Locally Provided Public Schooling in Brazilian Municipalities

The objective of this paper is to assess the demand for public schooling in the Brazilian municipalities within a median voter framework. The quantile regression and spatial techniques proved to be useful to account for the spatial and marginal effects associated with educational services. The coefficients attached to the main variables – price, income and population – were significant and had the expected sign. The relatively high values for those parameters attest the status for these merit goods as “luxuries”. Last, but no least, the municipal school system in Brazil seems to present increasing returns to scale both, at the school and the municipality level.Public Schooling, Demand, Brazilian municipalities, Median voter

Game creation to promote media and information literacy (MIL) skills in basic education teachers

Within the scope of GamiLearning (2015-2018), an action-research project with the aim of promoting the critical and participative dimensions of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) through collaborative experiences involving digital games, a workshop was conducted with Basic Education teachers in Portugal. The main goal of the workshop was to develop MIL skills, through the collaborative creation of digital games. To document this practice, a questionnaire was designed for teachers’ self-evaluation of their levels of MIL, their motivation to integrate the training activity, their attitudes towards videogames and their position on media education in the formal teaching context. A group of 21 Basic Education teachers attended the face-to-face training, supported by an online collaborative platform – SAPO Campus. The quantitative results showed statistically significant increases (p < .05) in the self-perception of the teachers’ media literacy skills, especially in media creation and digital identity management. The qualitative results frame a reflection on the relevance of creating digital media in students’ motivation and in the promotion of media literacy competencies. The barriers to the adoption of pedagogical practices which include media creation were also objecting to teachers’ reflection. Keywords: teacher training; game-based learning; media and information literacy; digital game creation

Mapping the Inclusion of Children and Youth With Disabilities in Media Literacy Research

The way we communicate and make meaning in a complex socio-technical infrastructure demands multiple literacies. Media-literate citizens must be able to create, evaluate and effectively use information, media, and technology. The pandemic context demanded increased online learning and work, highlighting the importance of media literacy in citizens’ lives. Although in recent years, crucial reforms have happened in education for children with disabilities, media education for them is residual and framed on medical concepts neglecting how disability is socially constructed. Aiming to map recent research (2015–2021) in the field of media literacy and children with disabilities, a systematic literature review was conducted. The number of articles obtained from a search for “media literacy and children” in the scientific databases (N = 1,175) supports the relevance of media literacy in research. Filtering these data for “children with disabilities” reveals an inexpressive sample, with 12 articles included in the study after the eligibility phase. The overall results indicate that this population is significantly underrepresented in media literacy research, explained by a low prevalence of studies with disabled children as an audience. Moreover, research designs have shown a greater focus on conceptual approaches, highlighting a deficit of fieldwork and tangible interventions. Strong ableist media discourses emerged as a barrier to the promotion of media literacy in this population, with a clear mismatch between media representations and the current disability paradigms, besides all the positive aspects of the actions registered in the sample

Videogames as a learning tool: is game-based learning more effective?

The potential of videogames in learning has been increasingly studied, documented and sustained. The present study aims to summarize quantitative results from digital Game-Based Learning (GBL) strategies, through a Systematic Review of Literature with Meta-analysis study, framing conclusions about the effectiveness of the use of videogames as a learning strategy in several contexts. Through a systematic search in scientific databases and researchers’ social networks (Ebsco, ACM, PubMed and ResearchGate), 68 papers were obtained. A screening process, based on inclusion criteria, such as the use of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), digital GBL strategies and measures to evaluate concrete learning gains, resulted in a final sample of 14 experimental studies. Data was gathered and analyzed using two different matrices, and softwares (SPSS and CMA). Considering a joint sample of 1685 subjects, it is possible to mention that digital GBL strategies have shown larger effect-sizes than traditional approaches, namely expository, allowing larger and more effective learning outcomes. This study arises in the context of GamiLearning project, an action-research project, aiming to develop critical and participatory dimensions of media literacy in young people, from 9 to 12 years, through collaborative learning experiences with digital games. Keywords: meta-analysis; videogame-based learning; learning; education

DEMAND FOR LOCALLY PROVIDED PUBLIC SERVICES WITHIN THE MEDIAN VOTER'S FRAMEWORK: THE CASE OF THE BRAZILIAN MUNICIPALITIES

In this paper we estimated the demand for local public spending for the Brazilian municipalities within a median voter's framework. Results obtained are consistent with the theoretical background thus suggesting that this hypothesis might be useful to describe the demand for local public goods in Brazil. In particular, the use of quantile regression permitted to investigate the impacts of the conditioning variables on local public expenses across different expenditures classes thus allowing for heterogeneity across municipalities. Our results also suggest that the impact of the city size on the quality of club goods shows crowding effects as g is between zero and one. However, in the estimated models, marginal congestion slightly decreases with expenditure. This is a rather surprising result as one is tempted to conclude that the congestion effect should be higher on big cities. Yet, a more careful look shows the drawbacks of such interpretation. The indivisibilities that preclude the provision of certain services in small towns, concentrate their provision on larger cities. Hence, the higher expenditures of those big cities reflect not only a crowding cost but also the fact that these towns offer a wide range of services when compared to the small ones. So, in Brazil, contrary to the traditional results, the reduced congestion effect along the spending classes reflect the predominance of the scale elements measured by the population elasticities over the price effects.

