and of the internal corruption that they engender, sacralizing resistance to the forces of evil in the figurative language and myths of pre-Islamic tradition and of Shi'a Islam. Using a constructivist-interpretive methodological approach, this research offers a unique interpretive analysis of the parallels between these narratives, where they intersect, and where they come into conflict. It highlights both the broad appeal and the diverse challenges to the components of these "master" narratives within Israeli and Iranian politics and society. The conclusion of this study explains the ways in which the recognition of religious and cultural conflicts through the optic of master commemorative narratives can complement the perspectives of other theoretical approaches and challenge the conventions of Security Studies. It also suggests some of the potential practical applications of this research in devising more effective international diplomacy.

Soft power as the new norm: How the Chinese-Russian strategic partnership (soft) balances American hegemony in an era of unipolarity

This study explores how great powers not allied with the United States formulate their grand strategies in a unipolar international system. Specifically, it analyzes the strategies China and Russia have developed to deal with U.S. hegemony by examining how Moscow and Beijing have responded to American intervention in Central Asia. The study argues that China and Russia have adopted a soft balancing strategy of to indirectly balance the United States at the regional level. This strategy uses normative capabilities such as soft power, alternative institutions and regionalization to offset the overwhelming material hardware of the hegemon. The theoretical and methodological approach of this dissertation is neoclassical realism. Chinese and Russian balancing efforts against the United States are based on their domestic dynamics as well as systemic constraints. Neoclassical realism provides a bridge between the internal characteristics of states and the environment which those states are situated. Because China and Russia do not have the hardware (military or economic power) to directly challenge the United States, they must resort to their software (soft power and norms) to indirectly counter American preferences and set the agenda to obtain their own interests. Neoclassical realism maintains that soft power is an extension of hard power and a reflection of the internal makeup of states. The dissertation uses the heuristic case study method to demonstrate the efficacy of soft balancing. Such case studies help to facilitate theory construction and are not necessarily the demonstrable final say on how states behave under given contexts. Nevertheless, it finds that China and Russia have increased their soft power to counterbalance the United States in certain regions of the world, Central Asia in particular. The conclusion explains how soft balancing can be integrated into the overall balance-of-power framework to explain Chinese and Russian responses to U.S. hegemony. It also suggests that an analysis of norms and soft power should be integrated into the study of grand strategy, including both foreign policy and military doctrine.

A methodology to select an enterprise resource planning system for a small or medium sized enterprise

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are software programs designed to integrate the functional requirements, and operational information needs of a business. Pressures of competition and entry standards for participation in major manufacturing supply chains are creating greater demand for small business ERP systems. The proliferation of new offerings of ERP systems introduces complexity to the selection process to identify the right ERP business software for a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). The selection of an ERP system is a process in which a faulty conclusion poses a significant risk of failure to SME’s. The literature reveals that there are still very high failure rates in ERP implementation, and that faulty selection processes contribute to this failure rate. However, the literature is devoid of a systematic methodology for the selection process for an ERP system by SME’s. This study provides a methodological approach to selecting the right ERP system for a small or medium-sized enterprise. The study employs Thomann’s meta-methodology for methodology development; a survey of SME’s is conducted to inform the development of the methodology, and a case study is employed to test, and revise the new methodology. The study shows that a rigorously developed, effective methodology that includes benchmarking experiences has been developed and successfully employed. It is verified that the methodology may be applied to the domain of users it was developed to serve, and that the test results are validated by expert users and stakeholders. Future research should investigate in greater detail the application of meta-methodologies to supplier selection and evaluation processes for services and software; additional research into the purchasing practices of small firms is clearly needed.^

