Debate on global warming as a socio-scientific issue: science teaching towards political literacy

The focus of this response to the original article by Tom G. H. Bryce and Stephen P. Day (Cult Stud Sci Educ. doi:10.1007/s11422-012-9407-1, 2013) is the use of empirical data to illustrate and expand the understanding of key points of their argument. Initially, I seek to discuss possible answers to the three questions posed by the authors related to: (1) the concerns to be addressed and the scientific knowledge to be taken into account in the climate change debate, (2) the attention to be paid to perspectives taken by “alarmists” and “deniers,” and (3) the approaches to be used to conduct controversial global warming debate. In this discussion, I seek to contribute to the debate proposed by the original paper, illustrating various points commented on by the authors and expanding to other possibilities, which highlight the importance of political issues in the debate. Therefore, I argue that socio-political issues must be taken into account when I aim for a scientific literacy that can enhance students’ political education. Likewise, I extend the debate presented in the original article, emphasizing the attention that should be paid to these aspects and approaching science education from a critical perspective. Highlighting only the confirmation bias without considering political implications of the debate can induce a reductionist and empiricist view of science, detached from the political power that acts on scientific activity. In conclusion, I support the idea that for a critical science education, the discussion of political issues should be involved in any controversial debate, a view, which goes beyond the confirmation bias proposed by Bryce and Day for the global warming debate. These issues are indeed vital and science teachers should take them into account when preparing their lessons for the debate on climate change.     

Reminiscence,Psychological Well-Being,and Ego Integrity in Portuguese Elderly People

This paper analyzes the impact of a reminiscence program on the psychological well-being and ego integrity of elderly people with depressive symptomatology. Ninety people aged 65 and over participated in a quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest evaluations. They were assigned to one of three groups: (a) experimental group (reminiscence sessions); (b) control group or (c) control-placebo group (weekly relaxation sessions). The results indicate that only the experimental group had significant increases in its overall psychological well-being and ego integrity. This suggests that the promotion of instrumental and integrative reminiscences is an important therapeutic tool for psychological well-being in elderly people with depressive symptomatology.     

Nonlinear modeling and robust LMI fuzzy control of overhead crane systems

Overhead cranes are widely used structures for lifting and conveying heavy loads. The development of feedback control systems for such equipment is important due to the large number of potential applications and advantages over manual operation concerning stability and robustness. This paper aims to represent the key nonlinear dynamics of crane systems by means of a state-space fuzzy model with compact rule-base structure. The fuzzy model is useful to assist the design of a fuzzy controller based on the concept of parallel compensation. A well-posed conservative linear-matrix-inequality (LMI) feasibility problem is formulated so that a solution guarantees closed-loop Lyapunov stability, bounded control inputs, quick positioning of the supporting cart, and suppression of load oscillations and collisions. The fuzzy controller is composed by rules with linear control laws derived from local state-space models. The controller warrants asymptotic convergence of the states. Due to the nonlinear nature of the fuzzy model and controller, Jacobian linearization is avoided. The proposed fuzzy control approach for cranes has shown to be more effective and robust than an optimal quadratic controller, and able to move cargo smoothly and safely to a destination. Particularly, constrained and smoother control inputs avoid actuator saturation, and tend to increase its lifetime. Laboratory experiments using the LMI fuzzy controller and actual data validates the approach for cranes in actual scenario.     

Standard score assessment on physique and performance of Brazilian athletes in a six tiered competitive sports model

The use of large cross-sectional norms on Brazilian children and youths aged 7 to 18 years within a six level competition plan helps to assess development status and monitor change. Non-athletic prototypes for comparative purposes are illustrated by the use of the lowest competitive level of 18 year olds to assess differences from internationally elite players. The purpose of this study was to establish the efficacy of this practice in male and female basketball and volleyball samples. Comparisons were made on 11 anthropometric and performance variables using percent difference (% delta) and z-score values. The z-scores were highest for height, weight, and jumping ability in both sports groups. The volleyball players were the more linear in physique and the better jumpers. Related to their prototypes the female basketball players had the highest estimated VO2 max (ml kg-1 min-1), and the best values of anaerobic power measures. It is concluded that differences in physique and performance at various levels of competition compared to non-athletic prototypes may be used to infer selective and training factors.     

Exploring the multimodal argument: the interplay of multimodality and attention economy

This paper explores how a multimodal argument might take shape. Looking specifically at how students might conceive of a multimodal argument through their own digital literacy practices in design, I combine the theories of Richard Lanham’s rules of attention economy with Kress and van Leeuwen’svisual grammar to investigate the rhetorical possibilities of persuasive multimodal composition. Using a case study of a multimodal argument in the form of a video featuring images accompanied by rapped lyrics, the findings suggest possibilities for orchestrating semiotic resources to infuse the argumentative with aesthetics.     

Understanding adolescent purpose in the context of high-performance schooling in Singapore

ABSTRACT

International education achievement indicators potentially obscure students’ localised experiences of school. This paper examines adolescent purpose to understand what drives students’ learning experiences in high-performance schooling in Singapore. Purpose is a long-term intention to engage with the world in ways meaningful to oneself and to others. Using clinical interviews, the authors analysed students’ perspectives of the purpose of schooling and learning against the tensions of preparing students for performance-focused outcomes in schools. Findings indicated purpose clusters with prevalent self-oriented academic achievement goals. About one-third of the students with forms of support had nascent beyond-the-self life goals. To think about teaching and learning in a more integrated manner, this study shows it is important to look closely into students’ learning experiences, as these provide critical insights into how policies are implemented in schools, and how curricula can be made significant and meaningful in a more humanising vision of what schools might become.     

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.