The knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies of faculty in associate degree nursing education programs

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies by full-time and part-time faculty in Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) programs. Sander's CTI (1992) instrument was adapted for this study and pilottested prior to the general administration to ADN faculty in Southeast Florida. This modified instrument, now termed the Burroughs Teaching Strategy Inventory (BTSI), returned reliability estimates (Cronbach alphas of .71, .74, and .82 for the three constructs) comparable to the original instrument. The BTSI was administered to 113 full-time and part-time nursing faculty in three community college nursing programs. The response rate was 92% for full-time faculty (n = 58) and 61 % for part-time faculty (n = 55). The majority of participants supported a combined definition of critical thinking in nursing which represented a composite of thinking skills that included reflective thinking, assessing alternative viewpoints, and the use of problem-solving. Full-time and part-time faculty used different teaching strategies. Fulltime faculty most often used multiple-choice exams and lecture while part-time faculty most frequently used discussion within their classes. One possible explanation for specific strategy choices and differences might be that full-time faculty taught predominately in theory classes where certain strategies would be more appropriate and part-time faculty taught predominately clinical classes. Both faculty types selected written nursing care plans as the second most effective critical thinking strategy. Faculty identified several strategies as being effective in teaching critical thinking. These strategies included discussion, case studies, higher order questioning, and concept analysis. These however, were not always the strategies that were used in either the classroom or clinical setting. Based on this study, the author recommends that if the profession continues to stress critical thinking as a vital component of practice, nursing faculty should receive education in appropriate critical teaching strategies. Both in-service seminars and workshops could be used to further the knowledge and use of critical thinking strategies by faculty. Qualitative research should be done to determine why nursing faculty use self-selected teaching strategies.

Comparison of Linear Functions in Middle Grades Textbooks from Singapore and the United States

Many U.S. students do not perform well on mathematics assessments with respect to algebra topics such as linear functions, a building-block for other functions. Poor achievement of U.S. middle school students in this topic is a problem. U.S. eighth graders have had average mathematics scores on international comparison tests such as Third International Mathematics Science Study, later known as Trends in Mathematics and Science Study, (TIMSS)-1995, -99, -03, while Singapore students have had highest average scores. U.S. eighth grade average mathematics scores improved on TIMMS-2007 and held steady onTIMMS-2011. Results from national assessments, PISA 2009 and 2012 and National Assessment of Educational Progress of 2007, 2009, and 2013, showed a lack of proficiency in algebra. Results of curriculum studies involving nations in TIMSS suggest that elementary textbooks in high-scoring countries were different than elementary textbooks and middle grades texts were different with respect to general features in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to compare treatments of linear functions in Singapore and U.S. middle grades mathematics textbooks. Results revealed features currently in textbooks. Findings should be valuable to constituencies who wish to improve U.S. mathematics achievement. Portions of eight Singapore and nine U.S. middle school student texts pertaining to linear functions were compared with respect to 22 features in three categories: (a) background features, (b) general features of problems, and (c) specific characterizations of problem practices, problem-solving competency types, and transfer of representation. Features were coded using a codebook developed by the researcher. Tallies and percentages were reported. Welch's t-tests and chi-square tests were used, respectively, to determine whether texts differed significantly for the features and if codes were independent of country. U.S. and Singapore textbooks differed in page appearance and number of pages, problems, and images. Texts were similar in problem appearance. Differences in problems related to assessment of conceptual learning. U.S. texts contained more problems requiring (a) use of definitions, (b) single computation, (c) interpreting, and (d) multiple responses. These differences may stem from cultural differences seen in attitudes toward education. Future studies should focus on density of page, spiral approach, and multiple response problems.

