Egressos da licenciatura em matemática abandonam o magistério: reflexões sobre profissão e condição docente

Neste artigo apresentam-se os resultados de um estudo realizado com todos os egressos da licenciatura em matemática da Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais. Na investigação, buscou-se identificar e analisar as dificuldades encontradas por esses profissionais no exercício da docência na escola básica. Nos casos de abandono do magistério, buscou-se identificar e analisar também os motivos que levaram os egressos a essa decisão. Como instrumento de coleta de dados, utilizou-se um questionário, com questões abertas e fechadas, que foi enviado aos 114 professores egressos do curso até julho de 2012. Desses questionários, 89 retornaram. Verificou-se que um contingente expressivo de licenciados (53%) não está exercendo ou não pretende continuar a exercer a profissão docente. Os dados levantados podem auxiliar na compreensão do preocupante déficit de professores para atuarem na educação básica pública no Brasil. Os resultados mostraram que as maiores dificuldades encontradas na docência pelos professores pesquisados estão relacionadas aos alunos e suas famílias e são decorrentes de manifestações de desinteresse e indisciplina dos alunos. A maior causa de abandono do magistério, entre os investigados, se deve ao sentimento de desvalorização profissional e às más condições de trabalho nas escolas. Com base nos resultados, apresentam-se algumas reflexões sobre os desafios enfrentados pelos professores iniciantes, sobre a formação, a profissão e a condição docente no Brasil.This article presents the results of a study about Mathematics recent graduates from the Federal University of São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The investigation sought to identify and analyze the difficulties experienced by these professionals while they were teachers in basic education. In the cases when they were no longer teaching, I sought to identify and analyze also the reasons why those undergraduates made such a decision. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire with open and multiple-choice questions that was emailed to 114 teachers from the mentioned university until July of 2012. Out of the total questionnaires sent, 89 responded. There was a significant amount of undergraduates with a license to teach (53%) who were not practicing or who were not willing to practice the teaching profession. The resulting data may help understand the disturbing deficit of teachers to work in the public basic education in Brazil. Results have shown that the greatest difficulties found by the practicing teachers participating in this study are associated with students and their families, and are the consequence of lack of interest and indiscipline expressed by pupils. The major cause for abandoning the teaching profession, among those herein researched, is due to the feeling of professionally undervalued as well as to the working conditions in the schools. Based on the results, reflections are made about the challenges faced by beginning teachers about the education, profession and teaching conditions in Brazil

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

NEOTROPICAL XENARTHRANS: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the Neotropics

Xenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, 10 anteaters, and 6 sloths. Our data set includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the southern United States, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to the austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n = 5,941), and Cyclopes sp. have the fewest (n = 240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n = 11,588), and the fewest data are recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n = 33). With regard to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n = 962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n = 12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other data sets of Neotropical Series that will become available very soon (i.e., Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, and Neotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure, habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possible with the Neotropical Xenarthrans data set. Please cite this data paper when using its data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using these data