A total of 136 children from 5 to 8 years of age were presented with standard conservation of length and liquid tasks as well as story versions of those tasks. Half of the children were read stories in which the views of two non-conservers came into conflict, and the other half were read "conflict free" stories. Although the length conflict story was found to be significantly easier than the lenght task, the nonconflict story was not. In addition, the length conflict story was significantly easier than the length nonconflict story for the younger children (5-6 year-olds). However no significant differences were found among the liquid conditions. The results suggest that, for length, children's conservation performance was benefitted by cognitive conflict rather than merely the narrative format of the story problem and that children's reasoning can be affected by mere exposure to "socio-cognitive conflict". These results lend support to the controversial claim that symmetrical incorrect conflict is sufficient for stimulating cognitive development. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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The Teaching and learning computer-programming process as been the target of scientific research since the early days of computing. Although several strategies have been and are still being tested, its application in computer-based courses has been difficult, since it requires some commitment from educators to search, study and evaluate them. Although not looking for a miraculous cure for all problems in this area (reported in the literature), and believing in the pedagogical potential of the socio-cognitive conflict theory, it has been decided to develop a teaching method of programming based on Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives to be applied using the pair-programming technique. This method is being used to produce a book of Algorithms and Programming Techniques intending to be acknowledged by the Academy. Experiments with such method has been carried out at a private University and there has been a significant increase of motivation by the students that underwent the experiments. / O ensino-aprendizagem de programação de computadores tem sido alvo de investigações cientificas desde os primórdios da computação. Embora diversas estratégias foram e ainda têm sido experimentadas, sua aplicação em cursos de computação e afins se mostra difícil, uma vez que exige algum empenho de educadores em buscá-las, estudá-las e avaliá-las. Não procurando a cura milagrosa para todos os problemas nessa área (relatados na literatura), e acreditando no potencial pedagógico da teoria do conflito sócio-cognitivo, decidiu-se construir um método de ensino de programação baseado na taxionomia de objetivos educacionais de Bloom a ser aplicado através da técnica de Programação em Duplas. O método está sendo utilizado na produção de um livro de Algoritmos e Técnicas de Programação no intuito de difundi-lo na Academia. Foram realizados experimentos com o método em uma Universidade da iniciativa privada e constatou-se um expressivo aumento de motivação dos aprendizes que a ele foram submetidos. / Doutor em Ciências