The Classroom Practice of a Prospective Secondary Biology Teacher and His Conceptions of the Nature of Science and of Teaching and Learning Science

We describe research carried out with a prospective secondary biology teacher, whom we shall call Miguel. The teacher’s conceptions of the nature of science and of learning and teaching science were analyzed and compared with his classroom practice when teaching science lessons. The data gathering procedures were interviews analyzed by means of cognitive maps and classroom observations. The results reflected Miguel’s relativist conceptions of the nature of science that were consistent with his constructivist orientation in learning and teaching. In the classroom, however, he followed a strategy of transmission of external knowledge based exclusively on teacher explanations, the students being regarded as mere passive receptors of that knowledge. Miguel’s classroom behavior was completely contrary to his conceptions, which were to reinforce the students’ alternative ideas through debate, and not by means of teacher explanation.     

Interoperability and Information Integration in an Early Online Academic Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: The Case of BTD

Cooperative organization has been proposed as a means to improve the usefulness of virtual libraries. Information interchange among library and other academic applications is often hindered by the lack of application interoperability. This hindrance may be overcome through the development of standards that allow for digital libraries to exchange and share information with other applications. The Graduate Program in Production Engineering (PPGEP) of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) launched its Theses and Dissertations Bank (BTD) in 1995. BTD is possibly the first online academic digital library of theses. From a digital document repository, BTD evolved into a system that combines bibliometry and informetry features. BTD is used by students and faculty in their research activities, but also by decision makers from industry and academia. They use it, respectively, to search for specialists and to measure interest and knowledge interchange among PPGEP research areas. This article presents the history, features, and development prospects for the BTD project. The integration of BTD with other academic applications, especially those of the Brazilian national science and technology platform, is emphasized.     

Personal metaphors of prospective secondary economics and science teachers

Using the responses to open questions, this qualitative study examines the personal metaphors expressed by prospective secondary education teachers, 46 science graduates and 41 economics graduates. The metaphors are classified into the four categories of Leavy, McSorley, and Boté: the behaviourist/transmissive, the cognitivist/constructivist, the situative, and the self-referential. The results showed most metaphors to fall into the behaviourist/transmissive category, followed by the cognitivist/constructivist, self-referential, and situative categories, although some teachers expressed metaphors framed in more than one category. Of the 129 metaphors detected in the study, only one, of a chemistry graduate concerning the equilibrium between reactants, was associated with the prospective teachers' specific undergraduate education. The rest were expressions of their overall vision of teaching and learning, regardless of the speciality.     

Fatigue does not conjointly alter postural and cognitive performance when standing in a shooting position under dual-task conditions

This study investigated the effects of fatigue on balance control and cognitive performance in a standing shooting position. Nineteen soldiers were asked to stand while holding a rifle (single task – ST). They also had to perform this postural task while simultaneously completing a cognitive task (dual task – DT). Both the ST and DT were performed in pre- and post-fatigue conditions. In pre-fatigue, participants achieved better balance control in the DT than in the ST, thus suggesting that the increased cognitive activity associated with the DT improves balance control by shifting the attentional focus away from a highly automatised activity. In post-fatigue, balance control was degraded in both the ST and DT, while reaction time was enhanced in the first minutes following the fatiguing exercise without affecting the accuracy of response in the cognitive task, which highlights the relative independent effects of fatigue on balance control and cognitive performance.     

Intelligence assessment: Gardner multiple intelligence theory as an alternative

In the multiple intelligence framework, newer and more contextualized cognitive tasks are suggested as alternative to more traditional psychometric tests. The purpose of this article is to examine whether or not these two types of instruments converge into a general factor of cognitive performance. Thus, the Battery of General and Differential Aptitudes (BADyG: reasoning, memory, verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude and spatial aptitude) and a set of Gardner's multiple intelligence assessment tasks (linguistic, logical, visual/spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic and musical intelligences) were administered to 294 children aged 5 to 7. The confirmatory factor analysis points out the absence of a common general factor considering both batteries, indicating instead the existence of two general factors, which gather the tests that encompass them. Also, these two general factors correspond to traditional and multiple intelligence assessments and show a statistically moderate correlation between them. These results challenge Gardner's original position on refusing a general factor of intelligence, especially when considering the cognitive dimensions measured which do not coincide with the more traditional tests of intelligence.     

Evolution of the personal teaching models of prospective secondary school science teachers as expressed through metaphors

This study analyses the evolution of the personal metaphors of 31 science graduates enrolled in a Master’s degree course in Secondary Education Teaching during the 2012–13 academic year. The instrument used was an open questionnaire that included asking the participants to make drawings representing the roles of the teacher. Four categories of metaphor were considered: behaviourist/transmissive, cognitivist/constructivist, situative/socio-historical, and self-referential. It was found that most of the prospective teachers were indeed able to conceptualize their roles in the form of metaphors. Comparison of the results before and after the teaching practicum revealed no changes in most of the participants’ metaphors and associated models. Instead, these appeared to be firmly set already at the beginning of the Master’s course, and remained uninfluenced by either the course or the practicum. Only a minority of the participants showed changes in their metaphors—5 with progressive changes, and 5 with regressive changes.     

How and where is artificial intelligence in the public sector going? A literature review and research agenda

To obtain benefits in the provision of public services, managers of public organizations have considerably increased the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. However, research on AI is still scarce, and the advance of this technology in the public sector, as well as the applications and results of this strategy, need to be systematized. With this goal in mind, this paper examines research related to AI as applied to the public sector. A review of the literature covering articles available in five research databases was completed using the PRISMA protocol for literature reviews. The search process yielded 59 articles within the scope of the study out of a total of 1682 studies. Results show a growing trend of interest in AI in the public sector, with India and the US as the most active countries. General public service, economic affairs, and environmental protection are the functions of government with the most studies related to AI. The Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) technique is the most recurrent in the investigated studies and was pointed out as a technique that provides positive results in several areas of its application. A research framework for AI solutions for the public sector is presented, where it is demonstrated that policies and ethical implications of the use of AI permeate all layers of application of this technology and the solutions can generate value for functions of government. However, for this, a prior debate with society about the use of AI in the public sector is recommended.     

Estructura semántica y estrategias infantiles en la solución de problemas verbales de adición

Resumen

Se analizan los diferentes factores que pueden influir en la solución de problemas verbales aditivos, insistiéndose sobre todo en la incidencia de la estructura semántica de los mismos y en su expresión verbal. Dos grupos de niños de segundo de preescolar y otros de primero de EGB pasan pruebas aditivas de combinación e igualación. Los resultados confirman que la dificultad de las tareas depende, entre otras variabes, de la estructura semántica de las mismas, del lugar que ocupa la incógnita o dato desconocido y de la disponibilidad de ayudas en la resolución de los problemas. Además, las estrategias utilizadas por los niños son función de la edad de los mismos y del tipo de problema planteado. Se señalan también algunas de las implicaciones educativas que se desprende de este trabajo.     

Estudio evolutivo de las conductas de clasificación en el niño. Aspectos lingüísticos y perceptivos

Resumen

Se analizan primeramente las ideas básicas de la clásica obra de Piaget e Inbelder (1959), revisando después la literatura posterior en torno a la clasificación e inclusión, desde la doble vertiente lingüistica y perceptiva. Un primer experimento verifica la importancia del uso de determinadas claves lingüisticas en niños de 4;6 años, encontrando entre otros datos: 1) la conjunción «que» en tareas de inclusión facilita el éxito infantil hasta los 6;6 años con respecto a la disyuntiva «o»; 2) igualmente, la presencia del adverbio «más» resulta más adecuada que «menos» hasta los 6;6 años; 3) finalmente, el verbo «haber» parece simplificar la tarea inclusiva a partir de los 6;6 años. El experimento II, con niños de 4;0 à 8;0 años resalta la importancia de la expresividad de los criterios clasificatorios, sobre todo para niños mayores, dando lugar a dos estilos de categorization: bien por dimensiones, bien por configuraciones perceptivas. Además, muestra que el razonamiento inclusivo se facilita en general a medida que discrepan los cardinales de las subclases que componen la clase supraordenada correspondiente.