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This article aims to contribute to the debate on the role of the Quota Law regarding the potential social mobility of students with high socioeconomic adversity, using administrative data from a federal university in Brazil. We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis technique to construct an adversity index, composed of variables that may negatively affect access to higher education, such as students' socioeconomic background, parental education, and ethnicity. We classified courses by expected earnings and assessed how background is associated with course choice. Then, we used regression models estimated by the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to identify the relative importance of the interaction between quota categories with the adversity index and the score on the admission exam (National High School Examination -- "Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio" -- ENEM) to predict course choice and consequent possibility of social mobility. The results showed that quotas can reduce the negative effects of socioeconomic adversity on social mobility. However, they are not completely sufficient to "break" the effects of the low quality of secondary education in relation to ENEM performance and, consequently, social mobility

Geographic education in recent years has undergone major transformations in school curricula, moving from a memorization practice to a critical reflection based on the students' local reality. This is included in official teaching documents. On the other hand, the application of this new approach to applicability problems, largely due to the lack of elements focused on teaching resources that facilitate this process or the training of professionalized teachers before this conceptual change. This is present in the Brazilian semi-arid region, with the insertion of coexistence contextualized with the semi-arid region in the quest to work on education along the lines of applicability of the student's knowledge. That said, we have such an objective here, providing some reflections to reach such a path, an active and participatory teaching.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its demands of social distancing have created challenges in the lives of children/adolescents with developmental disabilities and their families, which would change aspects of children's functioning. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in some components of functioning of children/adolescents with disabilities following 4 months of social distancing during a period of high contamination rate in the year 2020 in Brazil. Participated 81 mothers of children/adolescents with disabilities, 3-17 years, most of them (80%) diagnosed with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism spectrum disorder. Remote assessments of functioning' aspects including IPAQ, YC-PEM/ PEM-C, Social Support Scale and PedsQL V.4.0. Wilcoxon tests compared the measures, with significance level <0.05. No significant changes in participant's functioning were identified. Social adjustments required to facing the pandemic during two points in time in the midst of the pandemic did not change the evaluated aspects of functioning in our sample of Brazilian.

While environmental education has been present in the field of education for decades now, only recently our particular subject areas of science and geography have started to pay more critical attention to specific concerns surrounding the intersection of environmental issues and social justice (also known as environmental justice) within the context of formal secondary education, including in secondary teacher education programmes. Drawing on scholarship, policy landscapes and socio-environmental concerns from both the global South and the global North, and on a methodological approach based on transnational collective reflection and collaborative-dialogic writing, in this article we delve into our different cultural, geographical and disciplinary contexts, views and experiences as four teacher educators from Brazil and England who have been working at this intersection between environmental justice and Science and Geography teacher education programmes for secondary formal education. Here we will argue that environmental justice needs to have a central role in such teacher education programmes if we aim to support young people and their teachers in navigating the spatially diverse and unequal impacts of environmental emergencies in global North and South communities. We also consider future directions for research and collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries within the landscape of environmental education for environmental justice, reflecting on the future of teacher education across the global North and the global South when facing more frequent and severe environmental emergencies.

Vaccines are an essential public health resource for disease containment and reduction of associated mortality rates. With the emergence of COVID-19, public debates on the themes of vaccines and vaccination processes became important topics on diverse media and social networking platforms. In this article, our objective was to identify and reflect on the emotions evoked in the Brazilian public with respect to the COVID-19 vaccine during 2020 and 2021 on Facebook. To achieve this, we used the Crowdtangle graphical interface to extract complete copies of posts made by public Facebook profiles during this timeframe, from which a random sample of 1,067 posts was selected for analysis. Identification of emotions was performed using the Human-Machine Interaction Network on Emotion (HUMAINE) descriptors as a baseline reference. Emotions were then grouped into categories following Core Affect Model guidelines. Data analysis and interpretation indicated a prevalence of positive emotions such as trust, interest, and hope directed toward vaccines in the Brazilian domestic scenario. Negative emotions such as worry and disapproval were also expressed, albeit in reference to contextual issues (for example, the spread of COVID-19, delays in vaccine access, and the emergence of new variants) and public figures, such as the President of Brazil.

Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977) was born in a rural community and spent most of her life in a slum. Despite this, her literary work achieved remarkable editorial success, having its value recognized by critics and academic circles. This paper analyzes Carolina Maria de Jesus's autobiographical narratives in the light of John Dewey's aesthetic theory, with the purpose of investigating the factors responsible for the development of her aesthetic sensitivity -- intellectual and emotional dispositions favorable to involvement with artistic practices. The results suggest that Carolina Maria de Jesus's literary skills, which express not only individual but also collective yearnings, resulted from the incentive she received to think about things that do not exist and from her relationship with people who favored the formation of a personality open to varied experiences. Such results are presented as requirements for a democratic and humanist education that aims at the flowering of aesthetic sensitivity and encourages educators and students to believe in their creative potential.

