The Usefulness of a Science Degree: The “lost voices” of science trained professionals     

Susan Rodrigues  Russell Tytler  Linda Darby  Peter Hubber  David Symington  Jane Edwards 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(11):1411-1433

This paper reports a study of science graduates who are employed in positions outside their discipline specialisation. The research was designed to uncover the reasons for them choosing to study science at university, the competencies they utilise in their work and their lives, and how these relate to their undergraduate education in science. The study is seen as important in that already about one‐half of science graduates are in such positions and it is argued that there is a need in scientific and technologically based societies to have a greater representation of such people in decision‐making positions in government and industry. The directions for the science degree that can be drawn from the data gathered are congruent with those arising from other relevant studies. That is, attention should be paid to widely used skills, such as communication and problem‐solving, and to developing an understanding of science within its social and ethical context. An argument is mounted for considering the way the science degree is presented to potential students and to the general public.  相似文献   

Preparing to transition to secondary education: perceptions of Dutch pupils with migrant backgrounds     

Rosa G. Rodrigues  Ton Notten  Sabine E. Severiens 《Educational research; a review for teachers and all concerned with progress in education》2018,60(2):222-240

Background: The transition from primary school to secondary school is a crucial period of time for children and this may be especially the case for pupils with migrant backgrounds. While there has been considerable research on the transition from primary to secondary school, more needs to be known specifically about the experiences of this group of pupils during their final year of primary school, as they prepare for their transition to secondary school.

Purpose: The study investigated how Dutch children with migrant backgrounds in their final year of primary school perceive the preparatory process for the transition to secondary school. In particular, we were interested in who the children felt were the important ‘actors’ (e.g. pupils, parents, teachers and others) in the preparatory process.

Sample: We collected data from 76 primary school pupils from three schools in an urban city in the Netherlands. The sample included pupils who, according to the Dutch system, were preparing to follow an academic pathway (i.e. the tracks known in this system as ‘HAVO’ or ‘VWO’) and those who were preparing to follow a vocational pathway (i.e. the track known as ‘VMBO’) in secondary education.

Design and methods: We used photo elicitation (N = 76) and also conducted semi-structured interviews with a subsample of the pupils (N = 25) to examine the roles of the important actors in the preparatory process. Data were analysed qualitatively; responses were coded and underwent pattern analysis in order to identify and describe repeating structures in the data. Data were grouped according to whether the pupils received school recommendations for an academic track or a vocational track.

Results: Findings suggested that the pupils perceived the most important actors to be the pupil, the classroom teacher and the parents. Both teachers and parents were considered valuable resources for pupils in the preparatory process. Patterns representing the participants’ perceptions of the roles of three actors – namely, (1) the child, (2) the classroom teacher and (3) the parents, were identified. Six patterns were identified with respect to the child, four with respect to the classroom teacher and two with respect to the parents. For some patterns, it was apparent that the responses of children in the vocational group and the academic group had different emphases.

Conclusions: The study highlights the importance for teachers and parents of children in their final year of primary school to be aware of the pupils’ perceptions of and feelings about their preparation for secondary school, so as to be in the best position to support them collaboratively.  相似文献   

News Consumption Habits of Culturally Diverse Australians in the Digital Era: Implications for Intercultural Relations     

Usha M. Rodrigues  Yin Paradies 《Journal of Intercultural Communication Research》2018,47(1):38-51

It is well-documented that news media (both traditional and social) have a significant impact on intercultural relations in contemporary societies. This paper compares results of two surveys where we asked Australians about their news sources. The study shows that Australian news consumers from diverse cultural backgrounds are alienated from Australian mainstream news media, increasingly relying on online and social media sources for their information. The paper situates this empirical research in the contemporary articulation of uses and gratification theory to understand audiences’ preferred media sources for news and information and the potential implications for intercultural relations in Australia.  相似文献   

Determination of a quantitative parameter to evaluate swimming technique based on the maximal tethered swimming test     

Rafael Soncin  Bruno Mezêncio  Jacielle Carolina Ferreira  Sara Andrade Rodrigues  Rudolf Huebner  Julio Cerca Serrão 《Sports biomechanics / International Society of Biomechanics in Sports》2017,16(2):248-257

The aim of this study was to propose a new force parameter, associated with swimmers’ technique and performance. Twelve swimmers performed five repetitions of 25 m sprint crawl and a tethered swimming test with maximal effort. The parameters calculated were: the mean swimming velocity for crawl sprint, the mean propulsive force of the tethered swimming test as well as an oscillation parameter calculated from force fluctuation. The oscillation parameter evaluates the force variation around the mean force during the tethered test as a measure of swimming technique. Two parameters showed significant correlations with swimming velocity: the mean force during the tethered swimming (r = 0.85) and the product of the mean force square root and the oscillation (r = 0.86). However, the intercept coefficient was significantly different from zero only for the mean force, suggesting that although the correlation coefficient of the parameters was similar, part of the mean velocity magnitude that was not associated with the mean force was associated with the product of the mean force square root and the oscillation. Thus, force fluctuation during tethered swimming can be used as a quantitative index of swimmers’ technique.  相似文献   

Letter name knowledge and the ability to learn to read by processing letter–phoneme relations in words: Evidence from Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children     

Cardoso-Martins  Cláudia  Resende  Selmara Mamede  Rodrigues  Larissa Assunção 《Reading and writing》2002,15(3-4):409-432

