Faça você mesmo(a): forma objetiva — território de luta crítica

Amidst debates in the sixties regarding late modernisation in peripheral countries, Roberto Schwarz came to define objective form (1991) as a construct that provides the rhythmic and invisible links between the social-historical domain and the aesthetic. It consists, said Schwarz, of a form comprising ‘a practical and historical substance’ acting also as the ‘social core of the art form’ (1997). By connecting the preexistent social experience to the aesthetically built form, the objective form works as a social contract legitimating the aesthetic form. Socially and historically ordered by a collective and impersonal subject, such construct distinguishes itself from postmodern eclecticism disconnected from the historical process. The objective form offers critical intelligibility before the historical-social matter, but only if taken as a form that is intrinsic to the aesthetic sphere. Thus, the problem of the aesthetic condensation of the social rhythms is therefore concretely and ceaselessly reoccurring—in production and reception—whenever necessary to retrace the reciprocal links between social-historical and artistic forms. Accordingly, the exercise of aesthetic intuition and the critical act in the infighting with the art materials are required to synthesise the structures of the social-historical matter—otherwise inapprehensible in the intrinsic connections to the perception and reflexion about the historical objectivity and dynamics. There are things that only in art emerge and make it an indispensable tool for dialectical historical reflexion. In this sense, this paper will revisit some critical responses that Brazilian art (Antonio Dias, Amilcar de Castro, Mendes da Rocha) gave to the civil-military coup of 1964 and to the late accelerated economic modernisation that ensued. And finally, it will also revisit the contemporary installation Big Wheel (2019, Carmela Gross)—a negative architectural construct that totalised Brazil’s tragic moment with rare clarity and epic poignancy.

This paper draws a cartography of digital art in Brazil by focusing on the dialog between pioneer productions of media art and a few recent ones. What changed in the exhibition circuits and in the curatorial strategies of this production in its current context, if we compare it with the context of the beginnings of art and technology in Brazil? For this purpose we will analyze the history of the exhibitions as an interdisciplinary field. That is, we will survey the curatorship of digital art in Brazil, especially those developed in Sao Paulo, in order to contribute to a critical reflection of these productions in the Brazilian context.

Nursing, as a progressive and developing profession, requires those who engage in it to demonstrate well developed critical thinking, as early as their undergraduate training. Reflection skills are a mechanism for developing critical thinking and they form part of the core of the nursing training programme. Preceptors have a major role in helping students perform reflection, through guided reflection that facilitates the development of critical thinking. Nonetheless, it is hard to instil productive reflective thinking in students and to sufficiently develop their critical thinking. An academic nursing school in central Israel developed a tool called Reflective Nursing Debriefing (RND), based on well-established principles of reflection, which constitutes an initiated, systematic and structured reflective learning tool for the development of critical thinking. This tool is used by students to perform reflection and by preceptors for the purpose of monitored involvement in guided reflection. In practice, preceptors do not achieve full utilization of the tool, and thus students are not exposed to its potential contribution to developing their critical thinking. The case study presented in this paper portrays the issue by analysing three cases that utilized this tool, with the preceptor employing guided reflection, and it suggests important recommendations for preceptors. Additionally, it offers professional nursing education recommendations with regard to the systems responsibility for achieving professionalization of preceptors. This will help preceptors use the tool properly and develop a prominent skill necessary for guided reflection and in general, develop better critical thinking among students.

We are surrounded by objects. We often use and interact with them to do our daily activities. They do not only support us and augment our abilities, but also, can be considered as companions of our thoughts. We think with objects, because they contain information about us: about our memories, experiences, emotions, and activities as Sherry Turkle highlights (2011). Furthermore, our everyday objects are increasingly computed, smart and connected to the Internet. They are able to collect data, elaborate and provide real-time feedbacks. These feedbacks cannot only support us to improve our activities, but also enables critical thinking and reflection on our actions. This resonates very well with what Donald Schon meant by having reflective conversation with materials at hand (1983;1996). He highlighted that materials -artifacts- of a situation talk back to designer, so they enable and support reflection in action of designing. So, how about if we consider that our daily objects can talk back and make us think on our actions in order to consider alternatives? This dissertation, is an attempt to consider this opportunity. The nature of this dissertation is mostly conceptual and its scope is defining the physical and behavioral characteristics of smart artifacts able to provoke thoughts and reflection in user leading to a conscious behavior change. I sought to use existing theories about reflective thinking in HCI and beyond, as valuable sources for developing design concept. I have been inspired by the Concept-Driven interaction design research (Stolterman and Wiberg 2011) and created and defined the whole structure of this dissertation based on this methodology, from the definition of the concept - Tool for Reflection - to the construction of a theoretical model from the design outcome -Make Me Think model. During this process, I used different methods such as conducting literature analysis, context analysis, survey, participatory session and prototyping. The sustainable urban mobility behaviors in the city of Turin (Italy) as the target behavior and home as the place for using Tool for Reflection have been chosen for this research. In particular, informed by architectural studies, I conceptualized In-Between Places as a category of places that connect home places to city places. I suggested to consider such areas as suitable places for evoking thoughts on urban mobility behaviors, in home. This dissertation provides a theoretical perspective with which to guide the design of smart objects that evoke reflection. It first provides a set of characteristics of a Tool for Reflection as a physical artifact. Then it provides a theoretical model, considering the relationship between a Tool for Reflection and a user. The key contributions include the design of the Sole, a smart lamp, not only as an example of a Tool for Reflection with its theoretically pre-defined characteristics, but also as an instrument for iterating from design to the theory. The overall approach, the methodology and the findings should be of interest in particular to researchers working on design for reflection in the HCI. More broadly this dissertation can be of interest of researchers in the HCI, whose research is around designing artifacts, both as an ‘outcome' and as an ‘instrument' of the research process.