A relação entre transtorno da insônia e funções executivas em adultos

The insomnia disorder is defined as a difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep or waking up earlier than expected unable to return to sleep, followed by a feeling of nonrestorative and poor quality sleep, present for at least three months, with consequences on daytime functioning. Studies have shown that insomnia affects cognitive function, especially executive functions. However, researches that sought to investigate the relationship between primary insomnia and executive functioning were quite inconsistent from a methodological point of view, especially in regard to the variability of the used methods, the heterogeneity of diagnostic criteria for insomnia and the control of sleep altering drugs. In this sense, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between insomnia and executive functions in adults. The participants were 29 people, from both genders, aged 20-55 years old. Participants were divided into three groups, one composed of 10 people with primary insomnia who used sleep medication (GIM), nine people with primary insomnia who did not use medication (GInM) and 10 healthy people who composed the control group (CG). The research was conducted in two stages. The first one involved a diagnostic evaluation for insomnia disorder through a clinical interview and the application of the following protocols: the Athens Insomnia Scale, the Insomnia Severity Index, Sleep Journal (for 14 days), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Stanford Sleepiness Test, depression and anxiety Beck inventories, and Lipp’s Iventory of stress symptoms for adults. After this stage, the evaluation of executive functions was performed by applying a battery of neuropsychological tests composed by the following tests: Wisconsin, Stoop Test, Colored trails Test, the Tower of London Test, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and WAIS III subtest digit span, which measured selective attention, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, planning, problem solving, decision making and working memory, respectively. The results showed that insomniacs (GIM and GInM) showed higher sleep latency, shorter sleep duration and lower sleep efficiency compared to the CG. In regard to the performance in executive functions, no statistically significant difference between groups was observed in the evaluated modalities. However, the data show evidence that, compared to GInM and GC, the performance of GIM was lower on tasks that required quick responses and changes in attention focus. On the other hand, GInM, when compared to GIM and GC, showed a better performance on tasks involving cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, impaired sleep measures were correlated with the worst performance of insomniacs in all components evaluated. In conclusion, people with the insomnia disorder showed a performance similar to healthy people’s in components of the executive functioning. Thus, one can infer that there is a relationship between primary insomnia and executive functions in adults.

Mobilização de competências na atividade informal do vendedor ambulante em praia de Natal (RN)

The central issue of this dissertation is to investigate the labor activity of beach hawker, in order to identify the main professional competencies mobilized in this activity, traversed by both the precariousness of the means of labor exercise, as for complex and structured routines. In the town of Natal (RN) the beaches serve as workplace for thousands of informal workers, who use various professional skills, translated into the ability to mobilize and articulate knowledge, skills and behaviors to solve problems in concrete work situations. This research therefore had as main objective to investigate the work of beach hawkers, trying to identify the core competencies mobilized for facing demands and obstacles in such a context. The beach of Ponta Negra (Natal-RN) was chosen as field of observation, in which a group of hawkers took part as voluntary subjects. Methodologically, quantitative and qualitative methods of production and analysis of data were combined in three stages. In the quantitative phase an occupational questionnaire was applied to a sample of 60 subjects, generating a set of data analyzed with quantitative univariate and multidimensional descriptive statistical tools, complemented by inferential statistical analysis. The results of this phase indicate a predominance of men sellers with salary varying in a range from one to two minimum wage Brazilian salary, age and education quite heterogeneous, extended working hours and the choice of only this activity and this beach throughout the year. Concurrently with this step of analysis, unsystematic observations of the activity of vendors were held and then driven to the technique of Instruction Impersonator with four chosen subjects. This phase had a clinicalinterpretive analysis, rooted in historical-cultural Vygotskian psychological perspective and in the french approach of skills and abilities. The main results point to several strategies for overcoming obstacles, use of technics anchored in everyday work experience and practical knowledge, building rules of conduct and collective mobilization of diverse professional skills similar to those found in formal work, such as business and time management, use of communicative tools, flexibility in problem solving, creativity and teamwork competence. We conclude that informality investigated in context can not be seen exclusively as a synonym of precariousness. It also covers skills and knowledge in a complex culture that situates informal labor in a complementary way with respect to formal work. This conclusion, therefore, contributes to overcome the notion of antinomy between formal and informal labor activity, since they both can be considered as a way to achieve job satisfaction, and even a personal representation of well done job, which is an important psychological generator of identity and social place.

Avaliação da atenção humanizada ao abortamento em maternidade-escola, em Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

Unplanned pregnancy is experienced by millions of women worldwide. Such fact increases the risk of abortion-related morbimortality, which represents a serious public health problem. This study aims to evaluate the advances and challenges of the implementation of Humanized Abortion Care at the Maternity-School in Natal, state of Rio Grande do Norte. The research was evaluative, was preceded by an Evaluative Study, and resulted in a Case Study. The intentional sample totaled 102 subjects (60 users, 39 professionals and 3 managers). The collection techniques included documental analysis, semi-structured interview and observation with a field diary. The documental analysis was descriptive, while the Content Analysis by Bardin was used for semi-structured interviews and field diary. The Evaluative Study observed that Humanized Abortion Care is an evaluative program with preparation and pact of the logical model, of the matrix of indicators and evaluative questions. The Case Study showed that users were satisfied with the problem-solving capacity and access to the service; however, is also showed that they pointed out inadequacy in terms of environment, qualified hearing and reproductive planning. Professionals reported that the inefficiency of service consists of infrastructure and environment, which are considered inefficient and inadequate to humanized care, especially regarding patient accommodation, the lack of hospital beds, the reduced number of rooms in the surgical center and the lack of laboratory inside the maternity. Moreover, reproductive planning does not consist of an institutionalized practice in the service, and integrality with other services or partnership with the community is not in place. The Maternity Board emphasizes that the excessive demand of patients is one of the reasons that hinders the appropriate implementation of the technical standard. We then conclude that although satisfied regarding problem-solving capacity in terms of service and ease of access, there is room for improvement in qualified hearing systems, in the creation of a system to promote team work, implementation of ombudsman and satisfaction surveys. The right of shared choice did not prevail among users and health professionals with regard to the option of uterine evacuation procedure. Environment was the most mentioned category as that requiring more changes, seeing as a limited factor for the development of humanized and welcoming practices. Health professionals do not establish a periodic routine of planning practices, and such practices are not aligned with the Technical Standard. Incorporation of guidelines and availability of a plurality of methods and possibilities of choices for family planning are required. There is no institutionalization of reference and counter-reference, or partnerships with the community, which makes integrality of care not viable. The Standard needs to be included in the action plans of managers as one of the priorities in the construction of care strategies for women's health, in order to enable, allied to other initiatives, the real integration among safe conduct service, primary care network and social organizations. As a result, respect for human rights and adequate humanized care, as a way of attention and prevention of abortion, can be secured.

Efeitos de um programa de treino cognitivo e das técnicas de higiene do sono para as funções executivas e para a qualidade de sono em idosos saudáveis

The aging process causes changes in the elderly’s sleep/awake standard impairing their cognitive abilities, particularly executive functioning, which already suffers loss by aging. The literature suggests that executive function and preserved sleep quality are key to maintaining good quality of life and independence of older people, requiring interventions to minimize the impact of losses incurred by the aging process. This study evaluated the effect of a cognitive training program and sleep hygiene techniques for executive functions and sleep quality in healthy older people. The participants were 41 healthy older adults, of both sexes, who were randomly divided into four groups: control group [GC], cognitive training group [GTC], sleep hygiene group [GHS] and training group + hygiene [GTH]. The research was developed in three stages: 1st - initial assessment of cognition and sleep; 2nd - specific intervention to each group; 3rd - post-intervention revaluation. The results showed that GTC had significant improvements in cognitive tasks flexibility, planning, verbal fluency and some aspects of episodic memory, besides gains in sleep quality and decrease on daytime hypersomnolence. The GHS improved sleep quality and daytime sleepiness as well and had significant improvements in insights capacity, planning, attention and in all evaluated aspects of episodic memory. The GTH had significant gains in cognitive flexibility, problem solving, verbal fluency, attention and episodic memory. The CG showed significant worsening in excessive daytime sleepiness in capacity planning. Thus, we conclude that cognitive training interventions and sleep hygiene strategies are useful in improving cognitive performance and quality of healthy elderly sleep.