Paulo Freire's concept of "inédito viável" or untested feasibility, refers to the exploration of possibilities to transcend limiting situations and transform realities. In this paper, we examine how this idea is related to the counter-hegemonic pedagogical proposal of popular education by the Florestan Fernandes National School (ENFF), an organisation founded by the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in Brazil. We argue that the ENFF is not just a set of techniques and methodologies but a formative process that runs through the concrete reality of the subjects involved in the struggle for societal change. We conclude by proposing that the "inédito viável" that constitutes the ENFF gains meaning from a broad, collective, and dynamic vision of concrete utopia involving a clear and mobilising orientation towards the future, a strong sense of agency, reflection, experimentation, and praxis.

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the suitability of emergency remote education (ERE) during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently during the return to in-person education (IPE), investigating aspects of perceived quality differences in these transitions that may have impacted the students' learning process. Design/methodology/approach: This study applied a 41-item instrument to undergraduate students in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil. For the suitability group, 493 responses were collected, and for the return to IPE group, 187 responses were collected. Three calibration approaches were performed using item response theory, with the first two adjusting data independently, and the third one involving a multigroup estimation. Findings: During ERE, students perceived an increase in course offerings, better organization of classes and more study materials. However, the larger volume of content posed challenges in class monitoring, content comprehension and concentration. Upon returning to IPE, students noticed more organized assessments and activities. They found favorable test environments and collaborative tasks with peers, but they experienced difficulties in accessing professors and with class/content organization. Practical implications: By identifying the most suitable items for both teaching formats, HEIs can enhance teaching practices that are more satisfactory from the students' perspective. Originality/value: This study provides an item ranking procedure inspired by differential item functioning and differential test functioning statistics. In an atypical situation, the item ranking procedure demonstrated its ability to generate useful information for identifying and quantifying the longitudinal effects of perceived quality on students.

The term social participation is widely used and has various meanings in different contexts. This article aims to enhance the understanding of social participation in science museums. The research was conducted using a cultural-historical perspective in six steps: (1) survey to identify the meanings attributed to the term social participation and actions considered participatory in Brazilian science museums; (2) content analysis with coding; (3) literature review on social participation meanings; (4) analysis and revision of categories; (5) survey for educators from Brazilian science museums to validate the dimensions emerged in the first survey; (6) final analysis: synthesis of the dimensions of social participation and proposal of a model. As a result, we recognized five dimensions that contribute to the concept of social participation in science museums: "access"--removing barriers to participation that promote social exclusion; "identity and diversity"--creating a multicultural space that examines and redefines oppressive and unequal relationships; "co-creation and authorship"--fostering different forms of collaboration with audiences; "interaction and dialogue"--expanding opportunities for interaction with exhibitions; "exercise of citizenship"--empowering the audiences to participate in social change. Although these dimensions provide insights into social participation in science museums, limitations exist. These dimensions can contribute to developing museum practices that dialogue with communities and strengthen social participation in science museums.

This article presents a didactic situation focused on geometric reasoning using 3D GeoGebra, using the concepts Theory of Didactical Situations (TDS). The objective of this work is to bring a didactic proposal for the teaching of Spatial Geometry, working with the students' geometric perception, oriented and elaborated based on the dialectic of TDS -- action, formulation, validation, and institutionalization. For its construction, a question from the National High School Examination (ENEM) was used about polyhedra, worked in an intuitive way. Finally, it is pointed out that TDS associated with technology has great potential to leverage the student's geometric reasoning, satisfying what is sought to develop in school curricula.

Background: Preschool is a crucial period for developing motor skills. Objective: This study evaluated factors associated with motor competence in preschoolers from a Brazilian urban area. Methods: A total of 211 preschoolers (51.2% girls and 48.8% boys) were evaluated. Body mass index was calculated; the Brazilian Economic Research Criterion, the Mini-Mental Scale (MMC) and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale®, Revised (ECERS-R™) were applied; the Habitual Physical Activity time was recorded; the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2) was performed. Univariate analysis was performed using simple linear regression for the independent variables, considering the motor test subscales as dependent variables. Variables with p < 0.20 in the univariate analysis were considered for the multiple linear regression model and were entered into the stepwise method. Results: The independent variables remaining in the Standard Score Locomotor model were BMI, presence of park at school, and MMC (R[superscript 2] = 0.16). The independent variables remaining in the Standard Object Control score were MMC and gender (R[superscript 2] = 0.03). The variables associated with the highest scores of Gross Motor Quotient were MMC, body mass index, and presence of a park at school, respectively (R[superscript 2] = 0.11). Conclusions: Male eutrophic preschoolers who are physically active and attend schools with parks or courtyards in a Brazilian urban area have the highest scores for global cognitive function and motor competence.

This study evaluated how the process of teaching scientific methodology occurs in technical courses in integrated high schools. The qualitative case study was conducted through documentary analysis (based on regulations and pedagogical projects) and semi-structured interviews with teachers (n=7), coordinators (n=3), and students (n=16) of the integrated technical courses in Agriculture, Computer Science for the Internet, and Environmental Studies. The teachers and coordinators have academic backgrounds and an undergraduate degree in their specific areas, and all have a master's or doctorate degree. The students were enrolled in the 2nd or 3rd grade of high school and have already taken the methodology course. The research included an analysis of the pedagogical projects of technical courses and teaching plans of participating teachers. The interview data were analyzed using Bardin's content analysis technique. The results of the study showed that the scientific methodology teacher in high school is still in training. The students recognized the importance of gaining knowledge of scientific research for their academic and professional education, but reported difficulties in achieving it. Teachers also recognized these difficulties and use various teaching strategies to make student learning and productivity more flexible.

