Questões

The Role of Museums in Education

Museums provide knowledge and inspiration, while also connecting communities. At a time of economic recovery, and in the run-up to the Olympics, they are more important than ever. Museums and galleries deliver world-class public services which offer individuals and families free and inspiring places to visit and things to do. Museums attract audiences from home and abroad. Museums provide the places and resources to which people turn for information and learning. They care for the legacy of the past while creating a legacy for the future.

Museums are uniquely egalitarian spaces. Whether you are rich, poor, or uniquely-abled, the museum door is always an open welcome. A sense of history and beauty, gifts from our cultural heritage, inspires the ordinary soul into extraordinary possibilities. They bind communities together, giving them heart, hope and resilience. They make a vital contribution to international relations and play a unique role in fostering international cultural exchange. If life was just about earning to eat, we'd be depleted and tired. Museums bring to life the opportunity to experience meaning beyond the mundane. Museums make the soul sing!

The most visible and expected offerings of a museum are its exhibitions. Exhibitions tell stories through objects. In a world where virtual experiences are ever increasing, museums provide tangible encounters with real objects.

What does looking at a crystal clear specimen of beryl, a vertebrate fossil emerging from its plaster jacket, or the flag that flew over Inge Lehman's seismological observatory provide in an educational sense? Some professionals maintain that the visceral reaction of wonder, awe or curiosity – the affective response of the viewer – is the enduring legacy of a museum visit. It opens the door to the visitor's mind, engaging them in a discipline that perhaps failed to interest them through other means, and might inspire them to learn more. Furthermore, the social context of a museum visit, where exploration occurs in a friendly atmosphere without the pressure of tests and grades, helps keep that door open.

Curators and educators also aspire to engage the rational mind of the viewer. A mineral collected in the field and displayed in the museum is out of its original context, but thoughtful juxtaposition of the mineral with other objects helps the visitor make new connections. Exhibit labels or a knowledgeable docent leading a tour not only inform directly, but also guide visitors in making their own observations of the object. Hands-on displays combined with objects can provide forceful connections – an “aha!” experience for the visitor. Alan J. Friedman, the former director of the New York Hall of Science, recounts a watershed experience during a 1970 museum visit in which a model telescope that the could touch and adjust brought to life the meaning of the antique telescope.

Museums are the world's great learning resource – they introduce new subjects, bring them alive and give them meaning. Learning in museums improves confidence and attainment: it also opens us to the views of our fellow citizens. Museum collections and the knowledge of museum professionals inspire learning. As the world around us changes, museums and galleries promote awareness of the critical questions of place, humanity, science and innovation.

Adaptado dos sites: http://tle.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/reprint/26/10/1322.pdf e http://www.nationalmuseums.org.uk/media/documents/what_we_do_documents/museums_deliver_full.pdf, pp. 3-4

Read text I and answer questions 41 to 55:

Text I

Technology for children in the classroom

Attitudes to technology

Many people are afraid of new technology, and, with the

increasing presence of the Internet and computers, the term

technophobe has appeared to refer to those of us who might

5 be wary of these new developments. More recently, the term

digital native has been invented to refer to someone who

grows up using technology, and who therefore feels

comfortable and confident with it – typically today’s children.

Their parents, on the other hand, tend to be digital

10 immigrants, who have come late to the world of technology, if

at all. In many cases, teachers are the digital immigrants and

our younger students are the digital natives.

What about you? How confident do you feel about using

the Internet and computers? Although there is a tendency to

15 call computer users either technophobes or technogeeks (a

term for a technology enthusiast), the truth is that most of us

probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.

Technology and young learners

Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely

20 on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have — the

preference for visually presented information. Television,

movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually

oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of

young children.

25 The problem with this is that many of the modern

technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not

provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial

emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they

require when they are young.

30 On the other hand, there are many positive qualities to

modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young

children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow

the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and

independent thinking skills.

35 Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace

and activity and make things happen on computers. They can

also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.

In practice, computers supplement and do not replace highly

valued early childhood activities and materials, such as art,

40 blocks, sand, water, books, exploration with writing materials,

and dramatic play. Research indicates that computers can be

used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to

children and also can be misused, just as any tool can.