Research-based spin-offs as agents of knowledge dissemination: evidence from the analysis of innovation networks

The paper addresses the role played by research-based spin-offs (RBSOs) as knowledge dissemination mechanisms, through their position in knowledge networks. For this purpose the paper analyses the formal networks established by Portuguese RBSOs, in the context of publicly funded research, technology and pre-commercial product development projects, and investigates their configuration across two levels. At organisational level, in order to understand whether RBSOs extend their reach beyond the academic sphere; and if they do, whether they connect to organisations located downstream in the knowledge value chain, and which is their position in networks involving both research organisations and other firms. At spatial level, in order to understand whether RBSOs extend their reach beyond the region where they are created, thus potentially acting as connectors between diverse regions. The analysis starts from the population of RBSOs created in Portugal until 2007 (327 firms) and identifies those that have established formal technological relationships, as part of projects funded by all the relevant programmes launched in the period 1993-2012. As a result, the analysis encompasses 192 collaborative projects and involves 82 spin-offs and 281 partners, of which only 20% are research organisations, the remaining being other firms and a variety of other downstream organisations. The results, although still preliminary, provide some insights into the knowledge networking behaviour of the RBSOs. As expected, research organisations are a central actor in spin-offs’ networks, being the sole partner for some of them. But half of the RBSOs have moved beyond the academic sphere, being frequently a central element in tripartite technological relationships between research and other organisations, and occupying an intermediation position in the network, thus potentially acting as facilitators in knowledge circulation and transformation. Also as expected, RBSOs are predominantly located in the main metropolitan areas and tend to relate with organisations similarly located. But while geographical proximity emerges as important in the choice of partners, in about half of the cases, RBSOs knowledge networks have extended beyond regional boundaries. Given their central position in the network, this suggests a role as connectors across regions that will be explored in subsequent research

Geografia e democracia para uma nova justiça

À luz da investigação realizada no âmbito do Observatório Permanente da Justiça Portuguesa sobre a reorganização territorial da justiça em Portugal, apresenta-se um novo modelo de geografia da justiça, tendo em vista, em primeira linha, melhorar o desempenho dos tribunais enquanto serviço público de justiça e, sobretudo, como instâncias de promoção e de defesa dos direitos dos cidadãos. Nesse sentido uma proposta de territorialização impõe uma agenda estratégica da justiça em que se reafirme a promoção do princípio do acesso à justiça e ao direito, se aprofunde a qualidade da justiça, se aumente a eficiência, a eficácia e a transparência do sistema judicial bem como a modernização e reforço da capacidade de administração e gestão do sistema

Research-based spin-offs as agents of knowledge dissemination: Evidence from the analysis of innovation networks

The paper addresses the role played by research-based spin-offs (RBSOs) as knowledge dissemination mechanisms, through their position in knowledge networks. For this purpose the paper analyses the formal networks established by Portuguese RBSOs, in the context of publicly funded research, technology and precommercial product development projects, and investigates their configuration along two levels. At organisational level, in order to understand whether RBSOs extend their reach beyond the academic sphere; and if they do, whether they connect to organisations located downstream in the knowledge value chain, and which is their position in networks involving both research organisations and other firms. At spatial level, in order to understand whether RBSOs extend their reach beyond the region where they are created, thus potentially acting as connectors between diverse regions. The analysis starts from the population of RBSOs created in Portugal until 2007 (327 firms) and identifies those that have established formal technological relationships, as part of projects funded by all the relevant programmes launched in the period 1993-2012. As a result, the analysis encompasses 192 collaborative projects and involves 82 spin-offs and 281 partners, of which only 20% are research organisations, the remaining being other firms and a variety of other downstream organisations. The results, although still preliminary, provide some insights into the knowledge networking behaviour of the RBSOs. As expected, research organisations are a central actor in spin-offs’ networks, being the sole partner for some of them. But half of the RBSOs have moved beyond the academic sphere, being frequently a central element in tripartite technological relationships between research and other organisations, and occupying an intermediation position in the network, thus potentially acting as facilitators in knowledge circulation and transformation. Also as expected, RBSOs are predominantly located in the main metropolitan areas and tend to relate with organisations similarly located. But while geographical proximity emerges as important in the choice of partners, in about half of the cases, RBSOs knowledge networks have extended beyond regional boundaries. Given their central position in the network, this suggests a role as connectors across regions that will be explored in subsequent research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio