Education and Human Processes for Social Transformations

Education and Human Processes for Social Transformations

This proposal integrates the research areas of the Graduate Programs related to the Humanities at UFSCar and other interfacing areas. Its general goal is to develop research that bridges knowledge gaps, maximizing experiences abroad to understand and face both local and global reality challenges and, at the same time, to build complementarity that reduces asymmetries between both parts and increases knowledge through mutual contributions from different competences of the national and international partner institutions. The proposal has an innovative character both regarding its theme and its approach, seeking to consolidate priority areas as well as boosting areas with international potential. This is reflected in the composition of competitive subtopics which may be inserted into research fields attractive to international interest. This will allow the construction of a research and knowledge production network at postgraduate level that is aligned with the institution's competences and with central issues in Brazilian society: knowledge production and scientific dissemination; new epistemologies of science in the training of scientists; equity in access to education and knowledge; policies, educational organization and inclusion; development and evaluation of educational, instructional and teaching technologies. These topics refer to trends in Brazilian public policies and are aligned with the objectives set for education, science and social technologies. The objective is to produce and disseminate innovative solutions, as well as to create indicators to elaborate and to base public policies that guarantee inclusion, considering socioeconomic and cultural aspects and the improvement in the quality of life of the population. The proposal is aligned with the Brazilian public policy which states: “Universities and research institutions must be encouraged to incorporate the social dimension to their research agenda, to promote citizenship formation; further integration of Social and Human Sciences to Brazilian public policies must be pursued.” (Estratégia Nacional de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação 2016/2022, p. 98s). The proposal implementation will contribute to UFSCar’s advance towards internationalization actions either ongoing or those yet to be institutionalized.

 

UFSCar PrInt Capes - Education and Human Processes for Social Transformations UFSCar PrInt Capes - Educação e Processos Humanos Para as Transformações Sociais

  

Topics

  1. Science production and communication (scientific culture, social rooting of science): knowledge transfer, information technology, development of educational computer games
  2. New science epistemologies in the training of scientists; science popularization and education
  3. Equity of access to teaching and knowledge (ethnic and racial relations, gender, sexualities, social class, accessibility, special education)
  4. Public policy, educational organization and inclusion (equality of opportunities in early childhood education, elementary education, college education, professional education)
  5. Social/instructional technologies and teaching methods (literacy, learning, early and continued teacher training, hybrid learning environments)

Objectives

  1. Develop and evaluate educational, instructional and teaching technologies
    Effective education as a tool for both scientist and citizen education calls for a radical change in traditional ways of teaching which has been shown to be insufficient in face of social demands. Education for science, uses of technology and information production depend on offering integrated education from kindergarten to higher education and professionalization. To attain this goal, it is fundamental to provide teachers with qualified pre-service and in-service teacher training, along with experience in several international contexts where practices in teaching at hybrid learning environments have enabled the articulation of acquired knowledge in a practical way in everyday life. That requires pluralizing knowledge in contemporary competences such as development of software, apps, programming, diagrams, digital technologies to deal with cyberbullying, innovation ecosystems, collaborative use of intellectual property, cybernetic security and real-time learning.

  2. Expand equity in access to education and knowledge

    Transnational relations point to the need for establishing public policies designed for all population segments. Ethnic-racial, gender, sexualities, social class, accessibility, special education disability inequalities are internationalized themes which demand scientific based and social oriented actions to eradicate conflicts resulting from these inequalities. Adopting measures for promoting diversity within institutions contributes to academic quality as shown by the most internationally accredited institutions that have established policies for diversity promotion in the academy and development of research on this theme. To reach these goals, this proposal comprises the investigation and testing of successful models that may be widely applied as well as measures to promote ethnic-racial, socioeconomic, cultural and gender diversity.

  3. Formulate policies, educational organization and social inclusion

    Education performance rates in Brazil oscillate alarmingly. Partly, this is due to the current model being based on epistemological concepts which present structural changes. It is important to design policies and course syllabuses which are internationalized and integrated with global trends in education. Designing and guaranteeing equal opportunities at all levels of education (kindergarten, basic education, higher and vocational education) is fundamental for the improvement of a nation as well as to provide it with the means to interact internationally. Thus, this objective focuses on the development of in-depth studies that enable the elaboration of plural methodologies based on scientific and technological interaction in line with an internationalized syllabus. This way, actions linked to this objective aim to develop studies proposing the reduction of evasion as well as increasing interest in school; to create mechanisms for the elaboration and development of technical and socio-emotional skills (prototype and sustainable project development); studies on multi, inter and transdisciplinary project programs; to know and design internationalized syllabuses via teacher and student real and virtual mobility.

  4. Promote diversified actions for scientific dissemination

    The theoretical and philosophical framework on which Social Science and Technology studies are based consider cultural internationalization, market globalization and economies around scientific and technological leadership, understanding them as fundamental characteristics for the current information and technological era, impacting deeply in a very wide range of human practices. Nowadays, Science, Technology and Innovation are regarded as key factors for the economic and social development of nations, being a part of national economy agendas. Thus, it is important to increase both quantitative and qualitative levels of knowledge production and improve the scientific dissemination process in order to share the produced knowledge with society. Structural inequality present in developing countries extends to scientific production and access. In order to equate differences between developing and developed countries, the development of plural strategies to bring different realities closer is crucial and urgent. This proposal is bound to the debate about smart cities with both intensive and integrated use of communication and information technology context-based (IoT), urban management and social data-driven action (Data-Driven Urbanism). The objectives regarding science dissemination actions aim at increasing scientific education levels as well as creating opportunities for a portion of the Brazilian population depleted from knowledge production, to participate by developing materials, products, contents, via digital platforms allowing social science establishment and popularization. Thus, it is important to strengthen technology use and processes to provide teaching and knowledge access, creating conditions of sustainability, improving the population’s living conditions regarding ethnic-racial, gender, sexualities, social conditions and ageing complexities.

  5. Create conditions for the elaboration of new epistemologies of science in the training of scientists

    Science epistemology comprises the areas of metaphysics of science and scientific theory justification. Professional training must be related to the understanding that scientist training considers demands of contemporary knowledge production. The justification of training difficulties is usually related to the epistemologies underlying the knowledge production being sought. In this case, the issue encompasses the capacity for operational field that must be understood as the ability to solve scientific problems, and mainly to understand knowledge as a continuum. Thus, it is crucial that training is built upon understanding the historical processes that produce the epistemologies, concepts and methodologies that guide scientific production. The contemporary scenario for social relations has been requiring strategies to decrease conflicts which lead to change current paradigms that segment knowledge areas, into inter, multi and transdisciplinary perspectives. In this regard, it is necessary to train scientists in analytical and critical thinking skills considering spatial and temporal knowledge production development. The Humanities may contribute to this objective by creating actions for an environment attractive for children and young adults for scientific careers, promoting debate and interaction with other areas of knowledge. The new scientist training must take into account the plurality and complexity of phenomena and social processes.

 

Involved Graduate Programs

Strategic Countries

Until August 2019
Australia; Austria; Belgium; Canada; China; Cuba; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Italy; India; Japan; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Russia; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom (U.K); United States (USA).

From September 2019

Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; Cuba; Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; India; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Mexico; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; Russia; South Africa; South Korea; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom (UK); United States (USA); Uruguay

 

Coordination

- Ana Carolina Soliva Soria, PhD. 
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-Cristina Broglia Feitosa De Lacerda, PhD.