Previous studies [Scott & Ehri (1990) Journal of Reading Behavior22: 149–166; de Abreu & Cardoso-Martins (1998) Reading and Writing:An Interdisciplinary Journal 10: 85–104] have shown thatprereaders who know the names of the lettersuse a visual–phonological strategy to learn toread words in which the names of one or moreletters can be clearly detected in thepronunciation of the words. The present resultsextend these findings by showing that BrazilianPortuguese-speaking prereaders who know thenames of the letters can process letter–soundrelations to learn to read spellings in whichthe letters correspond to phonemes, not toletter names. Following Ehri & Wilce'sprocedure [(1985) Reading Research Quarterly 20:163–179], Brazilian preschool childrenlearned to read two types of simplifiedspellings: phonetic spellings, that is,spellings in which the letters corresponded tophonemes in the pronunciation of the words(e.g., SPT for sapato), and visualspellings, that is, spellings in which theletters did not correspond to sounds in thepronunciation of the words, but which werevisually more salient (e.g., VST for pijama). The children learned to read thephonetic spellings more easily than the visualspellings, suggesting that they recognized theletter–phoneme relations in learning to readthe phonetic spellings. This interpretation isbolstered by the results of correlationalanalyses between knowledge of letter sounds andperformance on the two word-learning tasks.While knowledge of letter–phonemecorrespondences did not correlate withperformance on the word-learning task with thevisual spellings, it correlated significantlyand positively with the children's ability tolearn to read the phonetic spellings.  相似文献   

Explaining as Mediated Action     

Alexsandro Pereira de Pereira  Paulo Lima Junior  Renato Felix Rodrigues 《Science & Education》2016,25(3-4):343-362

Explaining is one of the most important everyday practices in science education. In this article, we examine how scientific explanations could serve as cultural tools for members of a group of pre-service physics teachers. Specifically, we aim at their use of explanations about forces of inertia in non-inertial frames of reference. A basic assumption of our study is that explanatory tools (e.g., typical explanations learned) shape the ways we think and speak about the world. Drawing on the theory of mediated action, analysis illustrates three major claims on scientific explanations: (1) explaining is an act of actively responding to explanations presented by others (and not only to evidence itself); (2) the actual experience of explaining involves the enactment of power and authority; (3) resistance (not acknowledging an explanation as one’s own) might be a constitutive part of learning how to explain (hence, teachers could approach scientific explanation in a less dogmatic way). These assertions expand the possibilities of dialogue between studies of scientific explanations and the social sciences. Implications for science teaching and research in science education are presented.  相似文献   

Why Portuguese Students Go Abroad to Do Their PhDs1     

Emília Rodrigues Araújo 《Higher Education in Europe》2007,32(4):387-397

The objective of this article based on interview data is focused on the mobility of Portuguese PhD students, mainly pointing to (i) their motivation for studying abroad and tackling with different foreign cultural environments; (ii) personal and professional interests; and (iii) their ability to face the mobility consequences encountered during both private lives and professional development processes. In addition, the author of this article attempts to put forward ideas on policy making and launching effective programmes that would enhance students' lives and scientific development as possible responses to current contradictory European political agendas in the field.  相似文献   

Impact of interdisciplinary learning on the development of engineering students’ skills     

Alexandra R. Costa  Mafalda Ferreira  Ana Barata  Conceição Viterbo  José Salgado Rodrigues  José Magalhães 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2019,44(4):589-601

ABSTRACT

This paper intends to present an interdisciplinary project carried out in a School of Engineering, and to refer to its effects in the development of students’ skills. This project’s main goal was to present students with an intellectually demanding challenge which implied overcoming the disciplinary barriers thus integrating knowledge to solve the problems they were challenged with. After the project had been concluded, a study was carried out using a qualitative methodology by conducting two focus groups (n?=?16). The main goal of this procedure was to get a better perception of (1) how students understood the project; (2) what kind of skills students considered to have developed throughout the project, and (3) the importance they have attributed to this kind of project. The results demonstrate that students are aware of the relevance of the project not only for their education process but also for the development of their skills. The results of the study also reveal that the students involved in the project have been capable of identifying the specific skills that the project work had intended to address and develop.  相似文献   

Role of the Undergraduate Student Research Assistant in the New Millennium   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Thais Dutra Nascimento Silva  Lúcia Cristina da Cunha Aguiar  Jaqueline Leta  Dilvani Oliveira Santos  Fernanda Serpa Cardoso  Lúcio Mendes Cabral  Carlos Rangel Rodrigues    Helena Carla Castro 《CBE life sciences education》2004,3(4):235-240

In this study, we analyze the contribution of the undergraduate student who participates in the process of generating scientific data and developing a research project using Brazilian research as an example. Historically, undergraduate students have performed the critical role of research assistants in developing countries. This aspect has been underappreciated as a means of generating scientific data in Brazilian research facilities. Brazilian educational institutions are facing major age-related generational changes among the science faculty within the next 5–10 yr. A lack of adequate support for graduate students leads to a concern that undergraduates will not be interested in choosing research assistant programs and, subsequently, academic research careers. To remedy this situation it is important to focus on ways to encourage new research careers and enhance university–industry collaborations.  相似文献   

Educational Television in Portugal     

Mr. A. C. Rodrigues De Pinha Leoindas 《Educational Media International》2013,50(3-4):46-47

Educational Television is a special department of Telescola, an official institution dependent on the Instituto de Meios Audio-Visuais de Ensino (I.M.A.V.E.—Institute of Audio-Visual Aids in Education), which was created in the Portuguese Ministry of Education at the end of 1964.  相似文献