The objective of this article is to identify the meaning attributed to the didactics of mathematics and what are the criteria with which an improvement in the teaching and learning process of mathematics is based, future teachers of mathematics, belonging to universities in three different countries (Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador). The qualitative analysis indicates that the majority of future teachers consider that the didactics of mathematics is a technical discipline that consists of providing strategies, resources, and procedures for teaching mathematics; few consider it as an art to teaching and almost none consider it as a scientific discipline that is concerned with studying the processes of teaching and learning mathematics. In addition, the results show that the criteria used by them, on how teaching and learning in this discipline can be improved, are focus, above all, in the cognitive, ecological, and emotional aspects and, to a lesser extent, to the interactional, mediational and epistemic. Finally, it is concluded that the improvement in teaching and learning is directly related to an improvement in the training programs of future mathematics teachers.

This work presents a discussion about the Didactic Training Engineering (EDF) methodology, of French origin, emphasizing the role of the teacher, during his initial or continuous training, through the conception and structuring of a didactic situation, organized by such methodology and based on the Theory of Didactic Situations (TSD). Therefore, the objective of this work is to present a didactic situation, based on the research methodology of (EDF) and focused on the analysis of the teacher's role, through the application of the dialectical phases (action, formulation, validation and institutionalization) provided by the TSD. The mathematical problem chosen to compose such a situation, through preliminary and a priori analyzes by EDF, will be focused on Flat Geometry directed to the Permanent Evaluation System of Basic Education in Ceará (SPAECE). SPAECE (Brazil) is a large-scale assessment, held annually in the state of Ceará, Brazil, involving all elementary and high school students in public schools. In addition, the use of the GeoGebra software as a technological resource for carrying out a didactic transposition of the content covered in the proposed didactic situation stands out. For a better conduct of this teaching and learning process, it is suggested the adoption of a didactic contract between the characters involved and the consideration of possible epistemological obstacles and obstacles that may arise during this process.

The objective of this study was to analyze visual representations of redox reactions and related content in four Brazilian secondary school chemistry textbooks. The study aimed to identify which representations were used and to evaluate how these representations were linked to one another and to the main text. Data were analyzed regarding representational levels and the degree of relatedness between the different levels and the main text. Further analysis focused on the intended function of images and which curriculum orientation they indicated. The sample was comprised of 286 visual representations. The results showed that most of the visual representations merely served a decorative function and were not explicitly used to further understanding of the content in the main text. The findings indicated that the textbooks in this sample prioritized two separate levels of representation: The macroscopic and the symbolic. Only a few submicroscopic and multilevel representations could be found. The textbook illustrations indicated a strong "structure of the discipline" orientation of the curriculum, which was illustrated with orientations taken from everyday life, technology, and industry. It emphasizes the importance of using illustrations in textbooks, because of its influence on the construction of concepts, in particular the concept of redox reactions. Based on this research, it is possible for chemistry teachers to observe the limitation of these materials and carefully select the textbook used in their curricula. Moreover, the results can contribute to improving the quality of textbooks.

The aim of this paper is to analyze a set of didactic materials developed to teach English as an Additional Language at a Brazilian public school in Rio de Janeiro. Such materials were designed to invite 7th grade students with diverse social, racial, and economic backgrounds to learn about the world and the English language from viewpoints that delineate a decolonial stance (Mignolo, 2010; Kumaravadivelu, 2016; Jansen, 2017). Grounded on the notions of Critical Race Literacy (Ferreira, 2014) and Critical Language Awareness (Alim, 2005), this paper looks into didactic activities built upon emancipatory (Freire, 1996) and transgressive (Pennycook, 2006; hooks, 2013) approaches to Applied Linguistics and Language Education, understanding English Language classrooms as privileged arenas for the construction of ideas on race. The methodological approach is based on the premises of a Dialogical Discourse Analysis (Brait, 2006/2018) to identify centripetal and centrifugal forces (Bakhtin, 1981) in the didactic materials produced. Results have indicated that the discourse genres selected (Bakhtin, 2003/1979 apud Tilio, 2017) and the set of activities developed are permeated by social voices (Bakhtin, 1981) that promote decolonial dialogues in the English language classroom.

We aimed to refine the previously proposed antisocial subscale for the Dimensional Clinical Personality Inventory 2 (IDCP-ASPD). The sample involved 628 Brazilian adults between 18 and 81 years old. We administered the revised ASPD subscale (IDCP-ASPD-R), the Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy (ACME), the Crime and Analogous Behavior Scale (CAB), and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP). We confirmed the 3-factors structure for the IDCP-ASPD-R. The IDCP-ASPD-R and its former version presented a good capacity to distinguish the groups, with the largest effect size for the Affective factor (IDCP-ASPD-R). Although the IDCP-ASPD-R has shown good performance, we have observed only a slight increase over the previous version of the scale. Therefore, we can only expect a small higher contribution of IDCP-ASPD-R in its practical application to group discrimination. However, from a theoretical perspective, the IDCP-ASPD-R overrides its former version.

