Mediation Tools Research Articles

Ensinar e aprender ciências: processos dialeticamente mediados pelas interações em aula

Resumo: Apresentamos recorte de pesquisa-ação acerca das interações dialógicas em aulas de Ciências do 9º ano do Ensino Fundamental que foram vídeo-gravadas, transcritas e analisadas, segundo a “Teoria das Interações Discursivas” de Bakhtin, utilizando-se do conceito de enunciação como categoria analítica. O objetivo geral da pesquisa consiste em reconhecer como ocorrem as relações de mediação em sala de aula e como se dá a construção conceitual dos estudantes, imersos em processos ativos e mediados. Para este artigo, objetiva-se, especificamente, apresentar e discutir resultados parciais em termos das categorias analíticas – matematização do conteúdo e conflito entre modelos explicativos – as quais demonstraram os indícios de significação conceitual ocorridos no decurso das interações discursivas mediadas pelas diferentes formas de linguagem. Estabeleceu-se como hipótese de pesquisa que, a partir da escuta atenta às manifestações dos estudantes, imersos em processos interativos de aprender, é possível legitimá-las como mediações operativas no processo pedagógico. O caminho da investigação consistiu em identificar os fenômenos de interesse dos estudantes motivados pelos diálogos interativos ocorridos no contexto da aula, como ferramentas de mediação cognitiva e inseri-las no curso de novas interações conceituais e contextuais. Os resultados apresentados dão indícios de elaborações conceituais, pelos estudantes que ressignificam dialogicamente os fenômenos em estudo via linguagem científica, produzindo aprendizagens mediadas no ato pedagógico. Aprendizagens são percebidas em termos da evolução do perfil conceitual, em que os conhecimentos científicos, dentre outros, elaborados pelos estudantes, dialogicamente confirmam a hipótese de pesquisa. Palavras-chave: Enunciação. Conceitos científicos. Linguagem.

La francophonie en contexte FLE : Littérature et éducation interculturelle

Despite institutional recommendations, particularly those of the Council of Europe, advocating the development of plurilingual and pluricultural skills in language teaching, the contemporary context is characterised by the increasing development of identity-related tensions and by the enclosure in representations of languages and cultures. In this context, the learning of FFL (French as a Foreign Language) by the French-speaking world is a means of valuing cultural and linguistic variation and thus challenging a purely French vision of French, in order to overcome the stereotypes transmitted both by teaching materials and by teachers and reproduced by learners. It is therefore a question of restoring to the concepts of otherness and intercultural education their full meaning, which is today diluted, even betrayed, by a global approach that reduces the complexity of the encounter with the other. In this context, French-language literature appears to be a privileged tool for intercultural mediation because it presents an experience of linguistic and cultural plurality and allows the learner to live this experience himself, provided that the teacher implements a genuine didactic approach to involvement. Three examples are presented, from level A2 to C2, from works by contemporary French-speaking authors - including migrant literature. We attempt to show how a didactic approach to French-language literature at the service of intercultural education can mobilise the subjectivity of the learner and enable him/her to meet the subjectivity of the author on the one hand, and that of other learners on the other. The FFL class thus becomes the place where a community of readers develops, with universal and singular paths, and where intersubjectivity is experimented. The proposed examples show how the literary approach can reveal subjectivity, linguistic and cultural plurality, and also present universal and shared figures and principles. In this way, it fights against the enclosure and essentialisation of identity, and closes the gap between us and others. It enables the implementation of a dialogue between individuals and cultures, but also within each individual, who thus discovers that he or she is plural.

Formación de mediadores escolares en territorios de conflicto armado: el caso de la Escuela Normal Superior de La Cruz-Nariño

El presente estudio, realizado en el año 2019, tuvo como objetivo establecer lineamientos para la formación de mediadores en resolución de conflictos escolares en zonas de conflicto armado. Se llevó a cabo en la Escuela Normal Superior de Mayo, ubicada en el municipio de La Cruz, departamento de Nariño (Colombia), con el cuarto semestre del ciclo complementario (normalistas), compuesto por 35 estudiantes, entre ellos 17 hombres y 18 mujeres, que oscilan entre los 18 y 24 años de edad. La investigación estuvo orientada bajo un paradigma cualitativo, de tipo etnográfico, en el cual se aplicaron entrevistas, encuestas y talleres con miembros de la comunidad educativa, las cuales fueron procesadas por el software Atlas.ti 8. Los resultados versan sobre la necesidad de contemplar la mediación escolar como eje estructural del ejercicio educativo en contextos de conflicto armado. Las conclusiones dejan en evidencia que el conocimiento de herramientas de mediación escolar, por parte de los normalistas, les permite solucionar de manera pacífica y eficaz, los conflictos escolares, y a la vez, posibilitar una convivencia más amena coadyuvando a la reconstrucción del tejido social.

