Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

This paper relates and analyses the experience of various Brazilian institutions organized in a consortium with the aim of providing integration and unified access, via a web gateway, to full-text electronic theses already available at different Brazilian universities. The rise and impact of free electronic academic publishing on scientific communication and the development of science is analyzed. The results of a pilot programme, developed under the coordination of IBICT, as well as technical and technological aspects of information system models adopted, are presented. Aspects such as metadata sets and formats, protocols for automatic gathering of metadata, union catalogue databases, user interfaces and integration with other Brazilian STI systems, are analyzed. Finally, future developments and the enlargement of the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations are discussed.     

Words for Artworks: The Aesthetics of Meaning Making

In this article we introduce a research strategy that involves the making of visual maps by individuals in response to their interactions with artworks. The maps record the meaning‐making processes involved in the encounters and provide us with permanent records of otherwise ephemeral experiences. The case study presented here provides data for comparisons between three visits each to two artworks exhibited at the Calouste Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre in Lisbon. We conclude that our meaning‐making strategy is important for its own heuristic research value in both formal and non‐formal educational contexts, as well as providing an instrument for the training of teachers and museum educators.     

A model for the effective engagement of all stakeholders in engineering education and its pilot implementation

Methodologies for engineering learning and teaching (MELT) approach aims to enhance the attractiveness of education through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among young people, while promoting awareness of future careers in these areas. To this end, students’ expectations are considered within university programmes, aiming to an increased engagement in STEM careers. To accomplish these goals, a new and integrated approach (MELT) is presented, involving the main stakeholders in both scientific education and society. An education framework is presented, providing guidelines for an improved collaborative approach to STEM education in the future. Results from the pilot implementation of MELT are presented, from a small-scale education parliament prototype. From these initial stage and results, it is seen that there is a need for a proper alignment of expectations from all involved stakeholders, concerning the engineering education towards society’s demands.     

Gender and socioeconomic status differences in university students’ perception of social support

Perceived social support has been shown to be one of the most important protective factors for emerging adult students during their transition to university. However, the relationships between perceived social support and dimensions of gender and family background, which have been shown to affect adjustment to college life, remain unexplored. The current study analyzes the effect of gender, parents’ education, and family income level on social support perceived by Spanish university students. The sample consisted of 575 women and 280 men, of average age 18.02 years (SD?=?0.52) enrolled in the first year of degree courses at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Three measures were used to assess various facets of perceived social support, namely perceived acceptance, social provisions, and support availability and satisfaction. Gender differences were identified for several perceived social support dimensions; women reported a wider social network, which should cover more diverse needs of social support. In addition, differences related to mother’s education and family income level emerged for the availability of support and perceived acceptance. The results highlight the different role of gender and family background in several dimensions of perceived social support during the transition to emerging adulthood.     

Self-training through the Internet

The development of five courses, aimed at advanced engineering training, using the Internet, is described in this paper. A European consortium was responsible for the development, implementation and testing of the courses through the organization of virtual classes on the Internet. An important outcome was the definition of the training service characteristics, which led to the development of a quality system based on four fundamental concepts: credit, accreditation, certification and qualification. Professionals of several age groups and industrial sectors with different expectations as well as engineering students attended pilot virtual classes. From the trainee's side, we report on how the training opportunity was received and how the training service provided was felt. The main project successes and a few weak points and a number of important recommendations are listed for future reference.     

Reflecting on Scientists’ Activity Based on Science Fiction Stories Written by Secondary Students

In this article the authors resort to a qualitative analysis of the plot of science fiction stories about a group of scientists, written by two 11th‐grade Earth and Life Science students (aged 17), and to semi‐structured interviews, with the double purpose of diagnosing their conceptions of the nature of science (namely, as regards scientists’ activity), and discussing the potentialities of this methodology in terms of research and education in science. The adopted methodology proved particularly effective in diagnosing the students’ conceptions of scientists’ characteristics, scientific activity, and science–technology–society interactions. The limited content of certain conceptions and a certain lack of knowledge on the part of the students concerning the processes and the epistemology of science highlight the need to pay explicit attention in science classes to the nature of scientific activity. Some of the ideas brought up by the students clearly show the influence of stereotypes and catastrophic scenarios depicted in films, television programs, and books, revealing media’s limitations when divulging scientific and technological themes to the general public and stressing the need for the school to promote a critical debate about science and technology images conveyed by the media.     

Religious Beliefs: Their dynamics in two groups of life scientists

The assumption that scientific knowledge would bring an end to religious belief has challenged many scholars, particularly since such a belief persists even among those devoted to scientific activities. In this paper the occurrence and nature of religious belief in groups of life scientists working in the UK and Brazil is discussed in the context of their degree of training. Data obtained through one‐to‐one interviews went beyond mere yes/no answers to questions on belonging to a religion or believing in God. Categories were created to assess how open these scientists were with regard to the possibility of the supernatural. The results suggest that scientific training affected their religious belief and reduced the number of believers. Nevertheless there were scientists in both groups whose beliefs persisted.