Sighted and visually impaired students’ perspectives of illustrations, diagrams and drawings in school science

In this paper we report on the views of students with and without visual impairments on the use of illustrations, diagrams and drawings (IDD) in science lessons. Method Our findings are based on data gathered through a brief questionnaire completed by a convenience sample of students prior to trialling new resource material. The questionnaire sought to understand the students’ views about using IDD in science lessons. The classes involved in the study included one class from a primary school, five classes from a secondary school and one class from a school for visually impaired students. Results Approximately 20% of the participants thought that the diagrams were boring and just under half (48%) of the total sample (regardless of whether they were sighted or visually impaired) did not think diagrams were easy to use. Only 14% of the participants felt that repeated encounters with the same diagrams made the diagrams easy to understand. Unlike sighted students who can ‘flit’ across diagrams, a visually impaired student may only see or touch a small part of the diagram at a time so for them ‘fliting’ could result in loss of orientation with the diagram. Conclusions Treating sighted and visually impaired pupils equally is different to treating them identically. Sighted students incidentally learn how to interpret visual information from a young age. Students who acquire sight loss need to learn the different rules associated with reading tactile diagrams, or large print and those who are congenitally blind do not have visual memories to rely upon

Kindergarten Children Solving Additive Problems: Which Strategies?

Os estudos desenvolvidos em diferentes contextos ressaltam a capacidade que as crianças têm de resolver corretamente problemas de adição e subtração, antes ainda destas operações lhes serem formalmente ensinadas. O estudo aqui descrito procura perceber como as crianças dos 4 aos 6 anos (N=90) entendem os problemas de estrutura aditiva. Para tal, tenta responder às seguintes questões: 1) Que desempenhos apresentam as crianças quando resolvem problemas de estrutura aditiva? 2) Que estratégias usam para resolver os problemas de estrutura aditiva? Adotou-se uma metodologia quantitativa que analisa os desempenhos e as estratégias das crianças quando resolvem 28 problemas de estrutura aditiva, apresentados a partir de entrevistas estruturadas individuais. Os resultados sugerem que as crianças resolvem com facilidade os problemas propostos e utilizam estratégias adequadas para responderem corretamente, chegando mesmo a recorrer a estratégias abstratas como a contagem e os fatos numéricos.Several studies report young children's ability to solve addition and subtraction problems before receiving any formal instruction. This study focuses on how 4-6-year-old children (N=90) understand additive structure problems. It addresses two questions: 1) How do children perform when solving additive structure problems? 2) What strategies do children use when solving additive structure problems? Quantitative methods were used to analyse children's performance and strategies when solving 28 additive structure problems presented to them using individual interviews. Results suggest that children easily solved the given problems using adequate strategies, some could even count and rely on numerical factsApoio financeiro do CIEC (Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho; UI 317 da FCT, Portugal) através do Projeto Estratégico UID/CED/00317/2013, financiado através dos Fundos Nacionais da FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), cofinanciado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) com a referência POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Metamorphosis of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Research: from Delayed Vasospasm to Early Brain Injury

Delayed vasospasm that develops 3–7 days after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has traditionally been considered the most important determinant of delayed ischemic injury and poor outcome. Consequently, most therapies against delayed ischemic injury are directed towards reducing the incidence of vasospasm. The clinical trials based on this strategy, however, have so far claimed limited success; the incidence of vasospasm is reduced without reduction in delayed ischemic injury or improvement in the long-term outcome. This fact has shifted research interest to the early brain injury (first 72 h) evoked by SAH. In recent years, several pathological mechanisms that activate within minutes after the initial bleed and lead to early brain injury are identified. In addition, it is found that many of these mechanisms evolve with time and participate in the pathogenesis of delayed ischemic injury and poor outcome. Therefore, a therapy or therapies focused on these early mechanisms may not only prevent the early brain injury but may also help reduce the intensity of later developing neurological complications. This manuscript reviews the pathological mechanisms of early brain injury after SAH and summarizes the status of current therapies