WhatsApp Messenger as a Mediating Tool in Times of COVID-19 for Enhancing Student Engagement in e-Tutorials at a Rural South African University

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in myriad of predicaments in societies around the world. These predicaments include plummeting economies, access to technological resources, and access to quality teaching and learning in higher education institutions. This paper is couched in critical emancipatory research with emphasis on emancipation of rural students in the new normal that has emerged because of COVID -19 pandemic. Participatory Action Research was used as a research approach to collect data through WhatsApp Messenger where the discussions were centred on two questions which are; what are the experiences of students on the use of WhatsApp by tutors and how can learning using WhatsApp enhance students’ engagement? The findings of this study suggest that students were having difficulties with engaging in online tutorials. These challenges include inadequate access to technological devices, skills and competencies in using technological tools, network connectivity challenges, and low levels of engagement. The paper ends by arguing that there is need for the universities to invest in emancipating tutors, availing digital devices to rural students to enhance teaching and learning as well as reducing city and rural divide in South Africa.

MEDIATION IN BUSINESS: PROBLEMS OF EFFECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Wide application of mediation in the sphere of business activity is aimed at creating and implementing an effective model for resolving economic disputes. An important aspect in this area is the possibility of using effective non-judicial (so-called alternative) tools provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation. It seems that mediation will become very widespread in the settlement of business disputes during the crisis processes in the Russian economy and socio-medical sphere. The article analyzes some of the features of legal regulation and the possibility of using mediation in business, identifies current problems of the theory and practice of application. It is argued that the potential of mediation in resolving disputes in the field of business is quite large, but there are a number of problems that prevent the wider dissemination of this procedure. Today, business entities rarely make their own decisions to seek mediation to resolve conflicts. The formation in Russia of mediation tools in the field of economic dispute resolution as an alternative procedure for resolving conflicts with the participation of a mediator (media tor) has undoubtedly become a progressive factor in the evolution of business law.

Os vestígios da memória na frequência do Rádio: O MEB e suas releituras atuais.

O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar a experiência de uma modalidade de educação remota na cidade de Caicó, estado do Rio Grande do Norte, EJA em Ação, na excepcionalidade de distanciamento social ocasionado pela pandemia de Covid-19. Com a necessidade do isolamento social, a comunidade escolar é desafiada a proporcionar uma “continuidade” da relação professor e aluno em outros espaços não escolares. Como exercício comparativo, tomar-se-á a experiência histórica na década de 1960, a instalação da Emissora de Educação Rural, com a implantação do Movimento de Educação de Base – MEB e o uso do rádio como elemento mediador do ensino-aprendizagem. Foi através das ondas do rádio que as informações sobre saúde, evangelização e educação chegaram até as residências de grande parte da população caicoense. Os vestígios dessa memória, de uma educação através do rádio, é um dos fios condutores da releitura das escolas radiofônicas nos tempos atuais. A metodologia aplicada se dará através da análise da discussão dos “lugares de memória” de Pierre Nora, do rádio como mediador e ferramenta pedagógica no ensino e a análise das publicações nos meios de comunicação sobre o Projeto EJA em Ação, realizando exercício comparativo entre as temporalidades do Movimento de Educação de Base – MEB e o Projeto EJA em Ação na cidade de Caicó.. Palavras-chave: MEB; Memória; Rádio; Educação, Projeto EJA em Ação; Caicó.

Multimodal input during technology-assisted teacher instruction and English learner's learning experience

ABSTRACT The proliferation of educational technologies has had a profound impact on the dynamics of education and has raised questions regarding how the nature of teaching and learning should be conceptualized. This study explores how the use of technology mediates class interaction, shapes class discourse, and supports the English learners’ language development. This study's findings show that technology worked as a mediational tool in the classroom to influence class interactions and student learning experience. The study also draws our attention to the important role of the teacher in orchestrating multimodal interactions and providing learners with clear intentions of multiple modes and with necessary linguistic scaffolding, suggesting that teachers should be mindful of the role that social interactions play in achieving an intended pedagogical purpose with the use of computer tools.

