The status and barriers to the implementation and continuation of the school gardening projects in Germany, Nigeria and the United States of America

In drawing a conclusion for this study, care must be taken in generalizing findings since the population of students and teachers investigated were limited to certain levels in the different schools and countries. This study recognized some complexity of the factors underlying the status of school gardening instruction and activities in Germany, Nigeria and the U.S. as inadequate time for decision-making in the process of gardening, motivation of teachers and students. This was seen as the major impediments that influenced the status of gardening in the three countries. However, these factors were considered to have affected students’ mode of participation in the school gardening projects. This research finding suggests that the promotion and encouragement of students in gardening activities will promote vegetable production and increasing the numbers of practical farmers. Gardening has the potential to create opportunities for learning in an environment where children are able to experience nature first hand and to use the shared experience for communication (Bowker & Tearle, 2007). Therefore, the need for students to be encouraged to participate in gardening programs as the benefit will not only reduce the rate of obesity currently spreading among youths, but will contribute to the improve knowledge on science subjects. To build a network between community, parents and schools, a parent’s community approach should be used as the curriculum. The community approach will tighten the link between schools; community members, parents, teachers and students. This will help facilitate a better gardening projects implementation. Through a close collaboration, teachers and students will be able to identify issues affecting communities and undertake action learning in collaboration with community organizations to assess community needs and plan the implementation strategies as parents are part of the community. The sense of efficacy is a central factor in motivational and learning processes that govern educational improvement, standard and performance on complex tasks of both teachers and students. Dedication and willingness are the major stimulator and achievement of a project. Through a stimulator and provision of incentives and facilities, schools can achieve the best in project development. Teachers and principals should be aware that students are the lever for achieving the set goals in schools. Failure to understand what students need will result in achieving zero result. Therefore, it is advised that schools focus more on how to lure students to work through proper collaboration with the parents and community members. Principals and teachers should identify areas where students need to be corrected, helping them to correct the problem will enable them be committed in the schools’ programs.

Databases and cooperative projects of the IZI documentation centre : promoting media literacy. 'Bases de datos y proyectos cooperativos del centro de documentación IZI : promoviendo la alfabetización de los medios de comunicación'.

El Instituto Internacional Central para la Televisión Juvenil y Educativa (IZI) es un centro de investigación y documentación dedicado a promover la calidad en la televisión y medios de comunicación para niños y jóvenes y educación. El departamento de documentación del IZI cuenta con una base de datos de referencia internacional para educadores, investigadores, padres, estudiantes y especialistas de la información. Además el IZI participa en redes nacionales e internacionales educativas documentales. El objetivo esencial de estos proyectos cooperativos es la promoción de la alfabetización de medios de comunicación, que constituye una habilidad imprescindible en la sociedad del conocimiento.

Degree projects improving co-operation between the teacher education program and schools : - Swedish experiences

In 1977, when teacher education inSwedenwas incorporated into the university system, the main reason was to transform it into an academic tradition. Now, nearly 30 years later, there is still tension between the academic and the vocational tradition; they show up as different and separated elements in a program that is meant to prepare students for a career as a teacher and for a possible future career as a researcher in this field. This tension gives rise to a risk of allowing parallel “tracks” to develop and of isolating the degree thesis work from other courses. On the teacher-training program in which we are involved, close co-operation with partner-schools, where the practical part of the program takes place, has been established. Here, the students´ degree theses are an important factor in making this co-operation work on a concrete level. Accordingly, the purpose of the degree thesis is both to reflect problems in schools and contribute to better teaching in the individual school, but also to offer relevant educational subject matter to the students, which may be adapted as an element in the university’s research environments. From these points of view, the degree thesis is an important part of teacher education and rather more than just a single course. The degree thesis should be an element that gives the students an opportunity to show that they have reached central goals in the teacher education program. It should also be an integral part in the development of critical and scholarly thinking, deepening pedagogical and didactic knowledge and giving the students an opportunity to apply research methods. We will here use two minor case studies: one that compares teacher education programs in five Swedish universities and one minor study at one of those universities, in order to elaborate on the questions: - What purpose has a degree thesis and what role does it play in teacher education? - What criteria are relevant to assessing a degree thesis and what qualities do the degree theses have? - Is it possible to assess a degree thesis fairly and what happens to students who do not pass? - How could the degree thesis be used to improve the contact between the teacher education program and its partner schools in order to contribute to the development of the individual school?

