Inserção profissional: os desafios nos primeiros anos de ensino

A problemática da inserção profissional dos novos professores tem sido largamente estudada sob várias perspetivas das quais destacamos, as dificuldades enfrentadas no início do seu desempenho como docentes (Alen y Sardi, 2009) Krichesky y Merodo (2009), o vinculo entre inserção e identidade profissional (Martineau y Portelance, 2005), o desenvolvimento da competência ética nos novos professores (St. Vincent 2011) e as trajetórias de emprego, entre outras.Os resultados destas pesquisas têm revelado o tipo de problemas enfrentados pelos novos professores à entrada na carreira docente e confirmado que nem todos os percursos se iniciam de modo tranquilo e sereno. É esta a problemática que serve de base ao objeto de estudo desta dissertação, pretendendo-se mais precisamente, centrar a nossa pesquisa no percurso profissional de seis professores diplomados pela Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa há dois anos. O objetivo geral do estudo é, assim, descrever e compreender o desenvolvimento profissional desses professores, identificar as dimensões mais relevantes, os fatores que o condicionam e os contextos que o limitam ou facilitam. Tendo em conta o objeto de estudo identificaram-se as seguintes questões: 1) Quais as implicações da formação inicial no desempenho da profissão? 2) Quais as principais dificuldades / problemas com que se defrontaram os novos professores na inserção na profissão?; 3) Como atuam os professores principiantes?; O que mudam nas suas práticas, o que perdura?; 4) Como se incrementa o sentimento de pertença ao novo grupo profissional?; 5) Quais as particularidades dos contextos de trabalho em que estes professores se encontram integrados que se revelam facilitadoras e/ou constrangedoras da sua inserção profissional? Para o efeito recorremos a uma metodologia qualitativa, e privilegiámos como técnica de recolha de dados a entrevista semiestruturada. Para o tratamento dos dados sustentámo-nos na análise de conteúdo seguindo os passos recomendados para a análise de conteúdo (Bardin, 2009). Os resultados do estudo permitiram identificar os constrangimentos experimentados por estes professores à entrada da profissão, assim como os modos como os ultrapassaram. Destes, destacam-se dificuldades relacionadas com a falta de autonomia, com aspetos de natureza metodológica, ao nível da organização e desenvolvimento curricular e de relacionamento com os elementos da direção das instituições nos contextos de trabalho.Abstract The issue of employability of new teachers has been widely studied from various perspectives. Research has revealed the sort of problems faced by new teachers at the beginning of their career. It confirms that frequently it is not a peaceful and serene start. We highlight the following difficulties: the link between integration and professional identity (Alen y Sardi, 2009; Krichesky y Merodo, 2009), the development of ethical competence in new teachers (y Portelance Martineau, 2005), and the professional path (St. Vincent 2011). This is the hypothesis explored in this thesis. Specifically, we focus our research on the career of six graduate teachers by the Lisbon School of Education. The main objective is to describe and understand the professional development of these teachers. For that we identify the most relevant dimensions, the factors that constrain and contexts that limit or facilitate their development. A qualitative methodology was used throughout the study. Semi structured interviews were the main data collection process. Data treatment followed the recommended framework for content analysis (Bardin, 2009). The following research questions were put forward: 1) What are the impacts of base level of knowledge in the professional performance? 2) What are the main difficulties / problems that new teachers face? 3) How do novice teachers perform? What changes in their methods, what endures? 4) What increases the feeling of belonging to the new professional group? 5) What are the peculiarities of work contexts that act as facilitators and/or barriers to professional acceptance? The results allowed identifying the constraints experienced by teachers at the beginning of their careers, and the ways to surpass them. We highlight the difficulties related to: lack of autonomy; methodologies; curricular organization and development; and the relationship with the directors at their workplace.

Entropy analysis of DNA code dynamics in human chromosomes

Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is the most fundamental aspect of life but present day scientific knowledge has merely scratched the surface of the problem posed by its decoding. While experimental methods provide insightful clues, the adoption of analysis tools supported by the formalism of mathematics will lead to a systematic and solid build-up of knowledge. This paper studies human DNA from the perspective of system dynamics. By associating entropy and the Fourier transform, several global properties of the code are revealed. The fractional order characteristics emerge as a natural consequence of the information content. These properties constitute a small piece of scientific knowledge that will support further efforts towards the final aim of establishing a comprehensive theory of the phenomena involved in life.

