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The main goal of this study is to understand the teacher's thoughts and action when he/she is immersed in the activity of teaching. To do so, it describes the procedures used to model two teachers' practice with respect to the topic of Plant Diversity. Starting from a consideration of the theoretical constructs of script, routine and improvisation, this modelling basically corresponds to a microanalysis of the teacher's beliefs, goals and knowledge, as highlighted in the classroom activity. From the process of modelling certain theorisations emerge, corresponding to abstractions gained from concrete cases. They allow us to foreground strong relationships between the beliefs and actions, and the knowledge and objectives of the teacher in action. Envisaged as conjectures rather than generalisations, these abstractions could possibly be extended to other cases, and tested out with new case studies, questioning their formulation or perhaps demonstrating that the limits of their applicability do not go beyond the original cases.

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.

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.

Abstract:Awareness of teacher scripts is of crucial importance to reflection on practice, and represents one means of widening the scope of classroom performance. The first part of this work provides a detailed description of three scripts employed by a novice science teacher within the topic of The Structure of Flowers, and illustrates the process by which they were derived through a Modelling Instrument. In the second part, the relationships between beliefs and actions are explored through tree diagrams. Finally, there is a discussion of how entrenched scripts may act as obstacles to professional development. Key words:Teacher's beliefs and actions, Modelling instrument, Scripts, Science Teaching, Tree diagrams Theoretical frameworkTo understand teaching is to understand the teacher's thinking and practice (Shulman 1986), and this is fullest when these two domains, thinking and practice, are studied together and examined in relation to each other (Clark & Peterson 1986).Several approaches are available to the researcher in this respect. Modelling teaching (Schoenfeld 1998, AUTHOR 1 2006, AUTHOR et al. 2007, for example, focuses on the teacher's cognitions (beliefs, knowledge, goals) and actions. Schoenfeld (1998) believes that if, in a specific context, there is a good comprehension of the beliefs, goals and knowledge underlying a teacher's decisions and actions, then a coherent and detailed explanation of what that teacher did and why can be achieved. He proposes an instrument composed of three columns, the first specifying information about goals, knowledge and beliefs, along with the triggering and terminating events of each episode, the second providing an overview of the teacher's actions from a general perspective, and the final column giving a very detailed description of each action performed by the teacher. This paper presents an instance of such modelling through the application of a Modelling Instrument (MI) (AUTHOR 1 2006, AUTHOR 1 et al. 2007, 2008a, derived from adaptations to Schoenfeld (1998aSchoenfeld ( ,b, 2000, in addition to studies by Aguirre and Speer (1999), Schoenfeld et al. (2000), Zimmerlin and Nelson (2000), Sherin et al. (2000), Shulman (1986Shulman ( , 1987, AUTHOR 2 (1998), Climent (2002), Cañal (2004 and Santos (1991). The adaptations to Schoenfeld's instrument take two forms. On the one hand, the first column takes into account different dimensions relating to the teacher's knowledge. On the other, the second and third columns are conflated into one, as the focus of the paper is on the identification of meaningful action sequences and the context which produces them, rather than the accumulated minutiae of each brief action. This adaptation will be implemented in section three.Through the application of the MI, a wide variety of scripts, routines and improvisations employed by a novice teacher was detailed, in respect of the topic Plant Diversity, of which three scripts are presented here by way of example, along with one routine and one improvisation, all sharing the theme T...

Apresentam-se os resultados da investigação desenvolvida em salas de aulas portuguesas de 3º e 6º ano que identificam as dimensões que integram o conhecimento dos tópicos (conteúdo), do professor, ensinando reprodução das plantas. Para o efeito realizaram-se gravações em vídeo e áudio. A informação foi tratada com análise de conteúdo e contrastada com a literatura existente numa perspectiva metodológica de Top-down Bottom-up. Foram identificados cinco aspetos de diferentes naturezas, relacionadas com o conhecimento dos tópicos. i)conceitos da biologia e de exemplos associados; ii)leis, princípios e teorias da biologia; iii)procedimentos e técnicas de observação em biologia; iv)modelos relacionados com o conceito da biologia e v)factos e fenômenos biológicos.

A prática dos professores pode ser encarada sob distintas perspectivas, sendo uma delas a cognitiva. Apresentamos um modelo que, partindo da prática dos professores, nos permite analisar que cognições se encontram em jogo enquanto estes se encontram imersos na sua prática e também de que forma essas cognições se relacionam e qual o seu papel no processo de ensino. A elaboração de um tal modelo permite-nos simplificar algo tão complexo como o processo de ensino. Neste artigo apresentamos o processo de construção desse modelo, numa aula do 4.º ano do primeiro ciclo em que a professora efectua uma revisão dialogada das diferenças entre quadrados e rectângulos relativamente à medida e nome dos lados. Do modelo ressaltam as cognições evidenciadas pela professora, bem como as relações entre estas e as acções que executa. Terminamos discutindo possíveis implicações do uso deste modelo na formação inicial e contínua de professores.Palavras-chave Modelo de ensino; Cognições; Prática lectiva; Matemática A sala de aula pode ser encarada sob diversas perspectivas e recorrendo a distintos focos de interesse (Esteban, 2006), sendo um deles o

En este trabajo se presentan dos guiones de acción de un profesor novel obtenidos al modelizar su enseñanza. Para esto, se recurre a un instrumento de modelización (IM) que permite caracterizar detalladamente las creencias, objetivos y conocimientos activados prioritariamente en el contexto específico de la clase de ciencias y las acciones implementadas por el profesor, interactuando conjuntamente. El guión de acción es una entidadad teórica que permite capturar e interpretar los aspectos del pensamiento del profesor, a veces los aspectos más tácitos de la enseñanza, como las creencias, conocimientos y objetivos en la acción y, por otro lado, comprender cómo estas cogniciones interactúan entre sí en un contexto particular. El guión de acción se corresponde con una secuencia de acciones implementada por el profesor y reconocida como estandarizada, rutinizada y con dependencia del contenido conceptual de ciencias. Finalmente, se apuntan algunas aplicaciones de los guiones de acción en actividades relacionadas con la reflexión sobre la práctica docente.