Easily accessible characterization techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), or Raman spectroscopy, are at this moment the most commonly used analytical tools in heritage and conservation science. Materials identification in works of art is a fundamental step for understanding an object's history or an artist's technique. Comprehensive characterization and diagnosis of the various constituent materials in artworks can provide valuable information on the artist's working methods, as well as significant evidence for dating, provenance attribution, or forgery detection. The development of databases with high-quality data on the pure substances used as artists’ materials is of utmost importance for the identification and characterization of unknown samples. However, there are relatively few open access spectra libraries dedicated exclusively to the cultural heritage field. To address this need, within the frame of the postdoctoral project INFRA-ART, an open access spectral library of art-related materials has been developed. The database is an ongoing compilation of spectra that contains at this moment over 1,000 high-quality attenuated total reflection–FTIR, Raman, and XRF spectra associated with over 500 known reference materials. In this article, a summary of the database structure and design, functionality, and use is presented, in view of the dissemination of this new open access spectral library to the scientific community.

Critical reflection is an integral part of the teaching and learning process that requires educators to reflect on their assumptions and practices to promote equity in their classrooms. While critical reflection practices and frameworks have been proposed in teacher education, a TESOL-specific tool that engages with the unique complexities of world Englishes has not been developed. The current chapter, thus, engages in critical praxis by providing an evidence-based, step-by-step reflection tool for TESOL educators to enact inquiry. The reflection tool is called the critical language reflection tool, which offers open-ended questions surrounding assumption analysis, contextual awareness, and reflection-based action. Moreover, it applies a critical lens to the TESOL international teaching standards to help TESOL educators and teacher educators foster critical consciousness in TESOL classroom contexts.

Professional identity is very important in teaching practice. There is a consensus in the literature that critical reflection can help novice teachers to develop a professional identity. Written form reflective tools such as diaries, reflective papers, and logbooks are conventional instruments for critical reflection among novice teachers. However, written reflective tools have several shortcomings: a) they overly rely on verbal communication; b) there are no standardized guidelines for critical reflection using written-form reflective tools, and c) using written-form reflective tools is an intrapersonal activity. Photovoice has emerged as a new tool for critical reflection in the last few decades. Using photovoice, novice teachers critically reflect through photographs rather than writing. Empirical research has standardized the critical reflective procedure of photovoice. Communities of practice are a signature feature of photovoice. Establishing a community of practice is an effective way for novice teachers to develop a professional identity via interpersonal interaction within a group, sharing their photographs and reflections. Empirical research shows that photovoice enables novice teachers to develop a professional identity. This paper describes the disadvantages of written-form reflective tools and outlines an innovative method of encouraging novice teachers to perform critical reflection.

STEM is the acronyms of Sciences Technology Engineering and Mathematics that teachers been using in their classroom since long ago. Recently, the focus is to revamp and bring STEM in classes to build learners’ skills. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect i-STEM program in enhancing learners’ critical thinking skills by applying methods and techniques adopted from one disciplines into another in order to solve an assigned problem relevant to learners’ life. The research methodology for this study followed both paradigm, the qualitative and quantitative. This was needed for a better understanding of the situation due to the lack of studies on this topic. Questionnaire, Project rubric, reflection tool and interview were done to collect data. The relatability and validity of the tools has been ensured. The study has been conducted in one private school in Beirut, Lebanon, on grade 5 learners, N=117. The intervention duration lasted 6 months from January until June. 8-Steps i-STEM thinking process was used in the classroom to facilitate the integration of i-STEM. Results showed a significant improvement of learners’ critical thinking after implementing i-STEM.

