Rute Monteiro

The transition of mature students to higher education: Challenging traditional concepts?

Abstract The Bologna Process, recently implemented in Portugal, has brought many changes to higher education institutions. One of these changes refers to a law that enables mature students (23 years and older) to gain special access to higher education, taking into account their professional experience and other biographical elements. The numbers of non-traditional students are therefore increasing in our country, making our academic population more diverse. We designed a research project to investigate the special circumstances of non-traditional students in our institutions and to provide recommendations that should improve their academic lives. In this article, we describe survey results, focus-group interviews and life histories and use them to understand the transition of mature students into higher education. Our results include interpretations of the factors that students view as barriers to their participation in higher education, the importance of peer support, and reflections on life histories that provide greater insight into the transitional process. Although several barriers were identified by mature students, there is also a positive impact from transition. It is clear that transition today is no longer punctual or linear either in time or space. We should therefore challenge traditional views of the transition concept, in which students are considered to be a problem to higher education institutions, because this diverts attention away from the responsibilities of those institutions towards facilitating change.

How full is your luggage? Background knowledge of zoo visitors regarding sharks

For the general population, sharks have a reputation that does not really fit with their biological and ecological nature. Informal surveys often classify sharks as dangerous, aggressive and/or man-eaters. This apparent common knowledge seems difficult to detach from the conscience of many worldwide zoo visitors, even with the help of shark-focused educational programmes. As so, how can zoos and aquariums contribute to a change in this paradigm? Are the education and conservation strategies effective to the average zoo visitor? In this study, young visitors’ perceptions regarding sharks were assessed with the goal of identifying a valid Learning Progression, thus helping to update and develop different and more effective educational strategies and methodologies. The study took place at Zoomarine, an oceanographic park located in southern Portugal, with visitors aged between 8 and 16. A case study was conducted using a qualitative research approach (drawings and interviews) resulting in a Learning Progression Hypothesis. The proposed Learning Progression is composed of three knowledge levels for the participants’ biological perceptions regarding sharks. The results of this study showed a clear predominance of anthropomorphic and anthropocentric visions, as well as a utilitarian view of sharks and ecosystem, thus conditioning the visitors’ epistemological knowledge.

Animals “Я” Us: Egomorphism in/for Science and Environmental Education

We argue for the notion of egomorphism as an inexorable discursive element in/for children’s interspecies encounters mediated by nature interpreters. We do so by examining the discourses of a public environmental educator in Canada and a dolphin trainer in a marine park in Portugal while mediating such pedagogical experiences. Our analytical work contributes to expanding the understanding of how human–nonhuman interactions can create opportunities in science and environmental education to disrupt the notion that humans are superior and therefore removed from other animals.