Formação inicial de professores em contexto de Didáctica da Biologia e seus impactes

O século XXI é um século de esperança, em que somos incentivados a alargar os nossos horizontes para fazer face aos desafios actuais e do futuro. A Educação é um direito humano com cerca de 50 anos e pode ajudar a solucionar alguns dos problemas mundiais. Os professores não os podem ignorar e temos consciência de que a maneira mais ou menos convicta como nos envolvemos com a finalidade de contribuir para sua resolução, depende do nosso conhecimento e da nossa sensibilidade. Quem não tiver conhecimento, também não tem sensibilidade. Neste trabalho, valoriza-se o comportamento colaborativo e defende-se que é um objectivo importante da educação, o que implica a necessidade de formar professores em cujo perfil sobressaia o desenvolvimento de competências de colaboração. Num quadro dominado pela globalização, é premente a necessidade do aprender a viver em comum proposto pela UNESCO, tendo em vista participar e cooperar com os outros nas mais diversas actividades humanas e, assim, renovar uma vivência concreta da democracia. Aos professores de Ciências, os desafios que se colocam neste início de século incidem, sobretudo, na necessidade de melhorar a qualidade da Educação Científica a todos os níveis, sabendo que esta é um pré-requisito para a democracia e para assegurar um desenvolvimento humano sustentável. Este trabalho é apresentado no ano em que a Declaração de Bolonha está a entrar nas universidades portuguesas. A grande revolução de Bolonha é que o ensino universitário seja dirigido ao aluno e ao desenvolvimento das suas competências, pelo que o seu papel é central. Passa-se de uma lógica do ensino para uma lógica centrada na aprendizagem. Este trabalho pretende dar alguma contribuição nesse sentido, tomando como referência o Ensino das Ciências e a Formação Inicial de Professores de Biologia. Como formar futuros professores de Biologia para a construção de saberes e para o desenvolvimento competências (científicas, tecnológicas e didácticas) pertinentes à especialidade da futura docência e adequadas ao desempenho da sua actividade profissional, tendo em conta as exigências que actualmente se colocam à educação em ciências, à escola, aos professores? Quais os impactes decorrentes de uma formação idealizada segundo esses princípios nas práticas profissionais dos professores que a elas forem sujeitos? O percurso de investigação, de natureza qualitativa e longitudinal, envolveu duas fases: A fase I, de formação inicial, foi realizada em contexto universitário no âmbito de uma disciplina de Didáctica da Biologia, de acordo com uma aproximação socioconstrutivista. Estudou-se a vivência dos grupos de trabalho com base na análise das interacções sócio-cognitivas ocorridas entre alunos, quando resolviam problemas mediados pelo computador, num contexto de aprendizagem colaborativa, fundamentado por um quadro epistemológico racionalista contemporâneo. Avaliaram-se igualmente os impactes imediatos da estratégia de formação inicial de professores de Biologia (EFIPB) sobre os próprios. viii A fase II, de avaliação dos impactes nas práticas profissionais dos professores, foi realizada em contexto escolar, englobando alguns ex-alunos envolvidos na fase I, agora docentes. É uma avaliação realizada a longo prazo e a dois níveis do sistema educativo: micro - transposição didáctica feita espontaneamente pelos próprios; meso - a nível da sua actividade profissional para além da sala de aula, verificandose se há repercussão na cultura de escola. A fase I envolveu uma população de 47 alunos do 4º ano da Licenciatura em Biologia (Ramo Educacional) da FCUP, na disciplina de Seminário sobre Metodologia e Didáctica da Biologia. Os alunos foram divididos em grupos de investigação (GI) tendo-se constituído, no total, 1 díade, 14 tríades e 3 sujeitos trabalhando individualmente com o computador. Primeiro, procedeu-se a uma observação naturalista das sessões de aprendizagem inerentes à EFIPB as quais foram, em simultâneo, gravadas em vídeo. Seleccionouse uma sessão para análise que foi, posteriormente, transcrita para diversos protocolos, cada um referente a um grupo. Neste contexto a unidade de análise foi o grupo. Segundo, a avaliação dos impactes imediatos da EFIPB foi realizada com base no que cada aluno escreveu no relatório final, onde elaboraram uma reflexão fundamentada sobre a experiência realmente vivida em laboratório virtual. Neste contexto a unidade de análise foi o indivíduo. A análise de dados em ambas as partes foi qualitativa (análise de conteúdo) e realizada com base na construção de dois instrumentos de análise: 1) instrumento 1 - focado nas interacções sócio-cognitivas e no desenvolvimento de competências; 2) instrumento 2 – focado em oito categorias que foi possível identificar através da leitura dos relatórios finais. Utilizou-se o software de análise de conteúdo NUD•IST. A fase II envolveu três partes articuladas: Parte 1, preparatória, destacando-se: a) a organização de um dossier para notificação à Comissão Nacional de Protecção de Dados para recolha de dados nas escolas; b) o restabelecimento do contacto com os alunos do estudo da fase I, agora, professores. Parte 2 - englobou dez professores aos quais se realizaram entrevistas clínicas semiestruturadas com o objectivo de se saber o que dizem os professores fazer nas suas Práticas Profissionais. As entrevistas foram áudio - gravadas e, posteriormente, transcritas e analisadas (análise de conteúdo) com recurso ao software NUD•IST . Seleccionaram-se dois caso s para prosseg uir a investigaç ão. Parte 3 - “estudo de dois casos” pretendendo avaliar a transposição didáctica feita pelos próprios. Realizaram-se observações naturalistas de episódios de sala de aula por eles seleccionados com o objectivo de se indagar o que fazem realmente os professores nas suas Práticas Lectivas (PL). Registaram-se os dados em vídeo, cujas informações foram complementadas com as notas recolhidas pela investigadora. Para cada caso estudado, as aulas foram transcritas obtendo-se protocolos, sobre os ix quais se efectuou a análise das PL. As observações efectuadas a par de uma ampla revisão de literatura conduziram à construção do instrumento 3, utilizado para caracterizar as PL observadas na perspectiva da avaliação de competências de docência. O âmbito da sua aplicação é a observação de PL: 1) de Ciências Naturais do Ensino Básico, 3º ciclo; 2) de Biologia do Ensino Secundário Profissional. Os resultados indicam que: 1) se observou o desenvolvimento e a mobilização das seguintes competências: de conteúdo, epistemológicas; de pesquisa, de comunicação, de trabalho colaborativo, e informáticas; 2) parece ter havido transposição didáctica para a sala de aula, dado que os professores utilizaram estratégias didácticas consentâneas com as utilizadas na EFIPB. Contudo, os professores referem constrangimentos, quer de índole pessoal quer de índole contextual, relacionadas com o nível micro do sistema educativo; 3) estabelecem um conjunto relativamente diminuto de relações profissionais informais com os seus colegas, apontando para a tese do isolamento profissional entre os professores. Sabemos que os indicadores encontrados no que toca à avaliação de impactes a longo prazo não dependem exclusivamente EFIPB. Há outras variáveis que, eventualmente, podem ter influenciado os resultados obtidos. Entre estas, damos como exemplo as variáveis a nível da formação quer inicial (estágio pedagógico) quer continuada a que estes professores foram sujeitos, assim como, o enriquecimento proveniente da experiência da sua prática profissional. Assim, embora tenham sido encontrados vários indicadores de impacte nas PPP, não é possível, face ao exposto, atribuí-los conclusiva e unicamente à EFIPB. Contudo, também não é possível excluir uma eventual influência desta última, pois apenas na situação de não se ter encontrado nenhum indicador seria legítimo concluir a não existência de impacte desta estratégia.The XXI century is a century of hope where we are defied to expand horizons in order to face the actual and the future challenges. Education is a Human Right since 1948 and it can help to solve some of the world’s present problems. Teachers must, therefore, be aware of these problems, since their involvement will depend on their knowledge and sensitivity on these issues. Those who have not the knowledge will not be sensible to these matters. In this work we value the collaborative behavior which we believe to be an essential aim for education; this means that we have to train teachers whose profiles excel the development of collaboration skills. As proposed by UNESCO, and due to globalization, there is an urgency to learn how to live in common, with the intention of increasing the contribution and the cooperation among each other in the most diversified human activities, thereby renewing the democracy experience. The greatest challenge presented to science teachers in the beginning of this century is, above all, the necessity to improve the quality of Scientific Education at all levels, keeping in mind that this is a prerequisite to preserve democracy and to maintain a sustainable human development as well. This work is presented on the year that Bologna Declaration takes effectiveness in Portugal. The great Bologna revolution relies in that the graduate teaching should be addressed to students and to their skills development – hence, they play a crucial role in this process. With this work we try to give some contribution about this query having as an orientation the Science’s Initial Teachers Training of Biology Teachers. Which guide-marks should be followed in the training of future Biology teachers in order to deepen and consolidate their knowledge and develop professional competences (scientific, technological and didactic) pertinent to their future proficiency and teaching practices, always keeping in mind the presently recquired/ expected levels of excellence of today`s teachers, Schools and current education in Sciences? Which would be the outcoming impacts of a Training Strategy for Biology Teachers based on such principles/ guidelines upon the professional practices of the trainees? The research procedure employed a qualitative, interactive and longitudinal