Cooperative methods and self-regulated strategies development for argumentative writing

The authors analyze the efficacy of a cooperative method associated with self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) for argumentative writing compared with a SRSD single approach. Seven teachers and 230 ninth-grade students from three middle schools participated in the present study in which teachers were part of a practice-based professional development program. Schools were assigned either to the experimental group or to the comparison group. Over a three-month period, all students were taught SRSD strategies. After this period, students from the experimental group participated in a cooperative setting, whereas the comparison group followed the SRSD only. The results indicated that students in the experimental group made statistically significant greater gains in structural argumentative elements and in the quality of writing texts immediately after the intervention and one month later. Thus, the study provides evidence for the benefits of adding a cooperative setting to SRSD in implementing argumentative writing skills.     

Using learning analytics in the Amazonas: understanding students’ behaviour in introductory programming

Tools for automatic grading programming assignments, also known as Online Judges, have been widely used to support computer science (CS) courses. Nevertheless, few studies have used these tools to acquire and analyse interaction data to better understand the students’ performance and behaviours, often due to data availability or inadequate granularity. To address this problem, we propose an Online Judge called CodeBench, which allows for fine-grained data collection of student interactions, at the level of, eg, keystrokes, number of submissions, and grades. We deployed CodeBench for 3 years (2016–18) and collected data from 2058 students from 16 introductory computer science (CS1) courses, on which we have carried out fine-grained learning analytics, towards early detection of effective/ineffective behaviours regarding learning CS concepts. Results extract clear behavioural classes of CS1 students, significantly differentiated both semantically and statistically, enabling us to better explain how student behaviours during programming have influenced learning outcomes. Finally, we also identify behaviours that can guide novice students to improve their learning performance, which can be used for interventions. We believe this work is a step forward towards enhancing Online Judges and helping teachers and students improve their CS1 teaching/learning practices.     

The aesthetic experience of nature and hermeneutic phenomenology

ABSTRACT

One aim of environmental education is to encourage different ways of generating meanings of, valuing, conceiving, and contextualizing “nature.” The field of aesthetics provides an affective basis for interpreting our perceptions of environments and relations with other more-than-human beings. This critical essay examines some of the key concepts about hermeneutics and phenomenology introduced by philosophers such as Kant, Dufrenne, Bachelard, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, and Quintás and then indicates some methodological implications. Our Freirean purpose is to advance how understandings of the nature of the aesthetic experience of nature might inform different research framings, critical curriculum inquiry, and eco-pedagogical explorations of being in, becoming and relating with nature.     

3D preserving xviii century barroque masterpiece: Challenges and results on the digital preservation of Aleijadinho's sculpture of the Prophet Joel

We present our recent efforts in the digital preservation of a set of baroque sculptures made by Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as O. Aleijadinho, which is an important American baroque artist. The set was made in the beginning of the xix century and is composed of 12 near real sized sculptures, hand-carved in soapstone. These sculptures represent 12 of the 16 prophets from the Holy Bible and are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our group has been collaborating with UNESCO in a project that aims to preserve all these statues. We hereby present our initial efforts, consisting of the 3D digital preservation of the Prophet Joel sculpture. We developed a complete 3D digital preservation pipeline composed of four main stages: data acquisition, 3D reconstruction, texture generation and 3D model visualization. By evaluating our results in this first sculpture, we discuss the improvements we conceived before applying our pipeline in the remaining ones. Finally, we present the 3D model of the Prophet which registers the sculpture's current state and will be used in restoration, research and educational activities. We believe this contribution may be useful to guide further research on similar scenarios, showing how to avoid some practical mistakes and achieve good results.     

Effects of volleyball match-induced fatigue on knee joint position sense

Abstract

It has been suggested that a greater number of injuries during the last third of practice sessions or matches could be related to alteration of lower limb neuromuscular control due to neuromuscular fatigue. This fatigue-related effect can be mediated by changes in joint proprioception. In athletes, the use of functional fatigue protocols could have the advantage of mimicking the demands of sporting activity, thus reflecting more specifically the changes in neuromuscular control and proprioception observed in sport settings. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of fatigue induced by a volleyball match on knee joint position sense in elite volleyball players. Seventeen female volleyball players aged 18.9±4.2 years from the Portuguese national team volunteered for the study. Knee joint position sense was evaluated by an open kinetic chain technique and active knee positioning, and was reported using absolute, relative, and variable angular errors. Joint position sense measures were obtained before and immediately after a simulated volleyball match of five sets. To ensure that the match was sufficiently intense to induce fatigue, the perceived exertion or exercise intensity was assessed at the end of the match using Borg’ s rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale. All participants completed the volleyball match (90min duration), reaching or exceeding 15 on the RPE scale (15.59±0.71; range 15–17), equivalent to “hard/heavy work”. After the volleyball match, a significant increase in absolute (2.11°) and relative (1.71°) angular errors was detected. Match-induced fatigue significantly exacerbated the overestimation of the test position. Moreover, the reliability and accuracy in estimating knee angles decreased from rest to the fatigued state, as shown by the increase (264%) in variable error. Our results show that fatigue induced by a volleyball match has a marked effect on knee joint position sense in elite female volleyball players. Knee joint position sense was less accurate and less consistent after the volleyball match. Fatigue induced by a simulated competitive volleyball match resulted in proprioceptive deficits, decreasing sensorimotor system acuity in female volleyball players.     