With current social, environmental and economic challenges, there is an increasing need to encourage more sustainable business models, which include social entrepreneurship, in the education of our future leaders and entrepreneurs. This has resulted in significant research and practice towards improving students' social entrepreneurial intention with higher education programmes. We used survey data collected from 220 university students in Brazil. These students participated in the Enactus programme, which exposed them to social entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial education. Our findings highlight the importance of experience-based programmes in forming empathy, essential to self-efficacy development, and in improving the ability to identify social opportunities, which together are indispensable for developing social entrepreneurial intentions. This paper contributes to social entrepreneurship education literature by emphasising the need to integrate experience-based opportunities into higher education programmes. It confirms that social entrepreneurial actions are contextually driven and should be addressed and developed closer to the needs. This results in empathic individuals who can see opportunities others do not see and become social entrepreneurs. In regard to public policy support and the encouragement of social entrepreneurship models, our findings emphasise the need to help universities and encourage experiential programmes to develop students. In this way, universities which develop social entrepreneurship education programmes have the opportunity to act as agents of change, developing human capital to address the social/environmental challenges and create a fairer society.

Purpose: Higher education institutions (HEIs) must take on a leadership role in building a sustainable world, given their responsibility for preparing future professionals and leaders worldwide and considering the role they provide to society. To accomplish this goal, HEIs need to holistically embody sustainability in everything they develop. This study aims to help HEIs in this purpose by developing a method to integrate sustainability into the strategic planning process in these institutions. Design/methodology/approach: In the first stage, the method was developed based on papers selected through a systematic literature review. The proposed method was then applied in a Brazilian HEI to validate and adjust it. Findings: A method that adopts a participatory process to integrate sustainability into HEIs' strategic planning was proposed. Practical implications: This study provides university leaders with a simple and practical method to aid with elaborating on strategic plans for holistic sustainability integration. Originality/value: This study uniquely applied a framework called "HEIs sustainability action archetypes" as the foundation for selecting sustainable objectives, goals and actions to be integrated into these institutions' strategic planning.

Purpose: Despite the school organizational culture broad literature, there is still a gap on culture and educational management, mainly in the public environment. To fill out this space, this article wants to point out the cultural factors that creates school management change in the Brazilian public school context. Design/methodology/approach: The sample is a polar multi-case approach with two high performance and two low performance Brazilian schools. The authors conducted 12 interviews, three each school, with school principal, pedagogical coordinator and administrative officer. To analyze the data, the authors applied synthetic analysis to identify the cultural factors and your conduciveness to change in schools. Findings: The results point out organizational culture as low understood in public municipal schools. These results also indicate the cultural dimensions power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, long-term orientation and indulgence as influencers of school management. Therefore, organizational culture is a factor to change and improve performance in public school management. Research limitations/implications: Despite the low comprehensiveness by the school managers, the authors pointed out the importance of the cultural factors, such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, long-term orientation and indulgence, in the school management. Future research could assess quantitatively the cultural factors presented here. Social implications: The paper provides cultural aspects in the school environment that should be considered in the school management improvement process and school principals' actions. Originality/value: The results fulfil the gap of organizational culture and school management in the public sector studies, by pointing out cultural factors of change in the school environment.

Purpose: To compare functioning and environmental aspects before and during physical distancing (DPD) and to determine which social, physical, behavioral and functioning aspects of DPD are correlated. Methods: Sixteen parents of children/adolescents with Down syndrome (11.38 ± 3.00 years) were surveyed before and DPD. Paired t-tests were used to compare functioning and environmental aspects before and DPD and chi-square tests were used to test associations. Results: There were increases in the frequency (p < 0.001) and involvement (p = 0.01) in home participation and on the impact, noticed by the parents, of the possibility of child to participate in daily activities (p = 0.036), as well as a reduction in social supports perceived by caregivers (p = 0.049). An association was found between the child's socio-emotional difficulties symptoms and practice of physical activity (p = 0.043) and with parents' satisfaction with the level of child's home participation (p = 0.042). Conclusion: Functioning can be affected in either positive or negative ways.

This paper reports pedagogical experiences and educational techniques in the field of Mechanics of Structures (Mechanical Engineering degree), resorting to computational tools. Several aspects are addressed, covering CAD (Computer-Aided Design) modelling systems to CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) solutions, in terms of analysis and validation of mechanical resistance calculations. Therefore, structural mechanics fundamental concepts and mechanics of materials are also addressed. Particular focus is given on the development of curricula components related to Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing. Doing so, three-dimensional structural modelling is applied to study the behaviour in selected simple case-studies where an external load is applied and the corresponding deflections are evaluated. Then, analytical and numerical analyses are performed and compared. During classes, patent aversion to solve analytical problems was clearly observed on the part of the students once calculus knowledge was required. The typical trend in engineering students, skipping the manual analytical methodology to solve a problem in order to go straight to numerical simulations via commercial Finite Element (FE) codes, was observed. The main focus of this work is, therefore, to determine the pedagogical effects of allying the analytical procedures and virtual simulators. It was possible to confirm the beneficial aspects of such methodology, considering that the regular engineering student has already a scientific basis on calculus and analytical process. Such knowledge will support mechanical project decisions, from model development to the analysis, and a sounding background to perform criticism of the results provided by the software.