research methodology that was developed in two stages. The Stage 1 – initial teachers training – was prepared in academic context for Biology Didactics’ subject. For that we applied a socio-constructivist approach. The experience of working groups was studied by observation of the socio-constructive interactions that arose between students when they tried to solve biological problems. Using a software called BIOTA, working as a virtual laboratory. This was done in a context of collaborative learning that was sustained by a contemporaneous epistemological constructivist outline. We also evaluated the immediate impacts on the Initial Teachers Training of Biology’s Teachers’ Strategy (ITTBTS) on themselves. The Stage 2 – evaluation of the impacts on the teacher’s professional performance – xi was prepared in a scholar context via some former students of Stage 1 which are now teachers. This evaluation was made on the long run and involved two educational systems levels: micro – didactic transposition made spontaneously by themselves; and meso – related with the professional activity besides the classroom with the purpose to examine if there was a repercussion on the school’s culture. Stage 1 involved a population of 47 fourth year undergraduate students from the module of “Seminário sobre Metodologia e Didáctica da Biologia” of the degree in Biology at the University of Porto. Students were divided into 16 investigation groups. Firstly, we observed the learning sessions in a naturalistic way. These sessions were video recorded. We selected a session for analysis which was later written out to protocols for the different groups. In this case, the analysis unit was the group. Secondly, the evaluation of the immediate impacts on ITTBTS was made according to what each student wrote in their final essay – in this essay, students revealed the experience they had in the virtual laboratory. Here, the analysis unit was the individual. In both cases, the data analysis was qualitative (content analysis) and based on the construction of two analysis instruments: instrument 1 – centered on the sociocognitive interactions and on the development of skills; and instrument 2 – centered on eight categories which we were able to identify after the final essays reading. The NUD•IST software was used on this analysis. The Stage 2 can be divided in three articulated phases: Phase 1 – preparatory and highlighting: a) the making-of of a file to submit to the National Commission of Data Protection, to collect data in schools; b) the contact reestablishment with the former students of Stage 1, now teachers. Phase 2 – involved ten teachers who were submitted to a semi-structured interview with the purpose of knowing what teachers say they do in their professional practices. In order to analyze the interviews (content analysis), we used once more the NUD.IST software after the tape-recording of the interviews and their transcriptions. Research was carried out using two individuals selected amongst the initial (10) teachers group. Phase 3 – the two-case studies. The aim here was to evaluate the didactic transposition made by the selected teachers. Hence, we observed in a naturalistic way their teaching practices with the purpose of knowing what teachers actually do in their teaching practices (TP). Video data on TP for each individual were colleted and completed with the researcher’s hand notes, in order to elaborate detailed protocols on the subjects. The TP were then analyzed from these protocols These observations side-by-side with an extensive literature review led to in the construction of the third analysis instrument, which was then used to evaluate the teaching skills. This instrument was applied to analyze the teaching practices used in different levels: 1) Natural Sciences, 3th cycle of basic teaching; 2) Biology’, professional secondary teaching. The results obtained on the evaluation of the Initial Teacher Training on Biology´s Teachers´ Strategy (ITTBTS) impact are not restricted to the ITTBTS itself and, xii therefore, the final conclusion on this matter is made by a negative point of view. That is to say, it would only be possible to conclude that there had been no impact if no indicator was found. In the present case, it is not possible to sustain with certainty that no impact was found. The indicators found in regard to the evaluation of the long term impact do not exclusively depend on the Initial Training Strategy for Biology Teachers (ITSBT). There are other factors that may have influenced the obtained results, such as the diverse strategies and knowledge acquired in other disciplines of the initial or continual training of these Biology Teachers, as well as those gained during their Professional Practices (PP). Therefore, although several impact indicators on the PP of Biology Teachers have been found in the present study, it is not possible to attribute them conclusively and solely to the ITSBT. However, it is also impossible to exclude a putative influence of the latter, since only if no indicators had been found would it then be possible to conclude on the absence of an ITSBT impact