Survey on reporting of epithelial cells in urine sediment as part of external quality assessment programs in Brazilian laboratories

IntroductionEpithelial cells (ECs) are structures regularly observed during urine microscopy analysis. The correct identification of EC subtypes can be useful since renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) are clinically relevant. We investigate the urinary ECs report and the judgement of its clinical importance by Brazilian laboratories.Materials and methodsA survey with four questions was made available to participants of the Urinalysis External Quality Assessment Program (EQAP) from Controllab. Laboratories composed 3 groups: (1) differentiating ECs subtypes: “squamous”, “transitional” and “RTECs”; (2) differentiating ECs subtypes: “squamous” or “non-squamous” cells; (3) without ECs subtype identification. Participants did not necessarily answer to all questions and the answers were evaluated both within the same laboratory’s category and within different categories of laboratories.ResultsA total of 1336 (94%) laboratories answered the survey; Group 1, 119/140 (85%) reported that ECs differentiation is important to the physician and 62% want to be evaluated by EQAP, while in Group 3, 455/1110 (41%) reported it is useful to them, however only 25% want be evaluated by EQAP. Group 2 laboratories 37/51 (73%) reported that the information is important, but only 13/52 (25%) are interested in an EQAP with differentiation of the 3 ECs subtypes.ConclusionMost of the laboratories do not differentiate ECs in the three subtypes, despite the clinical importance of RTECs. Education of laboratory staff about the clinical significance of urinary particles should be considered a key priority.     

One decade of environmental education research in Brazil: trajectories and trends in three national scientific conferences (ANPEd,ANPPAS and EPEA)

Abstract

This article discusses the scientific research work on environmental education presented during the last decade in three Brazilian conferences: the meetings of the National Association of Graduate Research on Education (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação, ANPEd), the National Association of Graduate Research on Environment and Society (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ambiente e Sociedade, ANPPAS), and the Environmental Education Research Meetings (Encontros de Pesquisa em Educação Ambiental, EPEA). It analyzes the authors, institutions, and regions whence the studies came from, as well as their main research subjects. Our findings indicate the prevalence of women in all academic degree segments; of PhD holders and candidates; of professors in public higher education institutions located in the Brazilian Southwest and South regions; and of environmental education in formal teaching as the main subject in all three conferences. Based on these results, we discuss how this body of research relates to the development of Brazilian academic and educational policies, and indicate some of the challenges involved in building a research tradition in this field, in close dialogue with the arduous political and pedagogical path of environmental education in Brazilian schools.     

Networks in Education: An Analysis of Selected Discourses

‘Network’ is a fashionable and current term in every field of contemporary society and education is no exception. In this paper, the concept of network (and other associated concepts, such as partnership and collaboration) is reviewed. Such revision regards selected theoretical contributions and is explored in terms of the use of the concepts in legal documents and in the discourses of aldermen and educational officers from Portuguese municipalities, offering a critical and multi-layered perspective. The analysis reveals the various layers of the network concept, often appearing vague and diffuse. It is a floating signifier disputed by different discourses and embodied by different meanings. This, in turn, brings major research problems linked to the use of the concept of network in education.     

The role of trust in creating value and student loyalty in relational exchanges between higher education institutions and their students

The globalization of educational services and the increasing competition coming from the private sector have forced higher education institutions to market their programs more aggressively and to look at student loyalty as the key for future success. Student loyalty to higher education institutions represents not only a more stable financial basis for such institutions but also continuing support for them after graduation. The present research examines the relational exchange process between higher education institutions and their students. Specifically, it explores the process by which trust is first developed and then translated into students' perceived value of the higher education institutions, ultimately leading to the development of student loyalty toward those institutions. The identification of the components and the outcomes of student trust are presented on the basis of Sirdeshmukh, Singh, and Sabol's trust–value–loyalty framework.     

Student leadership in small group science inquiry

Background: Science educators have sought to structure collaborative inquiry learning through the assignment of static group roles. This structural approach to student grouping oversimplifies the complexities of peer collaboration and overlooks the highly dynamic nature of group activity.

Purpose: This study addresses this issue of oversimplification of group dynamics by examining the social leadership structures that emerge in small student groups during science inquiry.

Sample: Two small student groups investigating the burning of a candle under a jar participated in this study.

Design and method: We used a mixed-method research approach that combined computational discourse analysis (computational quantification of social aspects of small group discussions) with microethnography (qualitative, in-depth examination of group discussions).

Results: While in one group social leadership was decentralized (i.e., students shared control over topics and tasks), the second group was dominated by a male student (centralized social leadership). Further, decentralized social leadership was found to be paralleled by higher levels of student cognitive engagement.

Conclusions: It is argued that computational discourse analysis can provide science educators with a powerful means of developing pedagogical models of collaborative science learning that take into account the emergent nature of group structures and highly fluid nature of student collaboration.