An ethnographic study: Becoming a physics expert in a biophysics research group

Expertise in physics has been traditionally studied in cognitive science, where physics expertise is understood through the difference between novice and expert problem solving skills. The cognitive perspective of physics experts only create a partial model of physics expertise and does not take into account the development of physics experts in the natural context of research. This dissertation takes a social and cultural perspective of learning through apprenticeship to model the development of physics expertise of physics graduate students in a research group. I use a qualitative methodological approach of an ethnographic case study to observe and video record the common practices of graduate students in their biophysics weekly research group meetings. I recorded notes on observations and conduct interviews with all participants of the biophysics research group for a period of eight months. I apply the theoretical framework of Communities of Practice to distinguish the cultural norms of the group that cultivate physics expert practices. Results indicate that physics expertise is specific to a topic or subfield and it is established through effectively publishing research in the larger biophysics research community. The participant biophysics research group follows a learning trajectory for its students to contribute to research and learn to communicate their research in the larger biophysics community. In this learning trajectory students develop expert member competencies to learn to communicate their research and to learn the standards and trends of research in the larger research community. Findings from this dissertation expand the model of physics expertise beyond the cognitive realm and add the social and cultural nature of physics expertise development. This research also addresses ways to increase physics graduate student success towards their PhD. and decrease the 48% attrition rate of physics graduate students. Cultivating effective research experiences that give graduate students agency and autonomy beyond their research groups gives students the motivation to finish graduate school and establish their physics expertise.^

Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations

This multi-disciplinary research project explores the religious and cultural foundations within the “master commemorative narratives” that frame Israeli and Iranian political discourse. In articulating their grievances against one another, Israeli and Iranian leaders express the tensions between religion, nationalism, and modernity in their own societies. The theoretical and methodological approach of this dissertation is constructivist-interpretivist. The concept of “master commemorative narratives” is adapted from Yael Zerubavel’s study of ritualized remembrance in Israeli political culture, and applied to both Israeli and Iranian foreign policy. Israel’s master commemorative narrative draws heavily upon the language of the Hebrew Bible, situating foreign policy discourse within a paradigm of covenantal patrimony, exile, and return, despite the unrelenting hostility of eternal enemies and “the nations.” Iran’s master commemorative narrative expresses Iranian suspicion of foreign encroachment and interference, and of the internal corruption that they engender, sacralizing resistance to the forces of evil in the figurative language and myths of pre-Islamic tradition and of Shi‘a Islam. Using a constructivist-interpretive methodological approach, this research offers a unique interpretive analysis of the parallels between these narratives, where they intersect, and where they come into conflict. It highlights both the broad appeal and the diverse challenges to the components of these “master” narratives within Israeli and Iranian politics and society. The conclusion of this study explains the ways in which the recognition of religious and cultural conflicts through the optic of master commemorative narratives can complement the perspectives of other theoretical approaches and challenge the conventions of Security Studies. It also suggests some of the potential practical applications of this research in devising more effective international diplomacy.

Trinidad multinationals and their effect on caribbean regionalization

The purpose of the thesis was to first, document the expansion of Trinidad's business sector and then to probe the implications of this expansion on Caribbean regionalization. The variables analyzed were physical expansion, technology and development and community involvement. The methodological approach used first, a theoretical approach based on the New Regionalism Approach (NRA) which best accounts for non-state actors (multinationals) and their role in the scheme of regionalization. Second, interviews were conducted with leaders of the major multinationals in Trinidad to ascertain their opinion on the role of multinationals in the regionalization process. Based on the case studies analyzed, namely Royal Bank Group of Companies and Trinidad Cement Holdings Limited, the findings of the thesis indicate that Trinidad multinationals are helping the process of Caribbean regionalization and consider themselves regional rather than national entities. It can be concluded that the growth of Trinidad multinationals will continue to be integral to the economic integration of the region.

Humanização do direito e da justiça: reconhecimento e efetividade dos direitos da criança e do adolescente

The crisis of the model of technical and formal rationality is discussed in light of a paradigmatic change of the Law that arises in the context of recent transformations of capitalism worldwide, proposing a humanization of Law and Justice with a new ethical-political foundation that promotes a reconciliation between the rules that governs the social order and the world of life, a process of society’s emancipation. As empirical cut it is taken the Right of Children and Youth and, in a practical perspective, the recognition and effectiveness of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Brazil. It is proposed to analyze the process of democratization and legitimacy of the children and youth rights from the study and apprehension of knowledge that advocate a multidisciplinary view of knowledge and a dialogic praxis for construction of a thought able to contribute to the analysis of public policies and to develop strategies that allow a real change on the social thinking about the doctrine of integral protection of children and adolescents. The proposed methodological approach was developed from a dialectical view of science and as a research strategy for data collection of symbolic cartography or cartographic sociology of law and justice. It is shown that in the process of humanization of the Law and Justice there is a gap between the rights and the democratic participation of these rights.

