http://hdl.handle.net/10451/2939 2013-05-19T16:46:15Z 2013-05-19T16:46:15Z Freire, Sofia Carvalho, Carolina Freire, Ana Azevedo, Mário Oliveira, Teresa http://hdl.handle.net/10451/5296 2012-02-16T15:29:51Z 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Identity construction through schooling: listening to students’ voices Authors: Freire, Sofia; Carvalho, Carolina; Freire, Ana; Azevedo, Mário; Oliveira, Teresa Abstract: Nowadays, one of the main problems faced by several educational systems around the world is educational exclusion. Portugal is no exception. It is recognized that those who drop out education are at risk of social exclusion, with reduced opportunities to participate in the society. In order to understand it, we reconceptualised school as a community of practice, where students not only appropriate academic knowledge, but also new ways of being and perceiving themselves and the others and school practice itself. With this article, we aim at better understanding educational exclusion from the perspective of at-risk students. How does their constructed positional identities originate ways of being, relating and acting in relation to school agents and practices? We developed four focus group interviews with students presenting high rates of truancy and failure (N=20). Against our expectations several students showed intend of pursuing their own path within the school system and see themselves as able of changing the conditions of failure in order to succeed in school.

2009-01-01T00:00:00Z Reis, Pedro Galvão, Cecília http://hdl.handle.net/10451/4734 2011-12-27T15:17:54Z 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Controvérsias sócio-científicas e prática pedagógica de jovens professores Authors: Reis, Pedro; Galvão, Cecília Abstract: A presente investigação pretendeu estudar o impacto das controvérsias sócio-científicas recentes, divulgadas pelos meios de comunicação social, nas concepções e práticas de grupo de três professores de Ciênc ias Naturais em início de carreira. Este estudo reveste-se de particular relevância num período marcado, simultaneamente, por fortes discussões relativas ao impacto social e ambiental de várias inovações científicas e tecnológicas e pela implementação de novos currículos de ciências, que realçam a importância da discussão de controvérsias sócio-científicas na alfabetização científica dos alunos (nomeadamente, na compreensão da natureza da ciência e da sua relação com a sociedade e a cultura) (McComas, 2000). Nesta investigação, optou-se por uma abordagem interpretativa, de tipo qualitativo. Através da construção de estudos de caso procurou investigar-se o eventual impacto das controvérsias sócio-científicas nas concepções (sobre a natureza, o ensino e a aprendizagem das ciências) e na prática pedagógica dos professores. Como métodos de recolha de dados realizaram-se entrevistas semi-estruturadas e efectuaram-se observações de aulas. As questões controversas suscitadas por algumas inovações tecnológicas recentes – nomeadamente os seus eventuais impactos ambientais, sociais e culturais – tiveram impacto nas concepções dos professores acerca da natureza, do ensino e da aprendizagem da ciência. Para além de terem reforçado a dualidade de sentimentos relativamente à ciência e à tecnologia, como fonte de progresso e preocupação, desencadearam nestes professores a ideia da necessidade de uma alfabetização científica alargada que capacite a população para a compreensão e a tomada de decisões e de acções relativamente a estas temáticas. Contudo, o conceito de alfabetização científica, bem como a melhor forma de o alcançar, varia entre os professores participantes neste estudo.

2005-01-01T00:00:00Z Reis, Pedro Galvão, Cecília http://hdl.handle.net/10451/4733 2011-12-27T15:16:43Z 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Socio-scientific controversies and students' conceptions about scientists Authors: Reis, Pedro; Galvão, Cecília Abstract: This article discusses the results of a mainly qualitative study into possible impacts of recent controversial socioscientific issues on a group of Portuguese secondary school students regarding their conceptions about scientists. The 86 participants: (1) answered a questionnaire with open-ended questions; and (2) wrote a science fiction story involving a group of scientists working on a particular situation of her/his choice. Next, semi-structured interviews were carried out to clarify and discuss the ideas embodied in the stories and mentioned in the questionnaire. All data underwent a process of content analysis. The socio-scientific controversies recently discussed, and the way science and scientists are depicted in the media, seem to have produced some impact on students’ conceptions about scientists. Based on the results obtained, some remarks and educational implications are discussed.

2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Reis, Pedro Galvão, Cecília http://hdl.handle.net/10451/4732 2011-12-27T15:15:12Z 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Reflecting on scientists’ activity based on science fiction stories written by secondary students Authors: Reis, Pedro; Galvão, Cecília Abstract: 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.

2007-01-01T00:00:00Z