Carlinda Leite

A place for arguing in engineering education: a study on students’ assessments

This paper focuses on the issue of how engineering programmes demand and/or promote argumentative reasoning, which is a subsequent aspect of curricular development. This was the main objective of the project on which this paper reports. This is to say that the focus is on assessment as a way to establish to what extent argumentative reasoning is demanded and mobilised in teaching and learning processes. This aim was achieved using a sample of assignments developed in courses in different Bologna undergraduate programmes at the Engineering School at the University of Porto, during the first semester of the academic year 2009/2010. Whereas problem solving in engineering constitutes a structural element in the curricular organisation of the engineering programmes and is strongly related to argumentative skills, it was possible to conclude that students demonstrate and explain extensively, but do not argue, possibly because their teachers do not invite them to do so in assessment situations.

Avaliação, qualidade e equidade

O artigo, focado na avaliacao da aprendizagem dos ensinos fundamental, medio e superior, tem como objetivo debater possibilidades e limites da avaliacao de aprendizagem constituir um meio para promover uma educacao de qualidade que viabilize o principio de justica social. Partindo de uma analise de politicas internacionais que tem associado a avaliacao a institucionalizacao de uma educacao de qualidade, o artigo da conta de principios e carateristicas que marcam os discursos academicos e legais, sobre a avaliacao da aprendizagem, em Portugal. Com base nesta caraterizacao, sao identificadas proximidades e distâncias entre esses discursos e praticas de avaliacao. O artigo termina com uma reflexao sobre o contributo da avaliacao da aprendizagem para uma educacao de qualidade que cumpra requisitos de equidade e justica social.

Teachers’ role in curriculum design in Portuguese schools

Teachers’ role in curriculum design is a broad question that inspires political educational reforms among European countries, a trend that even extends to higher education politics. The perspective on teachers’ role in curriculum, both at the level of the policies and of the practices, shapes recent educational reforms in Portugal. These are the concerns underlying our research that intends to substantiate school teachers’ involvement in curriculum development as it is experienced by them, and while comparing their views to the roles they are attributed in the political and academic dominant discourses. To reach teachers’ perceptions, we distributed questionnaires which were completed by 214 teachers in primary and secondary schools. We could conclude that the enactment of a professional identity on the basis of teacher assumption of their role as real curriculum designers is still far from being achieved.

The Influence of Engineers' Training Models on Ethics and Civic Education Component in Engineering Courses in Portugal.

ABSTRACT The recognition of the need and importance of including ethical and civic education in engineering courses, as well as the training profile on ethical issues, relies heavily on the engineer’s concept and the perception of the engineering action. These views are strongly related to the different engineer education model conceptions and its historical roots. In Portugal, engineer education is done based on two different higher education subsystems, the university and the polytechnic. This study analyses how engineers’ educational models, present in the two Portuguese higher education subsystems, influence and are reflected in the importance attached to students’ ethic and civic education and in the role that this training plays. Although the data suggest the prevalence of the distinction between the two training models and the corresponding distinction of ethic and civic education that is incorporated in the curricula, it is also noted the existence of mixed feature courses in university education.

The effect of curricular activities on learner autonomy: the perspective of undergraduate mechanical engineering students

This study researches how first-year engineering students perceived the influence of curricular activities on their own learning autonomy, measured with an adaptation of the Personal Responsibility Orientation to Self-direction in Learning Scale (PRO-SDLS). Participants were questioned to assess the influence of the teachers role. The results indicate that learners’ characteristics (motivation and self-efficacy) contribute more to learner autonomy (LA) than the teaching–learning transaction (control and initiative), as in the original PRO-SDLS validation. The most autonomous learners presented higher values in all LA components and dimensions, but the differences were greater in motivation and initiative. The participants with higher LA were not as dependent on the teacher, regarding assessment, the completion of classroom tasks and deadlines. Regardless of the degree of autonomy in learning, all participants viewed teachers as the main source of information. Therefore, LA plays an important role in teaching activities planning. Suggestions for adjustments and more flexible learning scenarios are formulated.

Re)interpretations by teachers of the national geography curriculum for primary education in Portugal

In Portugal, the Curriculo Nacional do Ensino Basico [National Curriculum for Primary Education] was published in 2001. This document reorganises primary level education from a curricular point of view. It is a key reference document for curricular management in Portuguese schools and outlines guidelines for the whole set of educational experiences as well as the core and specific skills that students are to develop in each subject or subject area. Since the implementation of this curriculum reorganisation, working documents have been produced by the Geography Department of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, reflecting the interpretation of documents issued by the Ministry of Education and providing guidelines regarding teacher training in this subject area. These documents were shared among students, future teachers and also trainee supervisors during training sessions. Centred on issues concerning the National Curriculum for Primary Education and Curriculum Guidelines for Geography, this paper aims to present not only the reasons that led the authors of the Geography Curriculum to provide certain options, but also the (re) interpretations made by Geography teachers who graduated from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto as regards the fulfilment of the prescribed curriculum at national level, that is, in their professional teaching practice.

UN TIPO PARA ENTENDER LA EVALUACIÓN DE LA ESCUELAS

In the last decades, school assessment has acquired a prominent place in educational policies and practices. However, its dimensions demand further and continuous deepening of knowledge on such practice. This paper aims to contribute to this deepening by developing and presenting a model for understanding and interpreting school assessment processes. This was done through the analysis of scientific literature published between 2002 and 2015 on school assessment. This procedure revealed four main axes that are essential to understand the thematics comprising this model. The axes are: 1) arguments justifying and influencing school assessment; 2) functions attributed to school assessment; 3) school assessment modes; 4) possible effects of school assessment.

Uma tipologia para a compreensão da avaliação de escolas

In the last decades, school assessment has acquired a prominent place in educational policies and practices. However, its dimensions demand further and continuous deepening of knowledge on such practice. This paper aims to contribute to this deepening by developing and presenting a model for understanding and interpreting school assessment processes. This was done through the analysis of scientific literature published between 2002 and 2015 on school assessment. This procedure revealed four main axes that are essential to understand the thematics comprising this model. The axes are: 1) arguments justifying and influencing school assessment; 2) functions attributed to school assessment; 3) school assessment modes; 4) possible effects of school assessment.

A MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS

In the last decades, school assessment has acquired a prominent place in educational policies and practices. However, its dimensions demand further and continuous deepening of knowledge on such practice. This paper aims to contribute to this deepening by developing and presenting a model for understanding and interpreting school assessment processes. This was done through the analysis of scientific literature published between 2002 and 2015 on school assessment. This procedure revealed four main axes that are essential to understand the thematics comprising this model. The axes are: 1) arguments justifying and influencing school assessment; 2) functions attributed to school assessment; 3) school assessment modes; 4) possible effects of school assessment.

Uma tipologia para a compreensão da avaliação de escolas = A model to understanding school assessments

In the last decades, school assessment has acquired a prominent place in educational policies and practices. However, its dimensions demand further and continuous deepening of knowledge on such practice. This paper aims to contribute to this deepening by developing and presenting a model for understanding and interpreting school assessment processes. This was done through the analysis of scientific literature published between 2002 and 2015 on school assessment. This procedure revealed four main axes that are essential to understand the thematics comprising this model. The axes are: 1) arguments justifying and influencing school assessment; 2) functions attributed to school assessment; 3) school assessment modes; 4) possible effects of school assessment.