Problem-based learning (PBL) approaches are well-accepted and disseminated and have been intensively employed in several engineering programs. This article aims to present a teaching experience in which PBL was applied in one course of a mechanical engineering graduation program. The PBL approach applied is described step-by-step as well as the goals and constraints related to Computer-Aided Design, Engineering and Manufacturing (CAD/CAE/CAM) technologies employed in this particular case. The evaluation process is described, as well as the quantitative results, and also the results obtained from questionnaires answered by the students at the end of the PBL experience. Additionally, the team's technical success in solving the proposed CAD/CAE/CAM problems was also taken into account. This PBL approach provided the students with the required autonomy to develop their argumentative skills within the team, defending their ideas, and at the same time, promoting self-criticism and ethical and impartial judgment among the other team members.

Health education is one of the knowledge areas in which augmented reality (AR) technology is widespread, and it has been considered as a facilitator of the learning process. In literature, there are still few studies detailing the role of mobile AR in neuroanatomy. Specifically, for the spinal cord, the teaching-learning process may be hindered due to its abstract nature and the absence of three-dimensional models. In this sense, we implemented a mobile application with AR technology named "NitLabEduca" for studying the spinal cord with an interactive exploration of 3D rotating models in the macroscopic scale, theoretical content of its specificities, animations, and simulations regarding its physiology. To investigate "NitLabEduca's" effects, eighty individuals with and without previous neuroanatomy knowledge were selected and grouped into control and experimental groups. Divided, they performed learning tasks through a questionnaire. We used the System Usability Scale (SUS) to evaluate the usability level of the mobile application and a complimentary survey to verify the adherence level to the use of mobile applications in higher education. As a result, we observed that participants of both groups who started the task with the application and finished with text had more correct results in the test (p < 0.001). SUS results were promising in terms of usability and learning factor. We concluded that studying the spinal cord through "NitLabEduca" seems to favor learning when used as a complement to the printed material.

This article presents a partial excerpt from an ongoing master's research on the methodological theoretical aspects of problems related to the content of volumes, selected from the evaluations of the National High School Exam (ENEM). The Exam consists of a test proposed by the Brazilian federal government, which aims to assess the performance of students at the end of high school, in addition to being used as a selection criterion to enter higher education. In this way, a didactic situation is proposed in the context of ENEM structured in the Theory of Didactic Situations (TSD) and subsidized by the use of the GeoGebra software as a technological resource for the construction and resolution of the problem situation on the volume of a cylinder. The didactic session was consolidated in Didactic Training Engineering (EDF) and developed to design a didactic resource for teaching and training mathematics teachers. GeoGebra was used to carry out the didactic transposition of the problem, as it benefits the student to break the difficulties inherent in the understanding and appropriation of geometric concepts. This structure facilitates didactic mediation, in addition to giving a new meaning to the study and teaching of volumes in the context of ENEM assessments.

Background: Mental health problems are very common among medical students, becoming a concern for health care professionals and educators. Despite the fact that there is a growing body of literature supporting the role of religiosity and spirituality (RS) on mental health and on positive psychology outcomes, little evidence is available among medical students, a population subjected to important distress. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the role of RS on the levels of optimism, pessimism, and happiness among Brazilian medical students. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including medical students from the first to the eighth semester of a private medical school. The instruments used were: TOT-R for optimism and pessimism, Lyubomirsk and Lepper subjective happiness scale, and sociodemographic profile. The independent variables were Brazilian Portuguese Duke University Religiosity Scale for religiosity, Brief Spiritual Religious Coping (SRC) for negative and positive SRC; and Facit-Sp for spiritual well-being. Results: A total of 353 medical students were included (response rate 97.51%). Higher levels of intrinsic religiosity and peace were associated with greater happiness and optimism. However, negative SRC was associated with lower levels of happiness and optimism and higher levels of pessimism. Conclusion: Medical students tend to use their RS as a resource for dealing with the challenges of medical school, influencing their happiness and optimism. In this context, it seems that religiousness acts in two different ways, not only have positive but also negative outcomes among the participants.

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze meanings that the term "complexity" assumes in Brazilian theses and dissertations in the field of environmental education, especially when addressing socio-environmental issues. The studies were selected from the database Theses and Dissertations of EArte (http://earte.net/), which is a repository for Brazilian theses and dissertations in the field of environmental education. Twenty theses and dissertations were selected to compose the documental "corpus" of this investigation. For the investigation, content analysis was used. Three a priori categories were defined to analyze the meanings of Complexity: (1) complex thinking: organized from Morin's ideas of Dialogical Principle, Organizational Recursion Principle, Holographic Principle, and "Scienza Nuova"; (2) complex systems: organized from uncertainty, dynamics, and open systems groupings; and (3) complexification organized from the environmental complexity grouping. The complex thinking category was the most frequent in the analyses, identified in fifteen of the twenty theses and dissertations. In twelve of the twenty dissertations, the category of complex systems was identified, while in four of the twenty, the category complexification was referenced. These studies show a greater inclination towards the ideas of Edgar Morin and Enrique Leff.

