Child Education and Literacy Learning for Multicultural Societies: The case of the Brazilian National Curricular References for Child Education (NCRs)

The present paper discusses possible ways to promote a multicultural child education and literacy learning, focusing on identity building and language development. In the light of that framework, it critically analyses the Brazilian government's recently issued 'National Curricular References for Child Education'. It argues that the predominance of a monocultural, cognitive-based approach to child education and literacy learning, evidenced in the document, should be detrimental to children whose cultural and linguistic patterns are discontinuous with the school ones. It also highlights potentials of the multicultural thinking in reducing literacy learning discrepancies and promoting educational equity.     

Bringing Strategic Information Management into Portuguese Organizations∗

This paper concerns the main factors that contribute to information being regarded as a strategic resource in organizations. It touches on the nature of the technological infrastructures involved in the transfer of knowledge to Portuguese industry, particulary within the areas of the Plan for the Technological Development of Portuguese Manufacturing Industry and PEDIP (Programme for the Development of Portuguese Industry). It also analyzes the contribution of LNETI/CITI in the creation of information systems and information training as a means of stimulating the modernization of the national production base. LNETI/CITI's contribution is made through the creation of information infrastructures and through the training of personnel. It also describes the curriculum and objectives of the Masters (MSc) Course in Information Management. This course was set up as a result of the protocol agreed between LNETI/CITI and the University of Sheffield/Department of Information Studies (UK).     

EYE MOVEMENTS REVEAL STUDENTS’ STRATEGIES IN SIMPLE EQUATION SOLVING

Equation rearrangement is an important skill required for problem solving in mathematics and science. Eye movements of 40 university students were recorded while they were rearranging simple algebraic equations. The participants also reported on their strategies during equation solving in a separate questionnaire. The analysis of the behavioral and eye tracking data, namely the accuracy, reaction times, and the number of fixations, revealed that the participants improved their performance during the time course of the measurement. The type of equation also had a significant effect on the score. The results indicated that the number of fixations represents a reliable and sensitive measure that can give valuable insights into participants’ flow of attention during equation solving. A correlation between the number of fixations and participants’ efficiency in equation solving was found, suggesting that the more efficient participants developed adequate strategies, i.e. “knew where to look.” The comparison of eye movement data and questionnaire reports was used for assessing the validity of participants’ metacognitive insights. The measures derived from eye movement data were found to be more objective and reliable than the participants’ reports. These results indicate that the measurement of eye movements provides insights into otherwise unavailable cognitive processes and may be used for exploring problem difficulty, student expertise, and metacognitive processes.     

Kant's Philosophy of Education: Between Relational and Systemic Approaches

The purpose of this paper is to view Kant's approach to education in the broader context of Kant's philosophy of culture and history as a process whose direction should be reflectively assumed by human freedom, in the light of man's moral vocation. In this context, some characteristic tensions of his enlightened approach to education appear. Thus, while Kant takes the educational process to be a radically moral enterprise all the way through—and hence, placed in a relational context—he also aspires to constitute education as a science, to be improved through experiments, thereby paving the way for a systemic approach to education; in spite of its moral inspiration, his systemic approach not only could enter into conflict with the moral demand of taking each individual subject as an end, but is also marked by an intrinsic paradox, already involved in the ambiguity of the term ‘humanity’, which might mean a) humanity as a moral disposition present in each individual human being or b) humanity as a whole, as the ‘human species’.     

Information Acquisition,Storage and Retrieval in Technology Transfer

Information flow in the technology transfer process is analyzed. Some information sources to be used in the promotion of this process are outlined, including person to person contact as well as more formal sources, such as online databases and CD-ROM. Reference will be made to the results to date of some programmes in progress, intended to improve technological knowledge transfer to industry and business in Portugal.