Supplemental Material for The Impact of Measurement Error and Omitting Confounders on Statistical Inference of Mediation Effects and Tools for Sensitivity Analysis

Supplemental Material for The Impact of Measurement Error and Omitting Confounders on Statistical Inference of Mediation Effects and Tools for Sensitivity Analysis

Museum-university collaboration to renew mediation in art and historical heritage. The case of the Museo de Navarra

We present an action research project in which a university and a regional museum of art and historical heritage collaborate. The objective of this project has been to design and develop a mediation plan and its interpretation resources. First, a description is provided of the historical context of the debate regarding the educational function of the museum and mediation actions for the interpretation of art. Next, we present the theoretical principles on which our approach to mediation in museums is based and explain the two phases of the action research project. Initially, an investigation of the mediation tools offered by the museum is carried out. Next, a description is provided of how the conclusions drawn are materialized in the “All Art is Contemporary” project that renews part of the permanent exhibition and that offers accessible, rigorous, pluralistic and stimulating mediation/interpretation resources (gallery text, museum labels, etc.) that allow visitors to participate in the discourse that the museum proposes, turning it into a site of social interaction, a negotiation of meaning and an encounter between different sensibilities and identities. In short, it is a tool for continuous and critical civic education.

Contested pasts, complicated presents: Pre-service teachers’ developing conceptions of community

To prepare pre-service teachers to work with diverse student populations, many teacher educators have developed community-engaged projects. This study analyzes data collected from pre-service teachers in the U. S. South as they completed a community-engaged project, where they spent time learning about the community, created a virtual tour, and revised a lesson plan to align with the information gained. The project is offered as a mediational tool contributing to pre-service teachers’ conceptions of community and teaching. Findings suggest that pre-service teachers need explicit instruction about how to analyze communities and opportunities to learn with community members during teacher education.

Prácticas artísticas en contextos de salud comunitaria: cinco experiencias de arte y salud en los Centros Municipales de Salud Comunitaria de Madrid

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo describir y valorar la utilidad de los procesos creativos y las prácticas artísticas como herramientas mediadoras en la promoción de la salud comunitaria. Para ello, se narran cinco experiencias concretas que tienen lugar dentro del marco de colaboración del Organismo Autónomo de Madrid Salud, del Ayuntamiento de Madrid y la Facultad de Bellas Artes de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Esta colaboración se materializa en el proyecto Arte y Salud con el propósito de desarrollar procesos de investigación basada en las artes en los Centros Municipales de Salud Comunitaria (CMSc). De esta manera, el arte y los artistas se configuran como agentes activos en la salud comunitaria, proporcionando herramientas y metodologías. A partir de estas experiencias, han surgido una serie de reflexiones interesantes en relación a las aportaciones de diferentes metodologías en este ámbito, a las cuestiones que tienen en común las diferentes experiencias desarrolladas a pesar de que tienen lugar en diferentes contextos, al papel del arte como mediador en la promoción de la salud y al rol del profesional del arte en el trabajo en la salud comunitaria para lograr sus objetivos de promoción de la salud integral. En definitiva, este texto se transforma en una apuesta por la consolidación del profesional de arte en contextos de salud comunitaria.

SCULPTURE3D, du projet de laboratoire à l’exposition numérique

The SCULPTURE3D research project is a collaborative and multidisciplinary laboratory experiment financed by the Centre-Val de Loire region between 2014 and 2018, which aims to explore what 3D brings to the study of sculpture and to interpret the region’s heritage of sculptures from the Renaissance Era. It is an association between researchers from the University of Tours, working with the Centre d’etudes superieures de la Renaissance (CESR) and with the Fundamental and Applied Computer Science of Tours (LIFAT), and various heritage institutions (DRAC Centre, Museum of Fine Arts of Tours, CMN, Château de Blois…) as well as a team of experts on innovative softwares (CETU ILIAD3), and the new small business Kulturae’com, two innovative entities who got their start through that project. The thirty digital objects created with the help of a 3D optical scanner is the first key part of a virtual museum of 3D sculptures from the Renaissance Era in the Val de Loire, intended both for researchers and the general public. Similarly, the Sculpturoscope, la Vierge a l’Enfant du reel au virtuel meta-exposition (at the Museum of Fine Arts of Tours, from May 25th to September 10th 2018) made the results of scientific research available to the general public by using digital medias as both a tool of investigation and mediation.

“Does it have to be a real story?” A social semiotic assessment of an emergent writer

ABSTRACTStandardized writing assessments based in linear progressions position teachers for deficit views of young children’s emergent writing development. Consequently, the researcher video recorded a writing assessment of his son, Daniel, at age 5 years, 4 months, as he composed a story across pages of a blank book, using an assortment of writing tools. Data sources included the transcription of the writing session and Daniel’s final product. The researcher first used open coding then coding based in systemic functional linguistics. Based in ecological and social semiotic perspectives, the researcher shows how Daniel’s writing development was expressed interpersonally, with the emerging text functioning as mediational tool. Findings show Daniel’s emergent sense of self as a writer, the role of the adult facilitator, and the dynamics of interaction and dialectic of Daniel’s internalization process. As formative assessment, next steps in instruction are suggested. The author discusses the necessities of closely observing and supporting young children’s composing process and the imperative of a developmental assets perspective when assessing young children’s writing, with implications for policy, teacher education, teaching, and research.

When the Place Matters: Moving the Classroom Into a Museum to Re-design a Public Space.

In this case-report we describe an experience where alternative places – rather than the classroom – are exploited to implement learning processes. We maintain that this experience is a good example of materiality because it focuses on a project where students had the opportunity to re-design a public space. To this aim, various objects and tools are used to support discussions and exchanges with new stakeholders. Our theoretical vision combines Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s tradition with an innovative framework called the Trialogical Learning Approach (TLA). From such theoretical background an idea of materiality emerges, that refers to material in combination with the social relationships developed around the material. Our case-report concerns a participatory project run by Rete Dialogues, a national school network focusing on global citizenship education. Our research question is: how can this project highlight the connection between the TLA and socio-materiality? Since 2017, around 200 students (age 7–16) and 20 teachers from different schools have been engaged in tackling the degradation of an important square in Rome. The project – “Dialogues in the Square” (DiS) was developed with several stakeholders that contributed to the understanding of critical issues influencing the maintenance of the square, in the perspective of planning, and possibly implementing improvements proposed by students. Crucial is the cooperation with two important urban art projects: (i) the pilot-project MACRO-ASILO, run by the MACRO museum in Rome and aimed at connecting the world of art with the city life; (ii) the “building sites” of the Rome Rebirth Forum, inspired by the world-known artist Michelangelo Pistoletto’s “third paradise” methodology, that encourages responsibility and action taking on sustainability through art. Drawing on data collected through direct observations and video recordings, we aim to show and make sense of the connection between the TLA and socio-materiality, highlighting three key elements: the flexible use of mediation tools, the overcoming of the dichotomy between individual and collective learning through reflection, and the re-shaping of social practices.

Flouting International Law; The Future of International Mediation

The establishment of the United Nations in 1945 was a major step towards the promotion of international harmony and peaceful conflict resolution. The UN charter, the Geneva Convention and several conventions in this regard helped strengthen the legitimacy of international law and subsequent international mediation. International law, providing the rules of conduct for inter-state relations, is a viable tool for international mediation. However, due to the unequal distribution of power at the international level, there has always been a disregard towards international law by major powers and that has been a major challenge and its effective implementation. The real challenge lies in bringing a transformation in the international legal structure for effective conflict resolution. This paper will attempt to critically evaluate the structural drawbacks and lack of efficiency of the international institutions regarding peaceful conflict resolution and mediation while putting forth recommendations for the betterment of international mediation to promote international peace.

Non-enforcement as a tool of mediation in pluralistic societies

This paper addresses the question of why states enforce certain legal rules but not others. While systematic non-enforcement of laws is considered undesirable in a positivist sense, this article perceives non-enforcement as a deliberate tool of mediation. Arguing that laws can regulate social behaviour beyond their literal application, non-enforcement can become a mechanism to mediate between contradicting legal orders that coexist in the same socio-legal space. A case study of non-enforcement of Sharia legal codes in northern Nigeria illustrates my argument. I seek to explain why certain Sharia provisions are carried out, while others remain systematically unenforced despite sophisticated enforcement mechanisms. Through expert interviews and an interpretative media analysis, I claim that this is the result of a compromise in order to mediate between Sharia Law on the one hand and secular Common Law on the other. Despite undesirable side effects, non-enforcement has so far guaranteed stability around the highly sensitive issue in Nigeria. My data furthermore suggests that we have to look beyond the literal enforcement of laws in order to understand their social meaning and how they influence behaviour.

Costume Play and Young Adults\u2019 Socio-Economic Insertion Pathways in Japan

This article shows how young adults’ cultural practices in Japan have become a social trajectory whose study is essential to understanding the life journeys of youths. Costume play, or kosupure, is a form of popular culture mediation that facilitates young people’s social integration and fosters their sense of belonging. Studying these practices helps to better understand and define the changing importance of leisure in Japan in young people’s lives, in particular since the collapse of the economic bubble. Based on life stories and participant observation, we analyze the interweaving of these leisure practices and life courses. Our analysis helps to understand the symbolic and social roles of these activities in practitioners’ lives in the form of three pathway types. On the professional path, young people’s cultural practices open doors to employment. On the enchanted path, kosupure practices function above all in “response” to a society perceived by some young adults as “conformist”. On the contingency path, these practices facilitate social insertion. To conclude, we discuss these practices as cultural mediation tools that support young people’s cultural citizenship.

Subunit-specific effects of poricoic acid A on NMDA receptors.

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is a tetrameric protein complex composed of glycine-linked NR1 subunits and glutamate-linked NR2 subunits. There are four NR2 subunits (A-D) that differ in development, anatomy, and function profiles. They play various roles in normal and neuropathologic conditions. Specific agonists, antagonists, and modulators of subunits for selective NMDA receptors may be precious mediational tools and potent agents for treating diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of poricoic acid A on NMDA receptor known to mediate excitatory synaptic transmission factors and cause changes in synaptic strength. Inhibitory effect of poricoic acid A on NR1a combined with NR2A, NR2B, NR2C, or NR2D receptor was evaluated. Glutamate-mediated currents for each NR1a and NR2 subunits were investigated using two-electrode voltage-clamp techniques. Molecular modeling and molecular dynamics simulation studies were carried out with Autodock Tools. Poricoic acid A and NMDA receptor protein complex were examined with Ligplot and Pymol docking program. Ligplot shows binding activity at the protein and the ligand. The inhibitory effect of poricoic acid A on glutamate-induced inward current in a concentration-dependent manner that was reversible. Half inhibitory concentrations of glutamate on NR1a/NR2A, NR1a/NR2B, NR1a/NR2C, and NR1a/NR2D receptors were 9.6 ± 1.2, 5.7 ± 0.4, 46.1 ± 21.5, and 21.5 ± 8.2μM, respectively. This corresponded to the order of inhibitory effect of oocyte expressing NR1a and NR2s subunit of NR1a/NR2B > NR1a/NR2A > NR1a/NR2C > NR1a/NR2D. Taken together, these results indicate that poricoic acid A can modulate the expression of NMDA receptor. In addition, the regulation of excitatory ligand-gating ion channel by poricoic acid A may have pharmaceutical functions on excitatory synaptic transmission of neuronal system.

“Symbolic Mediation” in Alphabetical Processes: Cultural Heritages, Territories and Multiliteracies

The contribution addresses the problem of the relationship between patrimonies, territories, multiliteracies. In it, culture is basically understood as a process of symbolic elaboration of stimuli, objects and cultural experiences that contribute to building the cultural, alphabetic and identity profile of the individual, as well as his personal and social experience. The cultural heritage, as a diversified set of forms, refers to a symbolic universe that must be made accessible to everyone through special mediation tools, which can give continuity and meaning to the experiences of use. The article reflects on how it is possible to construct meanings starting from the symbolic elaboration that the individual puts in place and from the experiences in which he is immersed. The experience of use is in fact an opportunity that must be guaranteed to everyone, since it is the foundation of the interpretative universe that serves to read reality in depth. It is a question here of the importance for the individual of accessing a symbolic universe through which he interprets and relates to the world and the various cultural forms. At a time when literacy processes have widened their boundaries becoming multiple (multilteracies), there is a specific need for a pedagogy of the heritage that knows how to correspond to the emerging alphabetic needs typical of a society in transformation and increasingly technological and which looks to cultural and museum heritage as tools to access the profound meaning that culture expresses.

Implementation of mediation tools in public administration practice

Implementation of mediation tools in public administration practice