This study examines how preservice teachers in the context of social justice teacher education grappled with critically reflective practice and demonstrates how metaphors can operate as a powerful means for critical reflection. To these ends, this study conceptualizes critical reflection as practice, that is, as entangled, critically conscious ways of knowing, doing, and becoming. This study also adopts a critical approach to metaphor analysis as a pedagogical and analytic method to promote preservice teachers’ critical reflection. The findings reveal three overarching themes: (a) metaphorical knowing and becoming-with critical reflection; (b) metaphorical doing the knowing of critical reflection; and (c) journey metaphors of knowing, doing, and becoming-with critical reflection. These findings call for increased attention to how preservice teachers’ metaphorical instantiations of critical reflection are entrenched in their social, cultural, and political contexts while being entangled with mutually implicated ways of knowing, doing, and becoming. In so doing, this study provides practical implications for scaffolding preservice teachers’ ongoing and, at times, contested process of critical reflection during their teacher education.

At Delft University of Technology (DUT) in the Netherlands, multi-disciplinary teams of students collaborate with professionals in living labs to design solutions for real-life complex problems in technological innovation processes. Students are guided by a lecturer through the four phases of design to “cut through” the complexity of the problem. However, in these 'ill-defined wicked problems' nobody has an overall picture of the problem and students face many uncertainties. These uncertainties are often perceived as a barrier for decision-making within the design process. A reflection tool, based on theoretical insights in transformative and triple-loop learning, is developed to help students critically reflect in action, providing them with options to deal with their uncertainties. We distinguish between task, social, and individual uncertainty. In this study, the central question is: How can the reflection tool help students deal with their uncertainties in solving complex problems in DUT living labs. By means of surveys and interviews we monitored students in two living labs, one with bachelor and one with master students. We focused on what kind of uncertainties they encountered, how they dealt with these uncertainties and how the reflection tool supports them in this regard. Analysis of the data shows that students perceived all types of uncertainty in the various phases of the design process. By means of the reflection tool students gradually became aware of the many options they have in dealing with uncertainties, and particularly how these pertain to their decision-making in the design process.

The amount of content provided by digital media has greatly contributed to easier access to various information. However, a critical view of such content is often omitted due to the lack of need for it, lack of adequate education that follows the development and use of new technologies, as well as the lack of time dedicated to this issue. It increasingly points to the need to incorporate media literacy into educational systems, as a way of developing critical reflection and making adequate use of the harvested information. In addition to schools as institutions of education, children of digital colonies are additionally educated outside of institutions through mass communication media. The key to protecting children from negative influences of various contents is to develop their critical thinking about given contents by means of learning various skills required for processing mass media messages. Understanding the importance of media literacy is extremely important, but considering its implementation in the system, it involves transhumanist aspects that contradict the mere essence of literacy. The paper deals with a review and a consideration of changes in behaviour patterns when using digital technologies, as well as a presentation of the often invisible links between the commercialization of content and the expected responses of users.

Critical thinking evaluation in reflective writing: Development and testing of Carter Assessment of Critical Thinking in Midwifery (Reflection)

On the reliability of historic books as sources of reference samples of early synthetic dyes – The case of “The Coal Tar Colours of the Farbwerke vorm. Meister, Lucius & Brüning, Höchst on the Main, Germany – A General Part” (1896)

Higher education faces increasing demands to develop students' ethical, creative, and emotional capabilities alongside academic mastery. While the World Economic Forum identifies critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, and moral judgment as essential future workforce skills, most university curricula remain compartmentalized, prioritizing cognitive over affective and aesthetic domains. Current educational approaches lack empirically validated frameworks that systematically integrate moral development with artistic learning in digitally enhanced environments. This study designed, implemented, and evaluated an integrated moral-art curriculum module to foster undergraduate students' moral reasoning, creative thinking, and aesthetic sensitivity through blended learning approaches. Using Design and Development Research guided by the ADDIE instructional model, a quasi-experimental pre-post study was conducted with 50 undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds across four institution types. The 12-week module combined synchronous classroom instruction with asynchronous digital learning via the Learning Pass platform. Outcomes were assessed through validated pre-post questionnaires and computational linguistic analysis using LIWC and Coh-Metrix tools. Significant improvements occurred across all domains: moral reasoning increased 35.5% (Cohen's d = 0.91), creative thinking rose 32.3%, and aesthetic sensitivity improved 41.4% (d = 0.85). Linguistic analysis revealed enhanced lexical diversity (+16.4%), academic vocabulary (+41.5%), and empathy markers (+42.1%), with reduced anxiety language (−18.2%). Strong inter-domain correlations confirmed the integrated pedagogical framework's theoretical viability. Results provide empirical support for scalable, digitally enhanced interdisciplinary curricula uniting moral and artistic education in higher education contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to describe various “tools” we use to facilitate critical reflection as we teach prospective science teachers. The notion of “tools” refers to materials and experiences used to facilitate prospective teachers’ critical reflection on science teaching and learning. Reflective tools are not intrusive devices used by instructors to analyse mechanically what prospective teachers are learning; rather, these tools are intended to provide prospective teachers with the means to generate and critique their own views of science teaching and learning. Each tool is described herein with respect to its potential use and the way in which it is introduced to prospective science teachers. We conclude with discussion of the potential for reflective tools to contribute to research on reform of science teacher education, with particular attention to primary teacher preparation.