Uso pedagógico do ábaco romano para ensino do algoritmo de multiplicação

This dissertation describes the construction of a alternative didactic incorporating a historical approach with the use of the Roman abacus for teaching multiplication to students of 2nd year of elementary school, through activities ranging from the representation of numbers to multiplying with the Roman abacus, for learning the multiplication algorithm. Qualitative research was used as a methodological approach since the research object fits the goals of this research mode. Concerning the procedures, the research can be seen as a teaching experiment developed within the school environment. The instruments used for data collection were: observation, logbook, questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. The processing and analysis of data collected through the activities were classified and quantified in tables for easy viewing, interpretation, understanding, analysis of data and then transposed to charts. The analysis confirmed the research objectives and contributed to indicate the pedagogical use of the Roman abacus for teaching multiplication algorithm through several activities. Thus, it can be considered that this educational product will have important contributions for the teaching of this mathematical content, in Basic Education, particularly regarding to the multiplication process

Acolhimento prescrito x real: uma análise sobre as relações entre trabalhadores e usuários na estratégia saúde da família

User embracement has been proposed as a tool that contributes to humanize the nursing, to increase the users’ access to the services, to ensure the resolvability of claims, to organize the services and promote the strengthening of the links between them and the health professionals. In the city of Recife, this practice has been fomented by the municipal government and its implementation is guided by normative acts, with evaluation matrices and proposition of goals, based on a model created by the public administration. This study intended to analyze the relation between the prescribed user embracement and the real one and their interferences with the relations of reciprocity between workers and users in the health units of basic attention in Recife. Four units of the Family Health Strategy at the Sanitary District IV of the city of Recife – PE were taken as an investigation field. The investigation had a qualitative character, so, Interviews were performed involving professionals and users whose speeches were recorded by the voice digital mode and literally transcript. The obtained speeches were analyzed mostly through the Discourse of the Collective Subject methodological approach, being also used, but on a smaller scale, the technique of thematic analysis, in the dialogic way, with theoretical contributions and official documents related to the theme. The results pointed that in most of the health units the professionals execute the proposed protocols and consider that these have a positive influence for the working process in user embracement, however, factors such as the excessive demand, the physical structure of the units, little resolvability of the reference network, singularities of the units, among others, have appeared, hampering the accomplishment of the prescribed, creating, thus, a negative influence on the working process of the user embracement. The reciprocal relations have also suffered the influences of these factors, which made difficult, therefore, the circulation of gift. Meanwhile, other factors such as access, resolvability, sheltering attitude and responsabilization, potentiated the reciprocal exchange between professionals and users. The findings demand the prescriptive acts and the reciprocal relations of the user embracement to be directly influenced by the singularities present in each community, by the human variabilities and by factors connected to the structure and working process, so it shall be operated with caution in order to provide a real user embracement with quality

Formação docente e conhecimento profissional: desafios para o ensino da matemática na EJA

As for the Education for Youth and Adult (EYA), the challenge of training these teachers is to provide tools to understand and act on the teaching of mathematics. It is realized just how special education in this modality and as such teaching is lacking in an adequate and solid training in the area of knowledge. One of the major problems affecting this type of education is the high dropout and failure rates, and lack of motivation among students. Thus the need to provide differentiated profile with a professional to teach youth and adults students, so that they are able to mobilize didactic-pedagogic knowledge, methodologies and theoretical frameworks that serve as a basis for school-developed teaching practice. This thesis aims to investigate how the math teacher, who acts in adult education from elementary school, has developed its didactic and pedagogical action, and that professional knowledge has been mobilized to teach? It has highlighted the importance of initial and continuing training and professionalization of teachers dedicated to this specific type of education, when teachers should be the protagonists of their professional development. The methodological approach was begun with a literature review, then the research was anchored mainly on the ideas by Gauthier, Nuñez and Ramalho (2004); Imbernon (2011), Garcia (2006); Perrenoud (2000); Tardif (2007 ); Haddad, Di Pierro (2000), D'Ambrosio (2002), Mendes (2006, 2009), Freire (1996, 2011), and other theorists and official documents of field of adult education here and abroad. That work leads us to the understanding of the present moment from a foray into historical and conceptual aspects, as well as educational policies of EYA, as well as training, professionalism, knowledge and skills necessary for professional practice. Then, the subjects and the locus of research and the instrument for data collection were set up and led by the object of study. To consolidate the study was selected a sample of 27 mathematics teachers, working in municipal EYA Network Teaching of Natal. This research is in an investigative nature, within the quantitative and qualitative approaches focused on the responses of study subjects from the content analysis by Bardin (1977). Results from the analyzes have revealed that the initial training of mathematics teachers of adult education needs to be reconfigured in order to formalize the knowledge base of professionals (the mathematical content, didactics and professional knowledge). Thus the study suggests that this base knowledge is embedded in the pedagogical practice of these teachers, so that there is a completion of the teaching and learning process for young people and adults. The study also has pointed out that there is a need for teachers to participate in a continuing education plan that prioritizes learning situations of mathematical content considering the previous knowledge of the students. The final analyses thus indicate that knowledge of mathematics and the didactic and pedagogical strategies to be mobilized by teachers must be able to motivate the students in such a way that they feel need to incorporate in their knowledge, mathematical knowledge capable of making them more likely to have access to social, economic and labor market

“Eu quero ver se a justiça vai funcionar mesmo”: a resolubilidade dos casos de abuso sexual contra crianças e adolescentes no município de Natal/RN

This study presents the issue of Children and Youth sexual violence from a critical eye in assessing the actions of the organs of defense and protection in cases of sexual abuse against children and adolescents in the city of Natal / RN. We aimed to perform this evaluation from the investigation of 05 cases of child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse that were answered by Precinct Specializing in Defense of Children and Adolescents (DCA), considering the service flow of cases, the articulation between the organs that make up System Warranty rights (SGD), the record of the complaint, as well as the elapsed time between the record of the complaint and the accountability of the offender. Thus, the present study consists in an analysis from the quantitative and qualitative theoretical-methodological approach assuming 'sexual violence in their social, historical, cultural, legal and economic dimensions. The route established between the knowledge about the object and the method of analysis involved: literature about the conceptual discussion on sexual violence, analyzing quantitative data provided by DCA, as well as semi-structured interviews with victims and those responsible for the professionals working in institutions of the defense agencies. Is apprehended in this study that the situations of violence against children is a multifaceted phenomenon that has expressions from ancient societies, assuming a peculiarity in contemporary society to consider the juvenile population as subjects of rights. Furthermore, it was possible to identify the lack of effectiveness, with respect to the actions of the organs of defense in intervention situations of sexual abuse now investigated as yet not actually configure a process of articulation between these bodies from the perspective of ensuring rights and break the cycle of violence.

Aprender e ensinar na escola inclusiva: desafios na construção da identidade de pedagogos

The democratization of Brazilian education and discussion about the educational rights of persons with disabilities in refer to reflection on the conceptions of teaching and learning and the folding of these concepts in practice and in the formation of professional identity of the teacher educator. Thus, the proposed research in this dissertation aimed to describe educational processes developed by educators in classrooms in which they are enrolled students with disabilities a view to considering how these processes affect the construction of their professional identity of the pedagogue. As the methodology used to research is classified as Case Study. This methodological approach enables the analysis of singularities of educational contexts. In this work, the case investigated consisted of the analytical study of the pedagogical practices developed in classrooms where there are students with disabilities and their relation to the establishment of the professional identity of the teacher in a school linked to a non-governmental organization supporting people with disabilities in the city of Natal / RN. The Data were collected through the use of the following instruments: exploratory questionnaires, observation and respective registration in the field diary of research and interviews with educators in different professional cycles proposed by Huberman. The data reveal didactic and pedagogical aspects common in educational processes in the observed classes and differences concerning the specifics of pedagogues in the teaching profession in different moments of their professional careers. The analysis of the conceptions tell us the nuances of meanings constructed on teaching and learning and its interface with the reflection on teaching practice. As to the meaning assigned to be pedagogue research highlights the professional identification related to the meanings of teaching and learning in school. The experiences in the teaching profession according to the survey data point to changes in teachers conceptions about teaching and learning disabled people in the perspective of inclusion. Therefore, the study concludes that the pedagogical practices with students with disabilities the different experiences add up and can transform conceptions of teachers about teaching and learning interfering with constant reflection on practices and the construction of professional identities of pedagogues.

Desenho de deficiência visual: uma experiência no ensino de artes visuais na perspectiva da educação inclusiva

Over the past 30 years, Art Education in interface with disabilities has been a subject of increasing interest in research in academia, especially with regard to Special Education, but still has some shortages in terms of socialization studies to discuss this type of teaching from the perspective of inclusive education. In this scenario, this paper presents an analysis from the field of teaching Visual Arts in the context of school inclusion, with emphasis on teaching drawing to the visually impaired. The conducted literature indicates a number of authors who discuss teaching drawing to people with visual disabilities, who are dedicated primarily to the Special Education context. In this sense, the shortage of research that discuss this teaching from the perspective of inclusive education, this research aimed at the inclusive approach to teaching drawing in the school context. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a proposal for a pedagogical intervention in Visual Arts, with reference to drawing and its construction process, with the participation of seeing and unseeing students. Therefore, the methodological approach, which was qualitative, was the intervention research, in the light of the Bakhtinian principles of dialogism and otherness, with exploratory study characteristics. The locus of the research was the State School Admiral Newton Braga Faria, which is located in Alecrim, on the East Zone of Natal / RN and is near the Institute for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind - IERC / RN. The class chosen for intervention was the 7th grade “C” afternoon shift, which had children aged 12 to 16, with 27 students enrolled, three students with disabilities: 02 blind girls and 01 deafblind boy with light hearing and visual loss. As interlocutors of the research, we could also count on the Art teacher who served as a collaborator, as well as teacher in the school’s Multifunction Resource Room. The instruments and research procedures were observation, semi-structured interview, field diary and the photo / video recording. In the development of research, we conducted 10 workshops with multisensory teaching sequences, articulating the physical, tactile and graphical expressions as intrinsic to the reading and production of drawing for both seeing and unseeing students. The process and data built on research allowed for a reflection on cultural experiences with drawing in the school context and on the interactions between seeing and unseeing students in the production and analysis of tactile-visual drawings. They also point out the construction of a teaching approach to drawing, in the context of the common class, from educational workshops that enable artistic and aesthetic interactions from the perspective of school inclusiveness. Thus, we argued that the mobilization of the tactile, physical and graphical expressions can be adopted in a multisensory approach that enables a pedagogical focus that involves all students and is not restricted to the presence of students with visual impairment.

A TV como objeto de leitura da imagem no contexto escolar: uma pesquisa-ação com alunos do ensino médio

This research seeks to reflect on the dynamics of television reception, studying the Brazilian TV miniseries Hoje é Dia de Maria, produced by Globo Television Network, and aims to generally promote inferences in the process of image reading, mainly for aesthetic reading in school context, aiming at the formation of visual proficient readers. The research was conducted with students from the third grade of a state high school, geographically located in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The theoretical framework comes from the assumptions of cognitive social interactionism to understand language, and it is also based on the ideas of Bakhtin (1992) and Vygotsky (1998), which enabled us to understand the social interaction and the Theory of Aesthetics Reception and Aesthetic Effect with Jauss (1979) and Iser (1999), which provided a better understanding of aesthetic experience, aesthetic effects and production of meaning. The methodological approach assumes a qualitative nature and an interpretive bias, accomplished through interviews, observation, questionnaire and application of a set of investigative activities, such as introductory exposition of themes, handing out of images and mediation process. This research is the result of a research-action process in a pedagogical intervention in a state school. The results indicate that the interactional linguistic resources used by the speakers demonstrated lack of prior knowledge and repertoire regarding image reading, which initially led them to do a cursory reading. It was evident that the respondents were unaware of the initial proposal. However, throughout the meetings, it was possible to realize their transformation, because the pre-established concepts were analyzed with the help of mediation, so that the group felt more autonomous and safe to read images at the end. The survey also showed significant data, so that the school could develop new methods of teaching televisual reading.