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI <18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For schoolaged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI <2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI >2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit

An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

Peer reviewe

Measurement of nuclear modification factors of gamma(1S)), gamma(2S), and gamma(3S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The cross sections for ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S), and ϒ(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, RAA, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, RAA(ϒ(1S)) > RAA(ϒ(2S)) > RAA(ϒ(3S)). The suppression of ϒ(1S) is larger than that seen at √sNN = 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the RAA of ϒ(3S) integrated over pT, rapidity and centrality is 0.096 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for a quarkonium state in heavy ion collisions to date. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3.Peer reviewe

Measurement of electroweak WZ boson production and search for new physics in WZ + two jets events in pp collisions at √s=13TeV

A measurement of WZ electroweak (EW) vector boson scattering is presented. The measurement is performed in the leptonic decay modes WZ→ℓνℓ′ℓ′, where ℓ,ℓ′=e,μ. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at √s=13 TeV at the LHC collected with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The WZ plus two jet production cross section is measured in fiducial regions with enhanced contributions from EW production and found to be consistent with standard model predictions. The EW WZ production in association with two jets is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 2.2 (2.5) standard deviations. Constraints on charged Higgs boson production and on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in terms of dimension-eight effective field theory operators are also presented

Bose-Einstein correlations of charged hadrons in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt s = 13 TeV

Bose-Einstein correlations of charged hadrons are measured over a broad multiplicity range, from a few particles up to about 250 reconstructed charged hadrons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The results are based on data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC during runs with a special low-pileup configuration. Three analysis techniques with different degrees of dependence on simulations are used to remove the non-Bose-Einstein background from the correlation functions. All three methods give consistent results. The measured lengths of homogeneity are studied as functions of particle multiplicity as well as average pair transverse momentum and mass. The results are compared with data from both CMS and ATLAS at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, as well as with theoretical predictions.[graphic not available: see fulltext]Bose-Einstein correlations of charged hadrons are measured over a broad multiplicity range, from a few particles up to about 250 reconstructed charged hadrons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The results are based on data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC during runs with a special low-pileup configuration. Three analysis techniques with different degrees of dependence on simulations are used to remove the non-Bose-Einstein background from the correlation functions. All three methods give consistent results. The measured lengths of homogeneity are studied as functions of particle multiplicity as well as average pair transverse momentum and mass. The results are compared with data from both CMS and ATLAS at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 TeV, as well as with theoretical predictions

Electroweak production of two jets in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions root s =13 TeV

A measurement of the electroweak (EW) production of two jets in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented, based on data recorded in 2016 by the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The measurement is performed in the lljj final state with l including electrons and muons, and the jets j corresponding to the quarks produced in the hard interaction. The measured cross section in a kinematic region defined by invariant masses m(ll) > 50 GeV, m(jj) > 120 GeV, and transverse momenta P-Tj > 25 GeV is sigma(EW) (lljj) = 534 +/- 20 (stat) fb (syst) fb, in agreement with leading-order standard model predictions. The final state is also used to perform a search for anomalous trilinear gauge couplings. No evidence is found and limits on anomalous trilinear gauge couplings associated with dimension-six operators are given in the framework of an effective field theory. The corresponding 95% confidence level intervals are -2.6 <cwww/Lambda(2) <2.6 TeV-2 and -8.4 <cw/Lambda(2) <10.1 TeV-2. The additional jet activity of events in a signal-enriched region is also studied, and the measurements are in agreement with predictions.Peer reviewe