Knowledge extraction from medium voltage load diagrams to support the definition of electrical tariffs

With the electricity market liberalization, distribution and retail companies are looking for better market strategies based on adequate information upon the consumption patterns of its electricity customers. In this environment all consumers are free to choose their electricity supplier. A fair insight on the customer´s behaviour will permit the definition of specific contract aspects based on the different consumption patterns. In this paper Data Mining (DM) techniques are applied to electricity consumption data from a utility client’s database. To form the different customer´s classes, and find a set of representative consumption patterns, we have used the Two-Step algorithm which is a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Each consumer class will be represented by its load profile resulting from the clustering operation. Next, to characterize each consumer class a classification model will be constructed with the C5.0 classification algorithm.

Symbolic Knowledge Extraction from Trained Neural Networks Governed by Lukasiewicz Logics

This work describes a methodology to extract symbolic rules from trained neural networks. In our approach, patterns on the network are codified using formulas on a Lukasiewicz logic. For this we take advantage of the fact that every connective in this multi-valued logic can be evaluated by a neuron in an artificial network having, by activation function the identity truncated to zero and one. This fact simplifies symbolic rule extraction and allows the easy injection of formulas into a network architecture. We trained this type of neural network using a back-propagation algorithm based on Levenderg-Marquardt algorithm, where in each learning iteration, we restricted the knowledge dissemination in the network structure. This makes the descriptive power of produced neural networks similar to the descriptive power of Lukasiewicz logic language, minimizing the information loss on the translation between connectionist and symbolic structures. To avoid redundance on the generated network, the method simplifies them in a pruning phase, using the "Optimal Brain Surgeon" algorithm. We tested this method on the task of finding the formula used on the generation of a given truth table. For real data tests, we selected the Mushrooms data set, available on the UCI Machine Learning Repository.

Formação contínua e supervisão pedagógica: o impacto do Programa Nacional do Ensino do Português no desenvolvimento profissional de professores do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Este estudo pretende descrever e compreender o processo formativo dos professores do 1º ciclo do Ensino Básico, no contexto do Programa Nacional de Ensino do Português (PNEP), as suas dimensões mais relevantes e como é percecionada a supervisão nesse processo de formação contínua. A metodologia adotada nesta investigação foi de natureza qualitativa e baseou-se num conjunto de entrevistas semi-diretivas realizadas a formandos que frequentaram o PNEP entre 2008/2010. Dos resultados obtidos foi possível verificar o impacto positivo que esta modalidade de formação contínua teve no desenvolvimento profissional dos professores preparando-os para a implementação do novo programa de português e permitindo-lhes desmistificar o papel do supervisor através da participação numa experiência de supervisão. O trabalho colaborativo entre professores emergiu durante este processo formativo fomentando a construção de saber em colaboração. A prática pedagógica dos professores apresentou mudanças que pretenderam repercutir-se no aproveitamento dos alunos na área da língua portuguesa. - Abstract This study aims to comprehend and describe the formative process and practice of teachers in Basic education (1st Cycle), in the context of the National Programme for the Teaching of Portuguese Language (PNEP), its most relevant dimensions, the factors which affected it and how supervision was perceived by the teachers involved. A qualitative approach was used, based on semi-directed interviews done to teachers that attended the PNEP, from 2008 to 2010. The impact of this type of continuing training on teachers‟ professional development was positive. They felt prepared for the implementation of the new Portuguese Language Programme. They also demystified the role of the supervisor through the participation in an experience of supervision. The teachers‟ collaborative work emerged during this formative process, promoting the construction of knowledge among teachers. Added to this, teachers‟ pedagogical practice also improved reflected on the students‟ proficiency in the Portuguese language.

Histogram-based DNA analysis for the visualization of chromosome, genome and species information

We describe a novel approach to explore DNA nucleotide sequence data, aiming to produce high-level categorical and structural information about the underlying chromosomes, genomes and species. The article starts by analyzing chromosomal data through histograms using fixed length DNA sequences. After creating the DNA-related histograms, a correlation between pairs of histograms is computed, producing a global correlation matrix. These data are then used as input to several data processing methods for information extraction and tabular/graphical output generation. A set of 18 species is processed and the extensive results reveal that the proposed method is able to generate significant and diversified outputs, in good accordance with current scientific knowledge in domains such as genomics and phylogenetics.

A utilização da plataforma Educast@fccn, como ferramenta de gravação de aulas no ambiente de e-learning português

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Audiovisual e Multimédia.

Práticas de inclusão de alunos com perturbação do espectro do autismo no 1º Ciclo

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialidade Educação Especial – Problemas Cognitivos e Multideficiência

Inserção profissional: que caminho(s)?

