O jogo na aprendizagem matemática

A comunicação no âmbito da Educação Infantil pretende sensibilizar as escolas de formação e os educadores para o papel de mediação na promoção do conhecimento matemático. Os materiais manipulativos na prática educativa são facilitadores duma aprendizagem significativa, quando aliam o sentido lúdico ao jogo. Através de atividades diversificadas surgem como recurso metodológico, em que a criança explora, experimenta, deduz, comunica, ultrapassa o erro, agiliza o raciocínio, fazendo a “ponte” entre o concreto e o abstrato. Com o objetivo de analisarmos a importância do jogo aplicámos um questionário a 942 crianças de 5 anos das escolas João de Deus, para sabermos como brincam e quais as atividades preferidas. Os resultados sugerem que o lúdico, o jogo e a matemática poderiam estar mais ligados aos objetivos da formação e às atividades de aprendizagem, permitindo às crianças a aquisição de capacidades percetivas, representativas e conceptuais e mais conquistas cognitivas, emocionais e sociais

Introducción a la práctica profesional, reflexión, supervisión, estrategias para el futuro

Este estudio es una refléxion sobre la supervisión pedagógica en la ESE JDEUS, en el encuadre del Proceso de Bolonia, lo cual ha surgido de la necesidad de introducir los câmbios relacionados con el início de la practica profesional en el 1º ciclo de estudios. Hemos aplicado una encuesta a todos los alumnos que frecuentan el Bachilerato u el Máster en Educación. La supervisión pedagógica surge como una acción que deberá ser dinamizadora, reflexiva y continuada, donde el aprendizaje, la integración del conocimiento y el desarrollo de competencias requiere variadas practicas de colaboración, en las cuales el supervisor actúa como un mediador encargado de promover el desarrollo de los estudiantes. Este procedimiento da lugar a una ruta de experimentos, comunicación, interacción, cooperación, mientras va validando el conocimiento individual. Los resultados obtenidos apuntan para la posibilidad de articulación entre la experiencia adquirida y la implementación de nuevas estrategias, contribuyendo para la mejora de la formación en contexto, que se vuelve progresivamente más reflexiva e eficaz. En una sociedad en constante cambio, es importante (re)pensar la formación y supervisión ajustadas a los señales del los tiempos

A importância dos materiais para uma aprendizagem significativa da matemática

Este estudo incide sobre a aprendizagem de determinados saberes matemáticos mediados por materiais manipuláveis na educação infantil. O mais importante no ensino-aprendizagem da matemática é a actividade mental a desenvolver nos e pelos alunos. A utilização dos materiais, através de modelos concretos, permite à criança construir, modificar,integrar, interagir com o mundo físico e com os seus pares, a aprender fazendo,desmistificando a conotação negativa que se atribui à Matemática. Pretende-se compreender a relação entre a construção desses conhecimentos e a utilização de materiais, como recurso no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Para tal procura-se: i) determinar o que valorizar: conteúdos, materiais ou a relação entre eles; ii) identificar qual a pertinência do uso de materiais manipuláveis no ensino infantil; iii) analisar como é realizada a ponte entre o concreto e o abstracto; iv) perceber como é que os materiais influenciam a aprendizagem do sentido do número e das operações aritméticas; v) determinar como é que os materiais manipulativos constituem elementos de mediação na aprendizagem,na construção, desenvolvimento e formação de determinadas capacidades, atitudes, destrezas e conceitos

Promover a aprendizagem das ciências no 1º CEB utilizando contextos de educação não formal