The literature on serious games (SGs) indicates that they are very useful tools to improve the teaching/learning process. In this paper, we analyze some potential benefits of a SG on academic performance of undergraduate accounting students. The database is comprised of scores obtained by students during an undergraduate discipline related with accounting history. The game was presented to the students during the academic semester of the discipline; they also developed an academic activity using the concepts of this game. The main results of the paper indicate that students who used the game and scored the maximum grade in this activity also registered higher indexes of academic performance in such discipline. These results reinforce the benefits of the SG to interact with undergraduate students and teach academic content. [Note: The header of this article shows the incorrect publication date (January 2018) for this issue. The correct date is April 2018.]

In this article, we examine the ways digital spaces have shaped and affected how we produce and consume theatre during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study in question consists of a retrospective analysis of the translation into Brazilian Portuguese, rehearsal process, and live digital rehearsed reading via Google Meet of Northern Irish Christina Reid's play "My Name, Shall I Tell You My Name?" ([1989] 1997). By reflecting on how digital technologies have been used as creative tools in theatre-making, we consider how the medium itself has affected the reception of the play by a small contemporary Brazilian audience.

We investigate the effect of COVID-19 home confinement on levels of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in older women previously participating in exercise and educational programs. Our hypothesis was that home confinement would result in a reduction in levels of physical activity, an increase in sedentary behavior, and a reduction in HRQL. Sixty-four older women (age = 72 ± 5 yrs) under home confinement who participated in a physical exercise/educational program had their levels of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and HRQL assessed before and during (11 to 13 weeks after the introduction of government recommendations to reduce virus transmission) COVID-19 pandemic. There were significant reductions in total physical activity (-259 METs/week, P = 0.02), as a result of a ~17.0% reduction in walking (-30.8 min/week, P = 0.004) and ~41.8% reduction in vigorous-intensity activity (-29.6 min/week, P < 0.001). Sedentary behavior also increased (2.24 h/week, P < 0.001; 1.07 h/week days, P < 0.001; and 1.54 h/weekend days, P < 0.001). However, no significant change occurred in moderate-intensity physical activity, and HRQL domains and facets, except for an improvement in the environment domain. Home confinement due to COVID-19 pandemic decreased levels of physical activity and increased levels of sedentary behavior in previously active older women. However, there were no significant changes in HRQL. These results suggest that educational programs promoting healthy behaviors may attenuate the impact of home confinement in older women.

There are many claims that gamification (i.e., using game elements outside games) impact decreases over time (i.e., the novelty effect). Most studies analyzing this effect focused on extrinsic game elements, while fictional and collaborative competition have been recently recommended. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, no long-term research has been carried out with STEM learners from introductory programming courses (CS1), a context that demands encouraging practice and mitigating motivation throughout the semester. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to better understand how the impact of a gamification design, featuring fictional and competitive-collaborative elements, changes over a 14-week period of time, when applied to CS1 courses taken by STEM students (N = 756). In an ecological setting, we followed a 2x7 quasi-experimental design, where Brazilian STEM students completed assignments in either a gamified or non-gamified version of the same system, which provided the measures (number of attempts, usage time, and system access) to assess user behavior at seven points in time. Results indicate changes in gamification's impact that appear to follow a U-shaped pattern. Supporting the novelty effect, the gamification's effect started to decrease after four weeks, decrease that lasted between two to six weeks. Interestingly, the gamification's impact shifted to an uptrend between six and 10 weeks after the start of the intervention, partially recovering its contribution naturally. Thus, we found empirical evidence supporting that gamification likely suffers from the novelty effect, but also benefits from the familiarization effect, which contributes to an overall positive impact on students. These findings may provide some guidelines to inform practitioners about how long the initial contributions of gamification last, and how long they take to recover after some reduction in benefits. It can also help researchers to realize when to apply/evaluate interventions that use gamification by taking into consideration the novelty effect and, thereby, better understand the real impact of gamification on students' behavior in the long run.

The Griess assay is widely used by regulation agencies as an official method for nitrite quantification in water and food samples. In Brazil, the official method, which has been used to determine nitrite in food, was described by Instituto Adolfo Lutz (283/IV) in 1984. It uses 8 mL of reactants and provides 50 mL (reactants plus sample) of waste per sample analyzed. Here, students scaled down the official method 50 times and quantified nitrite in water and food samples by using just 0.2 mL of the Griess reactant and 1 mL of sample. Quantitative analysis was carried out using absorbance measured at 540 nm (standard method) and 96-well-plate images (proposed method) obtained with a desktop scanner. The nitrite was extracted from solid food samples by heating it in a water bath. After heating, sample color and turbidity were eliminated by addition of K[subscript 4][Fe(CN)[subscript 6]] and ZnSO[subscript 4] solutions and filtering. During samples preparation, students evaluate the heating time effect in nitrite extraction from sausage samples using hypothesis tests. Students did a series of matrix matched samples to observe the matrix effect. Students also calculated the detection limit (DL) and the quantification limit (QL) for the proposed method (1.35 and 4.1[mu]mol/L nitrite, respectively) and for the standard method (1.1 and 3.4 [mu]mol/L nitrite, respectively). DL and QL were determined using the standard deviation of the lowest concentration point on the standard curve. The major pedagogical value of this laboratory class was to scale down the official method and use it to prepare and analyze a solid food sample. As a learning model, finding real water samples, which have nitrite concentrations larger than method QL, was a hard task, but all sausage samples analyzed had larger nitrate concentrations than the method QL and nitrite quantification in sausages was a good learning model.

