Educação ambiental e representações sociais: um estudo com professoras dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental

This work aims to identify and comprehend the social representations of environmental education of teachers of the initial years of the elementary schools of the city of Pato Branco. This research involved six teachers of an urban school and six teachers of a rural school. Initially, is presented the social representation theory, with a brief overview of its origins, concepts and ramifications. It is also presented the processes of objectification and anchoring. Thus, an understanding of education is exemplified in its broader sense, an environmental crisis comprehension, its contextualization based in local and international conferences and the conservative and critical currents that form the main framework for the environmental education developed in Brazil. To complement, it is explored the thematic of teacher formation and the introduction of the environmental education in the pedagogical practices of the teachers. As methodological proposition, three instruments of collecting data are used: interview, hierarchization of the evocations and analysis of documents, such as, syllabus and political-pedagogic projects of both schools. To analyze the data, it is used content analysis to identify and comprehend the representations of the environmental education. Based on the collected data, it is concluded that the social representations of the environmental education revolves around the awareness to respect and preserve the environment. Therefore, this education consists in a set of procedures aiming to develop the awareness to respect and to preserve the environment which is only considered on its natural aspects. The hierarchization technique corroborates this comprehension that the social representation of environmental education is related to development of the awareness regarding the respect and preservation of the environment. In the analysis of the syllabus and the class diary of the teachers, it can be observed almost total inexistence of registered activities developed in class. During the interviews and the documental analysis it can be noted that dialogs about environmental education are carried out. However, they are still related to commemorative dates. It is also noted that pedagogical practices of the interviewed people reflect, in a certain sense, the processes of formation of the teachers of environmental education. It is stressed the fragile formation of those teachers that are demanded, in several ways, to realize what is possible in order to not leave the students without the access to the knowledge, therefore justifying the point-specific activities found in the teacher’s materials. It is necessary the development of public policies related to the environmental education focused on teachers, beyond providing continuous formation also focused on environmental education and the distribution of related materials in schools, since the subject is current and it is part of the daily routine of the schools.A presente pesquisa objetivou identificar e compreender as representações sociais de educação ambiental de professores dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental de escolas municipais de Pato Branco. Para isso, participaram da pesquisa 6 docentes de uma escola urbana e 6 de uma escola rural. Inicialmente apresentou-se a teoria das representações sociais, focalizando um breve histórico de seu surgimento, o seu conceito e desdobramentos, além dos processos de objetivação e ancoragem. Por conseguinte, ilustrou-se um entendimento de educação em seu sentido mais amplo, a compreensão da crise ambiental, sua contextualização baseada em encontros e congressos ocorridos em nível nacional e internacional e as correntes, conservadora e crítica, pelas quais a educação ambiental vem sendo desenvolvida no Brasil. Para complementar, foi explorada a temática da formação de professores e a introdução da educação ambiental nas práticas pedagógicas dos docentes. Como proposta metodológica delimitaram-se três instrumentos de coleta de dados: entrevista com as docentes, hierarquização de evocações e análise de documentos, como os planos de ensino das professoras e os projetos políticos pedagógicos de ambas as escolas. Para a análise dos dados utilizou-se a análise de conteúdo para identificar e compreender as representações de educação ambiental. A partir do material coletado, concluiu-se que as representações sociais de educação ambiental das professoras pesquisadas giram em torno da conscientização para respeitar e preservar o ambiente. Trata-se, então, de que essa educação consiste em um conjunto de procedimentos cujo fim é desenvolver a consciência para o respeito e a preservação do ambiente. Ambiente este considerado apenas em seus aspectos naturais. A técnica da hierarquização corroborou essa compreensão, que a representação social de educação ambiental tem a ver com o desenvolvimento da consciência para com o respeito e a preservação do ambiente. Na análise dos Projetos Políticos Pedagógicos das escolas bem como o caderno das professoras, observamos a inexistência quase que total de registros das atividades desenvolvidas em sala de aula. Nos relatos das entrevistas e na análise documental foram apontados que os diálogos sobre educação ambiental são realizados, porém ainda muito ligados às datas comemorativas. Também foi constatado que as práticas pedagógicas das pesquisadas repercutem, em certo sentido, os processos de formação das professoras em educação ambiental. Reforçou-se a questão da formação frágil dessas professoras, as quais são exigidas de muitas formas e realizam o que podem para não deixar os alunos sem acesso ao conhecimento, justificando, então, as atividades pontuais encontradas nos materiais dessas professoras. Faz-se necessário o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas voltadas para a educação ambiental que sejam destinadas aos professores em sala de aula, além do oferecimento de formação continuada com um enfoque ambiental e a distribuição de materiais nas escolas, uma vez que o tema é atual e já faz parte do cotidiano escolar em si

Magnetotransport properties of a polarization-doped three-dimensional electron slab

We present evidence of strong Shubnikov-de-Haas magnetoresistance oscillations in a polarization-doped degenerate three-dimensional electron slab in an Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$N semiconductor system. The degenerate free carriers are generated by a novel technique by grading a polar alloy semiconductor with spatially changing polarization. Analysis of the magnetotransport data enables us to extract an effective mass of $m^{\star}=0.19 m_{0}$ and a quantum scattering time of $\tau_{q}= 0.3 ps$. Analysis of scattering processes helps us extract an alloy scattering parameter for the Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$N material system to be $V_{0}=1.8eV$

Building a diverse workforce and thinkforce to reduce health disparities

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program was congressionally man-dated in 1985 to build research capacity at institutions that currently and historically recruit, train, and award doctorate degrees in the health professions and health-related sciences, primarily to individuals from underrepresented and minority populations. RCMI grantees share similar infrastructure needs and institutional goals. Of particular importance is the professional development of multidisciplinary teams of academic and community scholars (the “workforce”) and the harnessing of the heterogeneity of thought (the “thinkforce”) to reduce health disparities. The purpose of this report is to summarize the presentations and discussion at the RCMI Investigator Development Core (IDC) Workshop, held in conjunction with the RCMI Program National Conference in Bethesda, Maryland, in December 2019. The RCMI IDC Directors provided information about their professional development activities and Pilot Projects Programs and discussed barriers identified by new and early-stage investigators that limit effective career development, as well as potential solutions to overcome such obstacles. This report also proposes potential alignments of professional development activities, targeted goals and common metrics to track productivity and success

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file