Developmentally appropriate software offers opportunities for

45 collaborative play, learning, and creation. Educators must use

professional judgment in evaluating and using this learning tool

appropriately, applying the same criteria they would to any

other learning tool or experience.

Char Soucy (a primary school teacher) mentions: "Reading

50 books, handling real books, learning to take care of books,

turning pages, and interacting with human beings about

literature are still vital for learning to read." There are

electronic books, but they are really not the same thing as real

books. There must be a balance between the two. Computers

55 are highly motivating to today's students, who come to school

with plenty of visual stimulation from TV, video games, and

other technological sources, but it is not a good idea to go all

electronic or to let technology replace what teachers have

done for a long time with learning how to read or write.

(Retrieved and adapted from http://pearsonclassroomlink.com /articles/0711/0711_0102.htm on June 10th, 2014)

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

Brazil’s Average Unemployment Rate Falls to Record Low in 2012

By Dow Jones Business News

January 31, 2013

    Brazil’s unemployment rate for 2012 fell to 5.5%, down from the previous record low of 6.0% recorded last year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Thursday. In December, unemployment fell to 4.6% compared with 4.9% in November, besting the previous record monthly low of 4.7% registered in December 2011, the IBGE said.

    The 2012 average unemployment rate was in line with the 5.5% median estimate of economists polled by the local Estado news agency. Analysts had also pegged December’s unemployment rate at 4.4%.

    Brazil’s unemployment rate remains at historically low levels despite sluggish economic activity. Salaries have also been on the upswing in an ominous sign for inflation – a key area of concern for the Brazilian Central Bank after a series of interest rate cuts brought local interest rates to record lows last year. Inflation ended 2012 at 5.84%.

    The average monthly Brazilian salary retreated slightly to 1,805.00 Brazilian reais ($908.45) in December, down from the record high BRL1,809.60 registered in November, the IBGE said. Wages trended higher in 2012 as employee groups called on Brazilian companies and the government to increase wages and benefits to counter higher local prices. Companies were also forced to pay more to hire and retain workers because of the country’s low unemployment.

    The IBGE measures unemployment in six of Brazil’s largest metropolitan areas, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Porto Alegre. Brazil’s unemployment rate, however, is not fully comparable to jobless rates in developed countries as a large portion of the population is either underemployed or works informally without paying taxes. In addition, workers not actively seeking a job in the month before the survey don’t count as unemployed under the IBGE’s methodology. The survey also doesn’t take into account farm workers.

(www.nasdaq.com. Adaptado)

Instruções: As questões de números 41 a 44 referem-se ao texto abaixo.

Industry gets the floor: Developing future Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management Systems (ATFCM)

One of the key SESAR projects in the area of Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management Systems (ATFCM) is Project 13.1.4, managed by Dominique Latgé, from Thales. He explained how the project will enable industry to contribute to future ATFCM systems through SESAR.

The project addresses the evolution of the Network Information Management System (NIMS) from a centralised regional system to a more collaborative and distributed system based on the Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs). One of its objectives is to help the transformation of the current regional CFMU system into marketable technical solutions for the subregional and local levels.

Project 13.1.4 also aims to define the collaborative decision making processes needed by this new organisation of the network. Driven by the new roles and responsibilities at the different levels (regional, sub-regional and local), the project ensures that each actor will find the right information at the right time to take the right decision.

Industry gets the floor

Project 13.1.4 is led by industry. Industry contributors will use the knowledge and experience they have developed in other parts of the world and with Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) at a local level in Europe.

Thales will use experience from work with South Africa’s air traffic & navigation system, where they helped to specify, develop and validate a sub-regional system for ...[A]... : CAMU (South Africa Central Airspace Management Unit). Indra, one of the other project partners, will use knowledge gained from work with Aena on local short term prediction tools and airspace management tools.

The project raises many questions, such as what products are needed inside Europe and at FAB level? What do we need to take into account for areas outside Europe?

The position of manufacturing industry in SESAR projects, in particular in system projects related to air traffic control (WP 10), airports (WP 12) and SWIM (WP 14), makes it a strong technical enabler for information sharing.

(Adaptado de Sesar Magazine, N. 6, Junho 2011, p. 6)