Uma proposta de indicadores para o acompanhamento de alunos em projetos de desenvolvimento colaborativo de software com foco no desenvolvimento de habilidades transversais

Soft skills and teamwork practices were identi ed as the main de ciencies of recent graduates in computer courses. This issue led to a realization of a qualitative research aimed at investigating the challenges faced by professors of those courses in conducting, monitoring and assessing collaborative software development projects. Di erent challenges were reported by teachers, including di culties in the assessment of students both in the collective and individual levels. In this context, a quantitative research was conducted with the aim to map soft skill of students to a set of indicators that can be extracted from software repositories using data mining techniques. These indicators are aimed at measuring soft skills, such as teamwork, leadership, problem solving and the pace of communication. Then, a peer assessment approach was applied in a collaborative software development course of the software engineering major at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). This research presents a correlation study between the students' soft skills scores and indicators based on mining software repositories. This study contributes: (i) in the presentation of professors' perception of the di culties and opportunities for improving management and monitoring practices in collaborative software development projects; (ii) in investigating relationships between soft skills and activities performed by students using software repositories; (iii) in encouraging the development of soft skills and the use of software repositories among software engineering students; (iv) in contributing to the state of the art of three important areas of software engineering, namely software engineering education, educational data mining and human aspects of software engineering.

Uma proposta de indicadores para o acompanhamento de alunos em projetos de desenvolvimento colaborativo de software com foco no desenvolvimento de habilidades transversais

Soft skills and teamwork practices were identi ed as the main de ciencies of recent graduates in computer courses. This issue led to a realization of a qualitative research aimed at investigating the challenges faced by professors of those courses in conducting, monitoring and assessing collaborative software development projects. Di erent challenges were reported by teachers, including di culties in the assessment of students both in the collective and individual levels. In this context, a quantitative research was conducted with the aim to map soft skill of students to a set of indicators that can be extracted from software repositories using data mining techniques. These indicators are aimed at measuring soft skills, such as teamwork, leadership, problem solving and the pace of communication. Then, a peer assessment approach was applied in a collaborative software development course of the software engineering major at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). This research presents a correlation study between the students' soft skills scores and indicators based on mining software repositories. This study contributes: (i) in the presentation of professors' perception of the di culties and opportunities for improving management and monitoring practices in collaborative software development projects; (ii) in investigating relationships between soft skills and activities performed by students using software repositories; (iii) in encouraging the development of soft skills and the use of software repositories among software engineering students; (iv) in contributing to the state of the art of three important areas of software engineering, namely software engineering education, educational data mining and human aspects of software engineering.

Using Community Outreach to Build Children’s Resiliency and Critical Literacy through Digital Tools

Grade three students used tablet computers with a pre-selected series of applications over a seven-month period at school and through a community afterschool program. The study determined that these students benefited from differentiated learning in the school environment and online collaborative play in the afterschool centre. Benefits of the exposure to digital tools included: intergenerational learning as children assisted both parents and teachers with digital applications; problem-solving; and enhanced collaborative play for students across environments. Although this study makes a contribution to the field of digital literacy and young learners, the researchers conclude further investigation is warranted, in regards to the inter-relationships between home, school and community as spaces for the learning and teaching of digital technologies.

The 1995 BFA Graduating Class Department of Visual Arts

As you consider this catalogue of works, reflect upon the variety of tasks- intellectual, emotional and technical- that have led to this visible record of ability and expression. the interdisciplinary rigors of the visual arts are present in these pages, and the breadth of the skill, ability, problem-solving and communication that have been developed and refined during the years of study are portrayed an in this presentation of accomplishment. The Graduates represented in the following pages will go on to a variety of careers-teaching, making art, starting businesses,or following any number of diverse paths that they have prepared during their undergraduate years. The work they have chosen to present here is merely a synopsis of the broad spectrum of skills and abilities they have gained during their years at grenfell college.

COMUNICAÇÃO INSTITUCIONAL E UNIVERSIDADE: diretrizes para a divulgação científica no estado de Mato Grosso

O estudo visa identificar as iniciativas de Divulgação Científica empreendidas pela Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) e Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (Unemat), com vistas à atualização e ao aperfeiçoamento da comunicação institucional, maior interação com interlocutores e fortalecimento da imagem do estado como produtor de CT&I. Foram empreendidas pesquisas bibliográficas e documentais, áreas prioritárias de fomento e difusão científica; entrevistas; auditoria de imagem na mídia estadual; diagnóstico dos principais produtos de jornalismo científico desenvolvidos pela UFMT e Unemat, assim como iniciativas conjuntas (revista Fapemat Ciência e Rede de Divulgação Científica). O método investigativo adotado pode ser caracterizado como Pesquisa Participante, concebido em estreita associação com resolução de problemas, tomada de consciência ou produção de novos conhecimentos (THIOLLENT, 1996, 1997). Tal estratégia agrega distintas técnicas de pesquisa social, definidas em função de cada fase do processo de investigação. A partir da análise dos conteúdos científicos publicados nos jornais estaduais, foi possível verificar que essas IES públicas ainda não ocupam lugar relevante em tais veículos, o que pode ser justificado pela inadequação de linguagem ou canais de relacionamento, assim como, pela necessidade de uma política de divulgação mais eficiente. O mapeamento dos portais e canais de mídias sociais institucionais evidenciou que a utilização desses veículos ainda pode ser mais bem dinamizada. Por fim, as conclusões apontam que diferenças culturais e institucionais entre as duas IES inviabilizam a adoção de uma Política de Comunicação Científica integrada, comum entre UFMT e Unemat. O que pode ser considerado, é o desenvolvimento de ações para a dinamização de divulgação dessas instituições, no âmbito do Sistema Estadual de CT&I.

Horta escolar: temas geradores e os momentos pedagógicos no ensino de ciências

Science application has faced problems in the process of training and cognizant thinking subjects in their actions. Thus, this work is justified in order to reorganize the contents of this area of knowledge. Thus, the research entitled "Plantation School: generating themes and teaching moments in teaching of science" was developed with a group of 6th grade of elementary school, from the planting of vegetables in tires without usefulness, with purpose of building meanings and scientific concepts to students. This work was based on sociointeractionist perspective of Vygotsky (1996, 1998), education for thematic research Freire (1983, 1996) as well as in problem-solving situations identified by the methodology of Pedagogical Moments Delizoicov and Angoti (1992; 2002 ) which together corroborated for the construction of a proposed teaching and learning, curriculum reorganization and significance of scientific concepts. Thus, the project breaks in practice with the linearity of the contents, to develop and analyze themes mediated by pedagogical moments, in order to ascertain the contribution of this methodological resource for the teacher's work, with regard to the understanding of scientific concepts by students. Thus, lesson plans were built based on the study situation "Horta School" and Themes Generators "human interaction with the environment", "photosynthesis", "Ecology and Nutrition of living beings", culminating in the work proposal developed in the classroom. From these themes, the contents were worked through pedagogical moments, which are organized into three stages: questioning, organization / systematization of knowledge and application / contextualization of knowledge. Thus, within each Theme Generator activities were planned which resulted in the involvement of students in learning scientific concepts, such as the issue of sustainability, environmental pollution, nutrition of living beings and the decomposition of organic matter. This work led and motivated student participation in Themes generators, and allows greater interaction between teacher-student and student among his peers, through dialogism established in the classroom, which promoted a more meaningful learning for students.

How does problem based learning fit with cognitive load theory?