Advoga-se a importância dos diferentes contextos de educação não formais na promoção de aprendizagens formais no domínio das ciências. A investigação crescente neste âmbito, aponta para o contributo que espaços como Museus, Centros de Ciência, Planetários, Parques Temáticos e outros, podem dar, quando coadjuvados com o ensino formal e quando aliadas actividades exploradoras pós-visita. Neste sentido realizou-se o presente estudo que teve como objectivo central utilizar uma visita de estudo a um espaço de educação em ciência não formal (Planetário) e sua posterior exploração através de cinco actividades (unidades didácticas), referentes a uma área específica, Astronomia, presente no currículo do 1ºCEB. Esse conjunto de actividades veio a constituir o que intitulamos Projecto AASA (Actividades de Astronomia na Sala de Aula). Paralelamente recorreu-se a um workshop para os três professores colaboradores, organizado em diferentes sessões temáticas, de forma a dar o acompanhamento formativo para a implementação dessas actividades. Apresenta-se assim, uma investigação de natureza qualitativa, sobre um projecto de educação em astronomia para alunos do 1º CEB, sustentado na formação acompanhada de professores. Para concretizar a investigação recorreu-se a diferentes instrumentos de recolha de dados, questionários, trabalhos dos alunos, entrevistas aos professores colaboradores. Os resultados obtidos permitiram ver que: i) a visita ao Planetário constituiu uma mais valia para a aprendizagem dos alunos sobre a temática abordada, já que permitiu, por um lado, a aquisição de novos conhecimentos e, por outro, estabeleceu-se como um ponto de referência motivacional para a posterior exploração em situação sala de aula; ii) a exploração da visita realizada, através das actividades propostas, permitiu aos alunos adquirir conhecimentos mais adequados sobre os temas em apreço e alargar horizontes para a abordagem de novas perspectivas no ensino da Astronomia iii) os professores colaboradores reconheceram a visita de estudo realizada como um ponto de partida excelente para a abordagem do tema e consideraram as actividades adequadas e exequíveis, mais centradas na actuação do aluno e mais exigentes em termos de tempo de leccionação, aspecto este não se torna compatível com a extensão dos programas curriculares vigentes. Paralelamente reconheceram que este tipo de actividades poderá ter um impacto moderado na sua futura prática lectiva, quando da abordagem desta temática no 1º CEB. Reconheceram também este trabalho colaborativo como uma oportunidade de reflectirem sobre as suas práticas de ensino e advogam a necessidade e pertinência deste tipo de colaboração como uma forma de contribuir para a inovação no ensino das ciências no1º CEB. ABSTRACT: In the past few decades there has been an increase in recognition of the importance of nonformal educational institutions for enhancing school learning in general and school science learning in particular. Science learning in non formal settings is receiving increased attention in research literature. Results have indicated that Museums, Science Centres and Planetariums can play an important role in prompting higher interest in school science learning if supported by post-visit activities. In this context the main purpose of this study was to use a school visit to a Planetarium supported by post-visit activities. Five post-visit activities were implemented about a specific school subject, Astronomy, in year 3 and 4 of primary education, which were called Actividades de Astronomia na Sala de Aula, the AASA Project. Additionally, a workshop had been done for the three school teachers involved. The workshop consisted of eight sessions to support all the post-visit activities in the classroom. In this context this study reports on an astronomy project for elementary school students. The data was collected by pre and post-visit questionnaires, individual semi-structured interviews for the teachers and students worksheets. Results indicated that: i) the school visit to the Planetarium was an important moment for the students enhancing their interest in the science subject, astronomy; ii) post-visit activities gave students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge about astronomy concepts and to explore other perspectives of primary astronomy education; iii) teachers considered the school-visit to the Planetarium to be an excellent instrument in astronomy teaching and the post-visit activities were considered important resources for formal teaching. They were more student centred and more school time demanding. This aspect was thought to be not compatible with the actual national curriculum extension. Post-visit activities had a restrained impact in teachers school work. The cooperative work implemented was considered to be an important personal opportunity to think about their school work and a good contribution to innovation in primary science teaching

Risk parity in the brazilian market

Using sectorial indices of the Brazilian market, we compare the portfolio optimization approach known as risk parity with minimum variance and equally weighted approaches. We apply various estimators for the covariance matrix to each portfolio strategy, since portfolio variance is considered as risk measure. Empirical results demonstrate that the risk parity approach provides more diversified portfolios and stable weights in the out-of-sample than the other two approaches, thereby avoiding the dangers of excessive concentration and reducing transaction costs. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that different estimators of the covariance matrix had little influence on the results obtained through the risk parity approach

A case-based reasoning view of thrombophilia risk

Thrombophilia stands for a genetic or an acquired tendency to hypercoagulable states that increase the risk of venous and arterial thromboses. Indeed, venous thromboembolism is often a chronic illness, mainly in deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, requiring lifelong prevention strategies. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the cause of the disease, the most appropriate treatment, the length of treatment or prevent a thrombotic recurrence. Thus, this work will focus on the development of a diagnosis decision support system in terms of a formal agenda built on a logic programming approach to knowledge representation and reasoning, complemented with a case-based approach to computing. The proposed model has been quite accurate in the assessment of thrombophilia predisposition risk, since the overall accuracy is higher than 90% and sensitivity ranging in the interval [86.5%, 88.1%]. The main strength of the proposed solution is the ability to deal explicitly with incomplete, unknown, or even self-contradictory information