Relationship of Coca-Cola Brazil and the communities participant of the social projects: (im) possibilities

Five years ago, Coca-Cola Brasil launched a program named “Coletivo Project”, with the purpose to enjoy an opportunity of increase on the potential consumption power of the low-income pyramid population that lived on the “favelas”. At the same time, it had the objective to offer to them a social and financial impact, which is a trust on the future, the first job for the young adults’ participant of this program and an increase on their family source of revenues, through salaries. This was possible because through Coletivo Project, Coca-Cola identified the assets they have through its value chain, focusing on its competencies, such as retail, merchandising and logistics to apply them on courses to teach the young people of the communities and, as a result, form them to be able to find their new jobs. Internal indicators followed in a monthly basis by Coca-Cola demonstrated that the communities that had the presence of Coletivos, in comparison to those without Coletivos, had social and financial impacts. The social was the fact that the young formed started to have more confidence on their future and felt with a higher self-stem to apply for and obtain their first job. On the financial aspect, they were benefit through the increasing of their revenues and also their families and Coca-Cola had an increase on sales, when compared to a community without a Coletivo Project installed. This dissertation seeks to identify the current relationship between Coca-Cola and the communities, through the Coletivo Project classes performed on the NGOs located at this places, in order to identify opportunities for improvement the benefits and the impacts (financial and social) on the NGOs, communities and all stakeholders of this project. This dissertation examines this relationship, through presence interviews performed on four NGOs selected, and located on four of the twenty communities, that are participants of the Coletivo Project on Rio de Janeiro city. These interviews performed with the students, representatives and educators of these NGOs. The covered period of the interviews ranges from April 2014 to August 2014. This dissertation draws on first-hand qualitative empirical evidence gathered through extensive fieldwork. The main findings among possibilities for improvement by Coca-Cola are: • Implement new courses, beyond those existent at Coca-Cola (Retail, Logistics, etc.). • Increase the content of the employment module of Coletivo classes, focusing on improving educational, cultural, economic, political, social and professional life. • Increase the scale, through the quantity of positions on the Retail Coletivo classes. • Develop cultural and sports events with the communities. • Support the points of sales, participant of the practical classes of the Coletivo Retail, with refrigerators and furniture with the Coca-Cola logo. • Provide coffee breaks and meals during the Coletivo classes, using Coca-Cola beverages and partners for food items, developing the nutrition platform of the company and filling a need of the students. • Perform a research with all stakeholders related to this Project, including those students and mothers that are not participant of the Coletivo, in order to listen to them, understand their needs, and offer solutions to fulfill these gaps. and on the side of the • Perform partnerships with educational institutions to make viable other type of courses, more technical, but that have a relation with the core business of Coca-Cola Brasil, such as marketing. • Implement the Coca-Cola University, already existed at the Company. • Create courses or activities focused on the children. Regarding the impossibilities, the findings are: • Improve the basic sanitation of the communities. • Improve the safety on the communities. • Provide a home to those do not have. • Implement courses that have no relationship with Coca-Cola business and expertise, such as gastronomy. However, Coca-Cola can influence stakeholders on that. The results suggest to executives of Coca-Cola that a deep and a qualitative research on the communities of Brazil, in order to listen young people, educators, mothers, partners that offer jobs, from Coletivo and out of the project, is mandatory, to understand their needs, dreams, complains and offer valuable solutions to all.

An Educational international partnership responding to local needs: Process evaluation of the Brazil FAIMER Regional Institute

The Brazilian public health system requires competent professionals sensitive to the needs of the population. The Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) provides a two-year faculty development programme for health professions educators, aiming to build leadership in education to improve health. A partnership with governmental initiatives and FAIMER was established for meeting these needs. This paper describes the initial process evaluation results of the Brazilian FAIMER Institute Fellowship (FAIMER BR). Methods: Data were analysed for the classes 2007-2010 regarding: application processes; innovation project themes; retrospective post-pre self-ratings of knowledge acquisition; and professional development portfolios. Results: Seventeen of 26 Brazilian states were represented among 98 Fellows, predominantly from public medical schools (75.5%) and schools awarded Ministry of Health grants to align education with public health services (89.8%). One-third (n = 32) of Fellows' innovation projects were related to these grants. Significant increases occurred in all topic subscales on self-report of knowledge acquisition (eff ect sizes, 1.21-2.77). In the follow up questionnaire, 63% of Fellows reported that their projects were incorporated into the curriculum or institutional policies. The majority reported that the programme deepened their knowledge (98%), provided new ideas about medical education (90%) and provided skills for conflict management (63%). One-half of the Fellows reported sustained benefits from the programme listserv and other communications, including breadth of expertise, establishment of research collaboration and receiving emotional support. Conclusion: Contributors to initial programme success included alignment of curriculum with governmental initiatives, curriculum design merging educational technology, leadership and management skills and central role of an innovation educational project responding to local needs.

Reliability of Web-Based Information in Inquiry Projects

This case study aims at identifying how a community of secondary school students selects web-based information and factors associated with the reliability of online reference sources during their collaborative inquiry (co-inquiry) projects. This study, conducted in a public secondary school in Brazil, focused on information literacy skills for collaborative open learning (colearning). The research is based on qualitative content analysis implemented on the online platform weSPOT. Although students are mindful of the importance of comparing different sources of information they seem not to be aware of reliability in online environments. Teacher's guidance is essential to support co-learners in developing competences, particularly related to critical thinking.

Practising Arithmetic Using Educational Video Games with an Interpersonal Computer

Studies show the positive effects that video games can have on student performance and attitude towards learning. In the past few years, strategies have been generated to optimize the use of technological resources with the aim of facilitating widespread adoption of technology in the classroom. Given its low acquisition and maintenance costs, the interpersonal computer allows individual interaction and simultaneous learning with large groups of students. The purpose of this work was to compare arithmetical knowledge acquired by third-grade students through the use of game-based activities and non-game-based activities using an interpersonal computer, with knowledge acquired through the use of traditional paper-and-pencil activities, and to analyze their impact in various socio-cultural contexts. To do this, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with 271 students in three different countries (Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica), in both rural and urban schools. A set of educational games for practising arithmetic was developed and tested in six schools within these three countries. Results show that there were no significant differences (ANCOVA) in the learning acquired from game-based vs. non-game-based activities. However, both showed a significant difference when compared with the traditional method. Additionally, both groups using the interpersonal computer showed higher levels of student interest than the traditional method group, and these technological methods were seen to be especially effective in increasing learning among weaker students.

Robotics learning based on collaborative projects

[EN]Nowadays companies demand graduates able to work in multidisciplinary and collaborative projects. Hence, new educational methods are needed in order to support a more advanced society, and progress towards a higher quality of life and sustainability. The University of the Basque Country belongs to the European Higher Education Area, which was created as a result of the Bologna process to ensure the connection and quality of European national educational systems. In this framework, this paper proposes an innovative teaching methodology developed for the "Robotics" subject course that belongs to the syllabus of the B.Sc. degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering. We present an innovative methodology for Robotics learning based on collaborative projects, aimed at responding to the demands of a multidisciplinary and multilingual society.

Impact of educational posters on the lay knowledge of school teachers regarding emergency management of dental injuries

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge of school teachers about the emergency management of dental trauma, after an educational poster campaign. A total of 1000 questionnaires were sent to 100 schools in the area where the poster had been distributed. This was compared to another 100 schools (1000 questionnaires) in an area, Where the poster had not been distributed. The questionnaire surveyed demographic data, basic knowledge of emergency management of tooth fracture, luxation and avulsion injuries. A total of 511 questionnaires were returned (25.5%) and analyzed. Results showed differences between the two assessed areas. Teachers, who worked in the area with poster distribution, had better knowledge in handling tooth injuries. For the management of tooth fractures the portion of teachers, who knew the correct handling procedure, was 78.9% (area with poster campaign) vs 72.1% (area with no poster campaign), for the management of tooth luxation it was 87% vs 84% and for the management of tooth avulsion it was 71% vs 54%. In the area with the poster campaign 49% (n = 90 out of 185) of the teachers stated to have gained some knowledge about this topic beforehand. Out of these, 75 teachers (75/90 = 83%), had gained their information from the educational poster. Out of the 75 teachers, who had seen a poster on this topic, 68 (68/75 = 91%) would have managed such an emergency correctly. The present study shows the positive effect of educational poster campaigns. It therefore should encourage professionals in this field to embark on similar projects.

Smart Classrooms: Guidelines for Educational Technology in Classroom Facility in The University of Texas System

Problem Statement: Classroom facilities developed as new construction or renovation projects for UT System institutions tend to be developed as individual, ad hoc project. There are significant opportunities for process improvement is establishing standard business processes for developing Smart Classroom, establishing design standards and referring to prototype facilities developed at other institutions. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Method for the evaluation of social projects

This instrument was part of the research project "Research on Evaluation of Health and Education Plans and Programs in the Province of Buenos Aires", developed by the of Chair Preventive Psychology of the Psychology course of studies at the School of Humanities and Educational Sciences, National Univer- sity of La Plata (Argentina). The basis for proposing an assessment instrument is the need for a method enabling analysis, systematization of knowledge and the assignment of values distributed into scales and organized in general charts, on social programs. Its main concern is the analysis of health and education programs and projects, restricted to certain specific areas or regions, in search for theoretic trustworthi-ness, methodological accuracy as well as pragmatic operability. This is the result of four years of researching said programs at system, service and community levels.

Method for the evaluation of social projects

This instrument was part of the research project "Research on Evaluation of Health and Education Plans and Programs in the Province of Buenos Aires", developed by the of Chair Preventive Psychology of the Psychology course of studies at the School of Humanities and Educational Sciences, National Univer- sity of La Plata (Argentina). The basis for proposing an assessment instrument is the need for a method enabling analysis, systematization of knowledge and the assignment of values distributed into scales and organized in general charts, on social programs. Its main concern is the analysis of health and education programs and projects, restricted to certain specific areas or regions, in search for theoretic trustworthi-ness, methodological accuracy as well as pragmatic operability. This is the result of four years of researching said programs at system, service and community levels.

Method for the evaluation of social projects

This instrument was part of the research project "Research on Evaluation of Health and Education Plans and Programs in the Province of Buenos Aires", developed by the of Chair Preventive Psychology of the Psychology course of studies at the School of Humanities and Educational Sciences, National Univer- sity of La Plata (Argentina). The basis for proposing an assessment instrument is the need for a method enabling analysis, systematization of knowledge and the assignment of values distributed into scales and organized in general charts, on social programs. Its main concern is the analysis of health and education programs and projects, restricted to certain specific areas or regions, in search for theoretic trustworthi-ness, methodological accuracy as well as pragmatic operability. This is the result of four years of researching said programs at system, service and community levels.

Multiobjective optimization applied to structural sizing of low cost university-class microsatellite projects

In recent years, there has been continuing interest in the participation of university research groups in space technology studies by means of their own microsatellites. The involvement in such projects has some inherent challenges, such as limited budget and facilities. Also, due to the fact that the main objective of these projects is for educational purposes, usually there are uncertainties regarding their in orbit mission and scientific payloads at the early phases of the project. On the other hand, there are predetermined limitations for their mass and volume budgets owing to the fact that most of them are launched as an auxiliary payload in which the launch cost is reduced considerably. The satellite structure subsystem is the one which is most affected by the launcher constraints. This can affect different aspects, including dimensions, strength and frequency requirements. In this paper, the main focus is on developing a structural design sizing tool containing not only the primary structures properties as variables but also the system level variables such as payload mass budget and satellite total mass and dimensions. This approach enables the design team to obtain better insight into the design in an extended design envelope. The structural design sizing tool is based on analytical structural design formulas and appropriate assumptions including both static and dynamic models of the satellite. Finally, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) multiobjective optimization is applied to the design space. The result is a Pareto-optimal based on two objectives, minimum satellite total mass and maximum payload mass budget, which gives a useful insight to the design team at the early phases of the design.