Deaf people use Sign Language (SL) for intellectual development, communications and other human activities that are mediated by language--such as the expression of complex and abstract thoughts and feelings; and for literature, culture and knowledge. The Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is a complete linguistic system of visual-spatial manner, which requires an adequate writing system. The specificities of Libras pose a challenge for alphabetisation/literacy in the educational process of the Deaf, which allows for meaning attribution by the Deaf learner only when the SL is the central pedagogical tool. This process vastly differs from the pedagogical strategies used to teach the written form of the oral languages. The alphabetisation relies heavily on the phoneme-grapheme relations--therefore, not accessible to the Deaf learner. SignWriting is a writing system deemed to be adequate represent Libras, and has been used in literacy processes of Deaf learners. This article presents a visual pedagogical tool, a narrative in the genre of a comic book, to be used for meaningful learning and acquisition of SignWriting. The methodological approach of this research involved the creation of a comic book tool to provide the context and communicational situation where the enunciation in Libras occurs, thus presenting an opportunity to introduce SignWriting. The utterances are then presented in the form of writing activities. Results show that the use of the proposed Visual Narrative approach is an adequate educational strategy to inform the design of pedagogical practices for teaching the writing system of SL.

In Brazil, environmental topics in teacher education programmes have largely been addressed and explored by the field of research in Environmental Education and subsidized by legislative and normative instruments. Nevertheless, the difficulties in articulating environmental topics within some areas of knowledge compromise their integration in certain subject-specific courses, as is the case for initial physics teacher education courses. In this light, this article seeks to identify the main challenges and motivations to incorporating environmental topics in physics teacher education courses, with the aim of identifying strategies that may contribute to overcoming these difficulties. Interviews were carried out with 15 physics teacher education courses coordinators at state-funded higher education institutions in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Drawing upon Content Analysis procedures, analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts as well as pedagogical plan courses. The main findings highlight that the presence of environmental topics in these programmes reflects legislative and normative requirements. In addition, other factors motivated the inclusion of environmental topics in these courses, thus indicating recognition of its importance to initial physics teacher education. This study also shows that the small number of university lecturers and professors involved in environmental education working within these programmes is the main challenge to including environmental topics in initial physics teacher education curriculum.

The current media need for employees capable of producing multiplatform content and thriving in collaborative environments. This has made digital journalism one of the fields considered to have the greatest potential today for promoting professional, research, and teaching innovation. In fact, online journalism has played a major role in the renovation of communications curricula over the past two decades. This article examines a case study on a teaching innovation project in online journalism based on the Internationalization at Home (IaH) transversal perspective. It can be considered as the first project examining this perspective in the journalism-teaching field. The examined project was carried out by teachers and researchers of five Ibero-American universities with the aim that virtual international students of the five universities collaborated for the production of multimedia in-depth news reports. The article thus analyses the teaching innovation experience and discusses it in terms of advantages and disadvantages.

Background: Although many studies found a positive association between physical activity (PA) and academic performance (AP), most did not consider important variables of school setting and students' self-concept. Aims: To analyze the association between moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and AP in adolescents, considering potential confounding variables of school setting and self-concept in adolescents. Method: The final sample was composed of 394 students (186 boys) with a mean age of 11.3 (SD = 0.8) years. The school grades were used as an indicator of AP. Measurements of body mass and stature were collected, and the body mass index was calculated and converted into z-score values. Maternal education, socioeconomic status, self-concept, and variables of the school setting were self-reported. MVPA and sedentary behavior (SB) were measured through accelerometry (GT3X and GT3X+; ActiGraph, Pensacola, Florida). Multiple linear regression was used for the association analyses, adopting p < 0.05. Results: MVPA was inversely associated with global AP and mathematics only for girls: [beta] = -0.105 (95% CI [-0.205, -0.006]; p = 0.038); [beta] = -0.136 (95% CI [-0.261, -0.011]; p = 0.033). After adjusting for the school setting and self-concept, these significant associations disappear. Discussion: MVPA was inversely associated with global AP and mathematics only for girls regardless of age, z-score body mass index, maternal education, socioeconomic status, and SB. However, after adjusting for school setting and self-concept, theses association disappear in mathematics and global AP, respectively. Conclusion: The device-measured MVPA was not associated with AP after controlling for important variables (school setting and self-concept).

This study was developed in the context of a course in higher education and in a blended learning environment--online, distance, and face-to-face (b-learning). The aim was to identify and characterize the meanings and effects that students and teachers attribute to the use of digital portfolios as an assessment and learning strategy. The experience allowed the portfolio to be recognized as a mediating device in the development of assessment procedures that generate learning--an epicenter of efficient feedback and a means of enhancing the (re)construction of knowledge. The portfolio also helped develop students' reflective capacity on their work and their learning, autonomy, and collaboration action, and improved their learning.