An Integrated Soft Computing Approach to Hughes Syndrome Risk Assessment

The AntiPhospholipid Syndrome (APS) is an acquired autoimmune disorder induced by high levels of antiphospholipid antibodies that cause arterial and veins thrombosis, as well as pregnancy-related complications and morbidity, as clinical manifestations. This autoimmune hypercoagulable state, usually known as Hughes syndrome, has severe consequences for the patients, being one of the main causes of thrombotic disorders and death. Therefore, it is required to be preventive; being aware of how probable is to have that kind of syndrome. Despite the updated of antiphospholipid syndrome classification, the diagnosis remains difficult to establish. Additional research on clinically relevant antibodies and standardization of their quantification are required in order to improve the antiphospholipid syndrome risk assessment. Thus, this work will focus on the development of a diagnosis decision support system in terms of a formal agenda built on a Logic Programming approach to knowledge representation and reasoning, complemented with a computational framework based on Artificial Neural Networks. The proposed model allows for improving the diagnosis, classifying properly the patients that really presented this pathology (sensitivity higher than 85%), as well as classifying the absence of APS (specificity close to 95%)

A Case Base View of Heart Failure Predisposition Risk

Heart failure stands for an abnormality in cardiac structure or function which results in the incapability of the heart to deliver oxygen at an ideal rate. This is a worldwide problem of public health, characterized by high mortality, frequent hospitalization and reduced quality of life. Thus, this work will focus on the development of a decision support system to assess heart failure predisposing risk. The framework is built on top of a Logic Programming approach to Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, complemented with a Case Based approach to computing. The proposed solution is unique in itself, once it caters for the explicit treatment of incomplete, unknown, or even self-contradictory information, either in terms of a qualitative or quantitative setting. Furthermore, clustering methods based on similarity analysis among cases were used to distinguish and aggregate collections of historical data or knowledge in order to reduce the search space, therefore enhancing the cases retrieval and the overall computational process. The proposed model classifies properly the patients exhibiting accuracy and sensitivity higher than 90%

Influenza seroprotection correlates with predominant circulating viruses during 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons in Portugal

Rede Portuguesa de Laboratórios para o Diagnóstico da GripeBACKGROUND: Population immune profile for influenza is highly affected by circulating influenza viruses, thus changing the risk of infection for influenza. This study aims to assess influenza immunity in the Portuguese population by age groups, during 2014 and 2015 and establish a relationship between seroprotection and circulating influenza viruses in 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies were developed based on a convenience serum sample collected in June 2014 (n=626) and July 2015 (n=675) in hospitals from mainland and Azores and Madeira.Serums equally represent all age groups. Antibody titers were evaluated by HI assay for strains recommended for seasonal influenza vaccine northern hemisphere,2014/15 and 2015/2016. Seroprevalences were estimated for each strain by age group and the association with seasonal cumulative influenza-like illness (ILI) rates for influenza virus during both seasons was analised. RESULTS: In June 2014 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza A(H3) (39.0%; 95% CI: 36.2-43.8%) and A(H1)pdm09 (29.7; 95% CI: 26.3-33.4%), with higher levels in children 5-14 years old. In 2014/2015 a dominant circulation of influenza B/Yamagata was observed with high incidence rates in individuals under 65 years old, the ones that had lower seroprotection. Although before the start of the season high protection for A(H3) was observed, the circulation of the new drift A(H3) strains had gained an immunological advantage,in accordance with A(H3) elevated incidence rates observed during 2014/15. In July 2015 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza B/ Yamagata (55.1%; 95% CI: 51.4-58.9%), 2.4 times the estimated 2014.This increase was even more pronounced in younger (≤ 4 years old), 6.3 times increase in 2015.This fact is in agreement with the predominant influenza B virus detected and the high ILI incidence rate observed in children during 2014/2015 epidemic. Seroprotection levels for influenza A in July 2015 were not significantly different from 2014.During 2015/16 season, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was predominant, with high incidence rate in < 65 year old. Influenza B/Victoria lineage,although detected at low levels increased in frequency, in agreement with the lowest level of seroprotection detected in the general population before the start of 2015/2016 season (21.8%; 95% CI: 18.7-24.0%). CONCLUSIONS There was a correlation between virus circulation, incidence rates for each age group and the previous seroprotection for seasonal influenza viruses.Our study highlights the value of measuring the serological profile for influenza to establishe risk groups for infection for which an increase preventive measures, including vaccination, should be fostered.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio