This paper aims at assessing the evolutionist and creationist conceptions of Brazilian teachers. The work is developed within the framework of the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN (biology, health and environmental e...This paper aims at assessing the evolutionist and creationist conceptions of Brazilian teachers. The work is developed within the framework of the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN (biology, health and environmental education for better citizenship), which takes into account that scientific knowledge and teachers' attitudes and values can influence the teaching practices. The large questionnaire BIOHEAD-CITIZEN, which was constructed to be applied in 19 countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East countries, was applied, in this study, to six groups of Brazilian teachers: primary school teachers, biology teachers and Portuguese language teachers and corresponding teachers-to-be. For this paper the answers to questions about evolution were used as dependent variables. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were carried out. Biology teachers and biology teachers-to-be gave more importance to the natural selection and the evolution process than the other groups of teachers. Comparing to the BIOHEAD-CITIZEN countries, the total Brazilian sample showed a higher percentage of creationist conceptions, particularly the Brazilian biology teachers and teachers-to-be. As discussed herein, this may not be an obstacle for teaching evolution as they accept both creationist and evolutionist concomitantly.展开更多
English language teaching in the post-method condition demands the preparation of critical professionals capable of developing their teaching practice to enhance their pupils' language learning process. These profess...English language teaching in the post-method condition demands the preparation of critical professionals capable of developing their teaching practice to enhance their pupils' language learning process. These professionals should also be able to recognize their prior knowledge as a potential tool to teach and to act autonomously in different educational contexts. Therefore, pre-service teacher education courses need to provide favorable conditions for teacher candidates to engage in reflective practice in order to foster continuous professional development. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the complexity of the pedagogical knowledge (re)construction process in an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education course, attempting to understand prospective teachers' pedagogical actions and strategies used to cope with classroom problems in their teaching practice. For this reason, some examples of this dynamic process, obtained by class recordings and reflective sessions with future teachers were examined. Results indicated that through self-assessment and reflection, stimulated by these sessions, student-teachers were able to recognize problems in their teaching procedures, as well as analyze their teaching practice and (re)construct their pedagogical knowledge, favoring their students' language learning process and their own teaching approach.展开更多
This paper investigates the promotion of rich media techniques and creation of teaching resources in Chinese language education curriculums. Infusing rich media technology with teaching practice, teachers should not o...This paper investigates the promotion of rich media techniques and creation of teaching resources in Chinese language education curriculums. Infusing rich media technology with teaching practice, teachers should not only introduce original thinking, new skills and authentic knowledge to students, but also should emphasize on creativity. In this sense, the resources created within the curriculums are possible to develop and in turn, accumulate more teaching resources and materials for Chinese language education.展开更多
文摘This paper aims at assessing the evolutionist and creationist conceptions of Brazilian teachers. The work is developed within the framework of the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN (biology, health and environmental education for better citizenship), which takes into account that scientific knowledge and teachers' attitudes and values can influence the teaching practices. The large questionnaire BIOHEAD-CITIZEN, which was constructed to be applied in 19 countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East countries, was applied, in this study, to six groups of Brazilian teachers: primary school teachers, biology teachers and Portuguese language teachers and corresponding teachers-to-be. For this paper the answers to questions about evolution were used as dependent variables. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were carried out. Biology teachers and biology teachers-to-be gave more importance to the natural selection and the evolution process than the other groups of teachers. Comparing to the BIOHEAD-CITIZEN countries, the total Brazilian sample showed a higher percentage of creationist conceptions, particularly the Brazilian biology teachers and teachers-to-be. As discussed herein, this may not be an obstacle for teaching evolution as they accept both creationist and evolutionist concomitantly.
文摘English language teaching in the post-method condition demands the preparation of critical professionals capable of developing their teaching practice to enhance their pupils' language learning process. These professionals should also be able to recognize their prior knowledge as a potential tool to teach and to act autonomously in different educational contexts. Therefore, pre-service teacher education courses need to provide favorable conditions for teacher candidates to engage in reflective practice in order to foster continuous professional development. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the complexity of the pedagogical knowledge (re)construction process in an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education course, attempting to understand prospective teachers' pedagogical actions and strategies used to cope with classroom problems in their teaching practice. For this reason, some examples of this dynamic process, obtained by class recordings and reflective sessions with future teachers were examined. Results indicated that through self-assessment and reflection, stimulated by these sessions, student-teachers were able to recognize problems in their teaching procedures, as well as analyze their teaching practice and (re)construct their pedagogical knowledge, favoring their students' language learning process and their own teaching approach.
文摘This paper investigates the promotion of rich media techniques and creation of teaching resources in Chinese language education curriculums. Infusing rich media technology with teaching practice, teachers should not only introduce original thinking, new skills and authentic knowledge to students, but also should emphasize on creativity. In this sense, the resources created within the curriculums are possible to develop and in turn, accumulate more teaching resources and materials for Chinese language education.