This paper reports on an investigation with first year undergraduate Product Design and Management students within a School of Engineering. The students at the time of this investigation had studied fundamental engineering science and mathematics for one semester. The students were given an open ended, ill formed problem which involved designing a simple bridge to cross a river. They were given a talk on problem solving and given a rubric to follow, if they chose to do so. They were not given any formulae or procedures needed in order to resolve the problem. In theory, they possessed the knowledge to ask the right questions in order to make assumptions but, in practice, it turned out they were unable to link their a priori knowledge to resolve this problem. They were able to solve simple beam problems when given closed questions. The results show they were unable to visualise a simple bridge as an augmented beam problem and ask pertinent questions and hence formulate appropriate assumptions in order to offer resolutions.

Can a Broader Education Narrow the Gap? Evidence on Non-Academic Features of Schooling

Empirical studies of education programs and systems, by nature, rely upon use of student outcomes that are measurable. Often, these come in the form of test scores. However, in light of growing evidence about the long-run importance of other student skills and behaviors, the time has come for a broader approach to evaluating education. This dissertation undertakes experimental, quasi-experimental, and descriptive analyses to examine social, behavioral, and health-related mechanisms of the educational process. My overarching research question is simply, which inside- and outside-the-classroom features of schools and educational interventions are most beneficial to students in the long term? Furthermore, how can we apply this evidence toward informing policy that could effectively reduce stark social, educational, and economic inequalities?

The first study of three assesses mechanisms by which the Fast Track project, a randomized intervention in the early 1990s for high-risk children in four communities (Durham, NC; Nashville, TN; rural PA; and Seattle, WA), reduced delinquency, arrests, and health and mental health service utilization in adolescence through young adulthood (ages 12-20). A decomposition of treatment effects indicates that about a third of Fast Track’s impact on later crime outcomes can be accounted for by improvements in social and self-regulation skills during childhood (ages 6-11), such as prosocial behavior, emotion regulation and problem solving. These skills proved less valuable for the prevention of mental and physical health problems.

The second study contributes new evidence on how non-instructional investments – such as increased spending on school social workers, guidance counselors, and health services – affect multiple aspects of student performance and well-being. Merging several administrative data sources spanning the 1996-2013 school years in North Carolina, I use an instrumental variables approach to estimate the extent to which local expenditure shifts affect students’ academic and behavioral outcomes. My findings indicate that exogenous increases in spending on non-instructional services not only reduce student absenteeism and disciplinary problems (important predictors of long-term outcomes) but also significantly raise student achievement, in similar magnitude to corresponding increases in instructional spending. Furthermore, subgroup analyses suggest that investments in student support personnel such as social workers, health services, and guidance counselors, in schools with concentrated low-income student populations could go a long way toward closing socioeconomic achievement gaps.

The third study examines individual pathways that lead to high school graduation or dropout. It employs a variety of machine learning techniques, including decision trees, random forests with bagging and boosting, and support vector machines, to predict student dropout using longitudinal administrative data from North Carolina. I consider a large set of predictor measures from grades three through eight including academic achievement, behavioral indicators, and background characteristics. My findings indicate that the most important predictors include eighth grade absences, math scores, and age-for-grade as well as early reading scores. Support vector classification (with a high cost parameter and low gamma parameter) predicts high school dropout with the highest overall validity in the testing dataset at 90.1 percent followed by decision trees with boosting and interaction terms at 89.5 percent.

Mock-ups in design : the implications of utlizing [sic] a mock-up review process in professional practice

The purpose of this research is to examine the use of a mock-up review process in interior design projects to better understand the implications of using such a process within the standard professional practice model. The research consisted of interviewing design professionals who utilize mock-ups as part of their standard of practice. These interviews were centered around two groups - those working in shipbuilding, where mock-ups have a long history, and those working in land-based projects, where mock-up use is rare. Analysis of the interviews indicated a positive relationship between mock-up use and collaboration, innovation, and problem solving. The interviews also brought to light concerns on behalf of all the professionals surveyed about the current practice model in land-based building design and construction projects within the United States. The positive relationships shown in the thesis support further research to explore how mock-ups can be best utilized in interior design.