Big Data as a Technology-to-think-with for Scientific Literacy

This research aimed to identify indications of scientific literacy resulting from a didactic and investigative interaction with Google Trends Big Data software by first-year students from a high-school in Novo Hamburgo, Southern Brazil. Both teaching strategies and research interpretations lie on four theoretical backgrounds. Firstly, Bunge's epistemology, which provides a thorough characterization of Science that was central to our study. Secondly, the conceptual framework of scientific literacy of Fives et al. that makes our teaching focus precise and concise, as well as supports one of our methodological tool: the SLA (scientific literacy assessment). Thirdly, the "crowdledge" construct from dos Santos, which gives meaning to our study when as it makes the development of scientific literacy itself versatile for paying attention on sociotechnological and epistemological contemporary phenomena. Finally, the learning principles from Papert's Constructionism inspired our educational activities. Our educational actions consisted of students, divided into two classes, investigating phenomena chose by them. A triangulation process to integrate quantitative and qualitative methods on the assessments results was done. The experimental design consisted in post-tests only and the experimental variable was the way of access to the world. The experimental group interacted with the world using analyses of temporal and regional plots of interest of terms or topics searched on Google. The control class did 'placebo' interactions with the world through on-site observations of bryophytes, fungus or whatever in the schoolyard. As general results of our research, a constructionist environment based on Big Data analysis showed itself as a richer strategy to develop scientific literacy, compared to a free schoolyard exploration.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 8 table

The game of Eleusis: an entertaining simulation of the research heuristic

Given the problematic nature of the introduction of high school students to the Research Culture, this paper deals with an analysis of these students’ connections between elements of this kind of investigation and elements of an entertaining card game that simulates it – the game of Eleusis. As theoretical-methodological axis, we used Bardin’s Content Analysis from the Theory of Meaningful Learning perspective. The results point to clear connections between those elements, despite some still fragile conceptual constructions. These findings were satisfactory for the problem, given the character of an advance organizer of the game for the thematic focus

Solo salino sódico e adição de matéria orgânica no cultivo do algodoeiro colorido ‘BRS Topázio’

The prevailing climate of the semiarid region in the northeastern region of Brazil along with inadequate irrigation management, have caused the formation of halomorphic soils, which have hampered agricultural production and environmental sustainability of this region. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the emergence and initial growth of the cotton cultivar ‘BRS Topázio’ cultivated in soil with different levels of exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and concentrations of organic matter (OM) in a greenhouse from April to June 2014. The experiment was set in a randomized block design in a 5 × 4 factorial scheme, with three replicates, and the treatments consisted of five ESP levels (13.6, 22.4, 30.1, 39.0, and 48.0) and four OM concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 15% based on soil volume). Soils with an ESP ranging from 13.6 to 48.0 did not interfere with the emergence and number of leaves of cotton at 10 days after seeding (DAS). At 44 DAS, in the period preceding the flowering stage, ESPs ranging from 27 to 30 promoted greater plant height, stem diameter, and shoot fresh and dry matter. Increasing OM increased the emergence percentage and emergence speed index and, at 44 DAS, increased plant height, stem diameter, and shoot fresh and dry matter. Increasing OM mitigated the effect of the exchangeable sodium up to an ESP of 30 on the number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area at 10 DAS, and up to mean ESPs of 28.5 and 34.0 for the number of leaves and leaf area, respectively, at 44 DAS.Como condições de clima prevalecentes na Região semiárida do Brasileiro Nordeste, Associado Ao manejo inadequado da Irrigação TEM ocasionado a Formação de solos halomórficos, promovendo ASSIM, Impactos negativos Sobre a Produção agrícola ea sustentabilidade ambiental Desta Região. Deste modo, objetivou-se com este Trabalho avaliar uma emergência EO Crescimento inicial do Algodoeiro cv. BRS Topázio cultivado em hum de solo com Diferentes Percentagens de sodio trocável e doses de materia orgánica, em Pesquisa conduzida em casa de Vegetação Entre abril e junho de 2014. Utilizou-se o delineamento de blocos Ao acaso, em Esquema fatorial 5 x 4, com 3 repetições, Sendo estudados cinco Percentagens de sodio trocáveis (13,6; 22,4; 30,1; 39,0 e 48,0) e Quatro doses de materia orgánica (0; 5; 10 e 15% de base em fazer o volume do Solo). Solos com percentagem de sodio trocável variando de 13,6 a 48,0 interferem NÃO na Emergência NEM não Número de Folhas do Algodoeiro AOS 10 dias apos a semeadura. Aos 44 dias apos oa semeadura, Período that anteceder a floração, a percentagem de sodio trocável variando de 27 a 30 promoveu Maior altura de planta, Diâmetro de caule ea fitomassa fresca e seca da parte aérea. Enquanto como doses crescentes de materia orgánica proporcionam Maior percentagem de Emergência e índice de Velocidade de Emergência e, AOS 44 dias apos a semeadura de uma altura de planta, o Diâmetro de caule ea fitomassa fresca e seca da parte aérea do Algodoeiro. O incremento NAS doses de materia orgánica atenuaram o Efeito do Sódio trocável Até um PST de 30 Sobre o Número de Folhas, altura de planta, Diâmetro de caule ea área foliar do Algodoeiro AOS 10 dias apos a semeadura; e Até um percentagem de sodio trocável Média de 28,5 e 34,0 respectively, Sobre o Número de Folhas ea área foliar AOS 44 dias apos a semeadura