National report on needs analysis: Portugal

O presente relatório foi elaborado no âmbito do Projeto europeu EUCIM-TEComissão Europeia Sub-programa: Lifelong Learning: Comenius 141836-LLP-1-DE-COMENIUS-CM

Book Review: Encyclopedia of Christian Education

Kurian, George Thomas, and Lamport, Mark A. (2015). Encyclopedia of Christian Education (3 vols). New York: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8108- 8493-9 (e-book). 1665 pp. $340US This three-volume set is truly a monumental achievement. With more than 1200 articles filling its full-size, two-column pages, it will serve as an important reference work for years to come. Some might wonder if a market still exists for such an encyclopedia when one can find so much of what it contains on the internet for free. To wonder that would be mistaken. While, yes, one can quickly find an article on Comenius in Wikipedia, for example, one will not find one called “Armenia and Christian Education” or one for every other nation “… and Christian education” (one of the clear strengths of this set). For that matter, a Comenius scholar wrote the Comenius article here; the same may not be true of the Wikipedia article. And these examples are but two among hundreds of succinct articles that synthesize their topics accessibly in this beautifully-printed and bound set

Domesticating Descartes, Renovating Scholasticism: Johann Clauberg And The German Reception Of Cartesianism

This article studies the academic context in which Cartesianism was absorbed in Germany in the mid-seventeenth century. It focuses on the role of Johann Clauberg (1622-1665), first rector of the new University of Duisburg, in adjusting scholastic tradition to accommodate Descartes’ philosophy, thereby making the latter suitable for teaching in universities. It highlights contextual motivations behind Clauberg’s synthesis of Cartesianism with the existing framework such as a pedagogical interest in Descartes as offering a simpler method, and a systematic concern to disentangle philosophy from theological disputes. These motivations are brought into view by situating Clauberg in the closely-linked contexts of Protestant educational reforms in the seventeenth century, and debates around the proper relation between philosophy and theology. In this background, it argues that Clauberg nevertheless retains an Aristotelian conception of ontology for purely philosophical reasons, specifically, to give objective foundations to Descartes’s metaphysics of substance. In conclusion, Clauberg should not be assimilated either to Aristotelianism or to Cartesianism or, indeed, to syncretic labels such as ‘Cartesian Scholastic’. Instead, he should be read as transforming both schools by drawing on a variety of elements in order to address issues local to the academic milieu of his time

A population-based study of glutathione-S-transferase M1, T1 and P1 genotypes

A retrospective study on healthy, unrelated subjects was conducted in order to estimate population glutathione-S-transferases (GST) genotype frequencies in Slovak population of men and compare our results with already published data (GSEC project)^1^. A further aim of the study was to evaluate frequencies of the _GST_ polymorphisms also in patients with prostate cancer in order to compare the evaluated proportions with those found in the control subjects. Analysis for the _GST_ gene polymorphisms was performed by PCR and PCR-RFLP. We found that the proportions are not significantly different from those estimated in a European multicentre study or from the results published by another group in Slovakia. We found significantly increased age-standardized prostate cancer prevalence rates in the carriers of _GSTM1_ null genotype (P = 0.037) and trend for such an increase in the carriers of _GSTP1_ polymorphism when compared with the respective groups of non-carriers. Because understanding of the contribution of _GST_ gene polymorphisms and their interactions with other relevant factors may improve screening diagnostic assays for prostate cancer, we discuss issues of study feasibility, study design, and statistical power, which should be taken into account in planning further trials

A geographical issue: the contribution of Citizenship Education to the building of a European citizenship. The case of the VOICEs Comenius network

Citizenship Education is currently a consolidated issue within several European curricula. It has been integrated in national educational laws in different ways: as cross-curricular education (UK, Italy), as a subject (France, Spain) or as a skill (Ireland). Despite these differences, there is a common agreement on the ethical value of Citizenship Education and on its main aim: to foster students’ sense of local, national and European citizenship. In some ways this goal has been inspired by Morin’s path to a “plural” education and a planetary citizenship (Morin, 2000). Social sciences, and in particular Geography and History, keep the function of giving tools able to show how a dialogue among the different scales is possible. Nevertheless European citizenship is undergoing a constant redefinition due to the European enlargement process, the role of Europe inside national jurisdictions and to the changes in national curricula. This evolution directly affects the guiding function conferred to school in terms of skills, aims and themes; therefore competences and methods adopted by teachers may have to be reconsidered. This essay presents the first results of the updating of the state of the art of this issue that has been carried out by the Citizenship Education Research Group of the VOICEs Comenius network (The Voice of European Teachers). The main aim of this international research group is to face the challenge of building a European citizenship by developing a comparative analysis of teachers’ practices and strategies in different local, regional and national contexts, aiming to contribute, with renewed ideas, to the debate on this promising field of research

Hands-on Science

In the Society of our days there is a major increasing need of an in depth quality education in Science and Technology. Science teaching at school should be generalised aiming not only the sound establishment of a “Science” culture in our societies but also to guarantee a steady basis for the improvement of Science and its technological applications. Urgent actions should be taken in this direction. By initiative of the author the “Hands-on Science” (H-Sci) network was created. The European Commission under the program Socrates, Comenius 3 action (project nº. 110157-CP-1-2003-1-PT-COMENIUS-C3) supports the network

Introduction: Finding common ground beyond fragmentation

This chapter begins with an outline of the European context within which the twenty six research papers presented in this book emerged. A particularly important aspect of this context is Network 27 on Didactics, Learning and Teaching of the European Educational Research Association (EERA) which formed the core of the research community in which this work was developed over a five year period (2006-11). The next part of the chapter provides an overview of the six sections which make up the structure of the book as a whole. A discussion then follows of the clear continental divide with respect to didactics, learning and teaching in the European landscape which is based on the references used by the contributors to this book. This leads to a consideration of the historical origin of present-day didactics which can be traced back to a common heritage in the work of Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670) in order to provide a platform in the search for common ground. In the section which then follows there is a discussion of the didactic triad as a tool for holding the complexity of teaching-studying-learning situations and this is considered in an expanded context in which classroom interaction in the school is placed within a wider societal context. Based on a review of the contributions to this book, the final parts of this chapter consider existing knowledge gaps between different national traditions and also identify themes that form the basis for building and extending common ground. The themes that have been identified through this process of synthesis relate to pedagogical content knowledge, learner knowledge, joint didactical action, curriculum research, the so called shift from teaching to learning, the philosophy of Bildung and its practical implications, links between theory and practice and the significant role of experimental schools. Finally these themes are proposed for consideration within the wider research, policy and practice community as the basis for future international co-operation that offer the potential to advance mutual understanding and common insights in this fiel