Valéria Amorim Arantes

The Ethics and Citizenship Program: a Brazilian experience in moral education

This article describes the Ethics and Citizenship Program, a moral education project developed by the Brazilian government to promote education in ethics and citizenship in Brazilian fundamental and middle schools through four key themes: ethics, democratic coexistence, human rights and social inclusion. Some findings from a research project that investigated whether such a program did in fact promote the ethical and citizenship awareness of participating students are outlined. As an introduction to the paper’s main concerns, the Brazilian socioeconomic context is characterised, followed by a description of the historical background of moral education in Brazil.

Violencia contra las mujeres: significados cognitivos y afectivos en las representaciones mentales de adolescentes

Resumen Este trabajo sobre la violencia de género, se inclina por una explicación que tenga en cuenta los procesos de socialización en el seno de la cultura de género. Su muestra es de 196 adolescentes de Barcelona y São Paulo, de ambos sexos, de 12, 14 y 16 años. Exploramos cómo elaboran los modelos de género mediante el análisis de sus representaciones sobre una situación de violencia de pareja. Los resultados muestran cinco maneras distintas de posicionarse frente a la violencia. En cada una de ellas se identifica y se trata la violencia deforma diferente.

Principles and methods to guide education for purpose: a Brazilian experience

Abstract This article presents a Brazilian experience in training teachers to educate for purpose. Understanding that purpose is a value to be constructed through real-world and contextualised experiences, the authors discuss some psychological processes that underlie purpose development. Then the authors show how these processes are used in a purpose development programme they have conducted for in-service and pre-service teachers over the past six years. Using innovative pedagogies, such as Problem-Based Learning, Project-Based Learning, and Design Thinking, the authors describe the steps that teachers have to follow in project development, examples of the results accomplished with this kind of programme, and research findings that are being conducted to analyse the principles and results of this approach for training teachers in how to educate youth for purpose.

Projetos de Vida de Jovens Estudantes do Ensino Médio e a Escola

Este artigo trata da percepcao de estudantes do Ensino Medio sobre a contribuicao que as experiencias escolares podem trazer aos seus projetos de vida. Toma-se por referencia os conceitos de projeto do filosofo Ortega y Gasset e de purpose, formulado por Willian Damon. Participaram do estudo 305 estudantes do Ensino Medio da cidade de Sao Paulo. A abordagem qualitativa (analise de conteudo e formulacao de categorias) respeitou as percepcoes dos participantes. Os resultados demonstram que 81% dos estudantes consideram que a escola contribui para seus projetos de vida, principalmente por meio das atividades desenvolvidas em sala de aula.

Re-inventing School to Develop Active Citizens

This chapter discusses the evolution of education in recent centuries, trying to explain how movements of democratization and universal access to education promoted the universal inclusion of people in the educational processes. Schools have been structured in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries under principles of exclusion and homogenization which are not reaching the demands of an inclusive education. This situation has an impact on the expectations of knowledge desired by contemporary societies. This impasse has been demanding a re-invention of education, which involves changes in the content, form and relationships between teachers and students within educational settings. Based on the principles of the Positive Psychology, a post-graduate course to re-invent education is presented as well as related concerns to personal and professional ethics. This course combines active learning methodologies with new and diverse information technology and communication tools. The program has been offered to 1,000 Brazilian basic education teachers, aiming at providing instruments for promoting ethical education through topics such as, democratic coexistence; human rights; health; inclusive education; and relationships among school, families and community. The final goal underling these activities is the development of active citizens.

Youth purpose through the lens of the Theory of Organizing Models of Thinking

Abstract Purpose represents a unique opportunity for identifying and analyzing the complexity of human reasoning, considering that its constitution brings together cognitive, affective and social elements. In this article, we use the Theory of Organizing Models of Thinking (OMT), an epistemological and methodological approach based on developmental psychologist Jean Piaget’s work, to present a different perspective on how to analyze youth purpose and to explain the cognitive-emotional dynamics of reasoning in everyday thinking. We introduce OMT and its benefits, then explore the insights it can provide through examining seven OMTs used by Brazilian youth about their life purposes. These models focus on: consumerism and financial stability, interpersonal relationships, only work, work and family, idealization of work and family, altruistic intentions, and fragile purpose projections. These models show how reasoning and emotion are complexly linked in everyday thinking.

Valores e Sentimentos nos Projetos de Vida dos Jovens Brasileiros

Purposes are projections about the future based on past and present actions, including the integration and regulation of values and feelings. In this study, we aimed to analyze these processes in the purposes of young Brazilians. A total of 200 young people between 15 and 19 years of age who were public school students from the five geographical regions of Brazil participated in the survey. We applied a written, individual, and open-ended questionnaire that was constructed by the Stanford Center on Adolescence and adapted for this study. We identified seven different ways by which the future was designed, observing different dynamics of thought and great complexity in the integration of values and feelings. For the vast majority of respondents, family and work constituted central values and appeared in an integrated manner in the feelings they expressed: happiness, welfare, and satisfaction. These results cultivate a greater understanding of psychic organization in purposes, opening up new possibilities for studies in moral psychology.

Valores y Sentimientos en los Proyectos de Vida de Jóvenes Brasileños

Purposes are projections about the future based on past and present actions, including the integration and regulation of values and feelings. In this study, we aimed to analyze these processes in the purposes of young Brazilians. A total of 200 young people between 15 and 19 years of age who were public school students from the five geographical regions of Brazil participated in the survey. We applied a written, individual, and open-ended questionnaire that was constructed by the Stanford Center on Adolescence and adapted for this study. We identified seven different ways by which the future was designed, observing different dynamics of thought and great complexity in the integration of values and feelings. For the vast majority of respondents, family and work constituted central values and appeared in an integrated manner in the feelings they expressed: happiness, welfare, and satisfaction. These results cultivate a greater understanding of psychic organization in purposes, opening up new possibilities for studies in moral psychology.

Values and Feelings in Young Brazilians’ Purposes

Purposes are projections about the future based on past and present actions, including the integration and regulation of values and feelings. In this study, we aimed to analyze these processes in the purposes of young Brazilians. A total of 200 young people between 15 and 19 years of age who were public school students from the five geographical regions of Brazil participated in the survey. We applied a written, individual, and open-ended questionnaire that was constructed by the Stanford Center on Adolescence and adapted for this study. We identified seven different ways by which the future was designed, observing different dynamics of thought and great complexity in the integration of values and feelings. For the vast majority of respondents, family and work constituted central values and appeared in an integrated manner in the feelings they expressed: happiness, welfare, and satisfaction. These results cultivate a greater understanding of psychic organization in purposes, opening up new possibilities for studies in moral psychology.