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialidade em Supervisão em Educação

Problem-Based Learning e suas implicações: breve revisão teórica

A ESTSP-IPP implementou em 2008-2009 um novo modelo pedagógico, o PBL, em três licenciaturas. Este modelo tem sido considerado capaz de promover a aquisição de conhecimentos mas também o desenvolvimento de competências transversais valorizadas no mercado de trabalho; orienta-se em torno de problemas significativos da realidade profissional, trabalhados segundo a metodologia dos sete passos, destacando-se a aprendizagem através de pesquisa individual e trabalho de grupo; e visa ainda desenvolver processos cognitivos e metacognitivos como levantar hipóteses, comparar, analisar, interpretar e avaliar. Neste artigo, caracterizamos brevemente o modelo e respectivas implicações, justificando o interesse em investigar as repercussões da sua implementação.

Universidades da terceira idade: duas décadas de intervenção em Portugal

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialidade em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária

Ensino de léxico e texto descritivo

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Didáctica da Língua Portuguesa no 1.º e 2.º Ciclos do Ensino Básico

Determination of chitin content in fungal cell wall: an alternative flow cytometric method

The conventional methods used to evaluate chitin content in fungi, such as biochemical assessment of glucosamine release after acid hydrolysis or epifluorescence microscopy, are low throughput, laborious, time-consuming, and cannot evaluate a large number of cells. We developed a flow cytometric assay, efficient, and fast, based on Calcofluor White staining to measure chitin content in yeast cells. A staining index was defined, its value was directly related to chitin amount and taking into consideration the different levels of autofluorecence. Twenty-two Candida spp. and four Cryptococcus neoformans clinical isolates with distinct susceptibility profiles to caspofungin were evaluated. Candida albicans clinical isolate SC5314, and isogenic strains with deletions in chitin synthase 3 (chs3Δ/chs3Δ) and genes encoding predicted Glycosyl Phosphatidyl Inositol (GPI)-anchored proteins (pga31Δ/Δ and pga62Δ/Δ), were used as controls. As expected, the wild-type strain displayed a significant higher chitin content (P < 0.001) than chs3Δ/chs3Δ and pga31Δ/Δ especially in the presence of caspofungin. Ca. parapsilosis, Ca. tropicalis, and Ca. albicans showed higher cell wall chitin content. Although no relationship between chitin content and antifungal drug susceptibility phenotype was found, an association was established between the paradoxical growth effect in the presence of high caspofungin concentrations and the chitin content. This novel flow cytometry protocol revealed to be a simple and reliable assay to estimate cell wall chitin content of fungi.

A web-based intelligent tutoring system on teaching and learning electrical project

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provide new strategies for disseminating information and new communication models in order to change attitudes and human behaviour concerning to education. Nowadays the internet is crucial as a means of communication and information sharing. To education or tutorship will be required to use ICT, supported on the internet, to establish the communication of teacher-student and student-student, disseminating the content of the subjects, and as a way of teaching and learning process. This paper presents an intelligent tutor that aims to be a tool to support teaching and learning in the field of the electrical engineering project.

Image quality of myocardial perfusion-gated studies: effect of ingestion of different fat content in the reduction of extra-myocardial abdominal signal

Myocardial perfusion-gated-SPECT (MP-gated-SPECT) imaging often shows radiotracer uptake in abdominal organs. This accumulation interferes frequently with qualitative and quantitative assessment of the infero-septal region of myocardium. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of ingestion of different fat content on the reduction of extra-myocardial uptake and to improve MP-gated-SPECT image quality. In this study, 150 patients (65 ^ 18 years) who were referred for MP-gated-SPECT underwent a 1-day-protocol including imaging after stress (physical or pharmacological) and resting conditions. All patients gave written informed consent. Patients were subdivided into five groups: GI, GII, GIII, GIV and GV. In the first four groups, patients ate two chocolate bars with different fat content. Patients in GV – control group (CG) – had just water. Uptake indices (UI) of myocardium (M)/liver(L) and M/stomach–proximal bowel(S) revealed lower UI of M/S at rest in all groups. Both stress and rest studies using different food intake indicate that patients who ate chocolate with different fat content showed better UI of M/L than the CG. The UI of M/L and M/S of groups obtained under physical stress are clearly superior to that of groups obtained under pharmacological stress. These differences are only significant in patients who ate high-fat chocolate or drank water. The analysis of all stress studies together (GI, GII, GIII and GIV) in comparison with CG shows higher mean ranks of UI of M/L for those who ate high-fat chocolate. After pharmacological stress, the mean ranks of UI of M/L were higher for patients who ate high- and low-fat chocolate. In conclusion, eating food with fat content after radiotracer injection increases, respectively, the UI of M/L after stress and rest in MP-gated-SPECT studies. It is, therefore, recommended that patients eat a chocolate bar after radiotracer injection and before image acquisition.