The "Apinayé" are a Brazilian indigenous ethnic group that live in a transition zone between the "Cerrado" and the Amazon. This study primarily aims to understand the meaning that art holds for "Apinayé" indigenous students at a Brazilian Indigenous School. We used an ethnographic research methodology, while also observing art classes and distributing open questionnaires to these students. The results showed that the arts produced by the indigenous people mostly refer to the body paintings and cultural artifacts they produce, such as necklaces made of beads, fans, "coufo," and babassu coconuts, among others. In addition, the indigenous people characterize the Brazilian indigenous culture as something that is extremely significant for their lives, as art represents not only their reality but also their history, struggle, and resistance. Finally, the study suggests that the discipline of art in the indigenous school can help the students understand that the handicrafts they develop and the body painting, babassu coconut straw beds, and other artifacts they produce are also artistic and aesthetic objects that represent their story. Therefore, they are not dissociated from Brazilian art and culture.

Learning physiology is challenging for students. The nature of the discipline, which includes many complex mechanisms, makes the subject complicated. Furthermore, the length of the textbooks and the usual multiple-choice tests, which prioritize memorizing instead of understanding, tend to discourage the students. Therefore, different pedagogical strategies have been adopted to motivate and facilitate the learning of physiology. In this sense, many pedagogical strategies have been using art as a tool to motivate and induce students to self-learn. Besides, art as a pedagogical tool has also been shown to be important in developing self-assurance, self-pride, as well as the development of critical-thinking skills in the students. Here, we incorporate a new practice of self-directed teaching and learning, which involves artwork interpretation in a physiological context. This extra-classroom activity integrating art and physiology (The PhysioArt Project) improved students' engagement, increasing their interest in the discipline by providing a more creative, pleasurable, and enthusiastic atmosphere for enjoying and learning physiology, which also has contributed to the development of creativity, critical thinking, and students' self-assurance. Interestingly, the benefits elicited by The PhysioArt Project activities have also helped us to enhance the student-professor relationship, inducing a more humanized education.

This work describes a simple talking calorimeter for the visually impaired based on the Arduino Uno without any shield. An electronic interface was designed using a Wheatstone bridge, a thermistor, or an operational amplifier (opamp). The temperature values are communicated by a loudspeaker connected to pulse-width modulation (PWM) digital output pins 3 and 11 of the Arduino Uno. The system is based on the Talkie library for Arduino Uno. This library was developed using Linear Predictive Coding and includes about 1000 English words. Two new Talkie libraries were constructed, one for Portuguese and another for German. This device can be easily implemented in any teaching laboratory with extremely reduced costs.

The use of computers as teaching and learning tools plays a particularly important role in modern society. Within this scenario, Brazil launched its own version of the "One Laptop per Child" (OLPC) program, and this initiative, termed PROUCA, has already distributed hundreds of low-cost laptops for educational purposes in many Brazilian schools. However in spite of the numerous studies conducted in the country since PROUCA was launched, Brazil shows a lack of proficiency in basic information crucial for managing and improving any OLPC initiative (e.g., number of effectively used laptops, use time and distribution per subject, use location and school performance of users, and others). Therefore, the focus of this article is to introduce MEMORE, a computational environment for longitudinal on-line data collection, integration and an analysis of how PROUCA laptops are used by schools. Technical details about MEMORE's architecture, database and functional models are supplied and the results from real data collected from Brazilian public schools are presented and analyzed. They elucidate how MEMORE can be a valuable management tool in OLPC contexts.

It was perceived by the authors that their Business undergraduate students have crescent difficulties to understand themselves as part of the society and its needs, as to give attention to social problems as their problems: the students are thinking and acting in a displaced form, far away from their territories and its social dynamics. Thus, the author proposed to work from a social perspective over a semester in three disciplines named Marketing Research, Entrepreneurship and Organizational Experiences. The work involved different activities: reading and critical analysis of academic and everyday texts, images and sounds; creativity exercises; presentations of realistic problem situations, in order to identify causes and consequences, generate decision-making, planning interventions and ways of evaluating actions and results. The activities generated discussions about public safety, environmental sustainability, drug trafficking, social and environmental vulnerability. The authors believe that this work brought more and better reflections about the social reality around the students and give them capabilities to propose, plan and evaluate interventions.

The objective of this study was to validate a scale for assessment of academic projects. As a complement, we examined its predictive ability by comparing the scores of advised/corrected projects based on the model and the final scores awarded to the work by an examining panel (approximately 10 months after the project design). Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (with 161 projects) indicated convergent validity and discriminant validity. Regression analysis revealed a positive and significant relationship between the scores of projects and final scores of the work, strengthening the claim of the usefulness of the model to minimize potential wear in advising processes.

The spontaneous narratives of three brothers, ages 5, 8, and 11, in response to a structured story stem task were analysed for representations of positive and negative family interactions. The children had lived their entire lives with no permanent home, and often on the streets, in the care of their mother. The story stem task presented brief scenarios of parent and family conflict and a child's need for comfort. Analyses revealed children's understanding of basic family role structures; yet, their narratives were also characterized by emotional detachment, limited parental engagement, and self-centredness. Implications for young children's coping with great adversity are discussed.