Este trabalho refere-se à utilização de um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem (AVA) em um curso presencial de Biologia com alunos do terceiro ano do Ensino Médio. O estudo foi desenvolvido com três turmas distintas nos anos de 2008, 2009 e 2010, em escola particular de São Paulo. O estudo teve por objetivo testar a hipótese de que os estudantes desse contexto buscaram no AVA principalmente um repositório de materiais. Era objetivo, também, verificar a possibilidade de estabelecer interações efetivas através de participação em fóruns. Pelas características metodológicas, o trabalho se enquadrou na categoria de pesquisa-ação. Para seu desenvolvimento utilizaram-se, como fontes de informações, os dados de acessos do AVA, questionários de avaliação do ambiente postados pelos alunos e entrevistas. Para a análise da interação, utilizou-se uma adaptação do modelo de Henri (HENRI apud MCKENZIE e MURPHY, 2000). As análises feitas corroboraram a hipótese inicial de que os alunos buscam no ambiente principalmente os materiais pedagógicos. No tocante à utilização dos fóruns, poucos apresentaram uma interação efetiva, tendo sido testadas algumas possibilidades de atuação pedagógica para favorecer essa interação. São discutidos os fatores que respondem pela baixa adesão aos fóruns. Finalizando a dissertação, são comentadas algumas perspectivas decorrentes do trabalho. / This work refers to the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for a biology course in attendance for senior high school students. This study was developed with three different groups in the years of 2008, 2009 and 2010, at a private school in São Paulo, Brazil. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that students within this context specially used the VLE as a source of studying documents. Another objective was to verify the possibilities of establishing effective interactions through forum participation This study can be classified as an action research due to its methodological characteristics. The sources of information were VLE log data, students evaluation questionnaires and interviews. For interaction analysis, a Henri models adaptation was used (HENRI apud MCKENZIE and MURPHY, 2000). The results endorse the initial hypothesis the students look for studying sources at the virtual environment. In relation to forum use, few students demonstrate effective interaction and some possible teacher mediations that could enrich this interaction were tested. The elements that are related to low forum participation are discussed. Some perspectives driven from this study are brought at the end of the work.

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The topic of this Master’s thesis is combination of laser spectroscopic methods. LIBS and Raman spectroscopy were chosen for the combination. This combination is applied to plastic identification and separation as a mean to automate sorting of plastic waste. Data handling was done via different methods of computer learning algorithms scripted in R language. Plastic sorting accuracy over 90 % was reached thanks to the combination of chosen methods. This work also addresses some issues implied by combination of two different methods.

The aim of the research was to investigate the relationship between facilitation, computer software and the learner in teaching a computer-integrated lesson. South Africa has recently changed their education system from that of content-based to that of outcomes-based. With these changes came the introduction of e-Education. The Government e-Education goal is that every South African learner in the general and further education and training bands will be ICT (Information and Communication Technology) capable by 2013. Educators are expected to facilitate these classes without having being trained as facilitators in a computer environment. Most educators’ follow an instructivist mode of teaching and the researcher decided to do a case study at a school in the Western Cape to investigate the role of an educator in a computer environment. The researcher also wrote the computer-mediated software for the educator to use in his lesson. The software was written for a lesson on Physical Science which was not the field of study of the educator. The educator, however, is a computer technician. These issues raised questions as to what the methodology of teaching of this educator would be, how would the learners interact with the facilitator and the content and to what degree learning would take place with regards to transfer of skills and knowledge. From the literature survey the researcher compiled a checklist of what the role of an educator in a computer environment should be whereby the educator was assessed. A questionnaire was compiled whereby the learners evaluated the software that was used for this computer integrated lesson. The learners had to write a pre- and post-test to determine whether content was transferred in this lesson and they were asked to perform a practical experiment to determine their skills. This dissertation shows how good facilitation, coupled with pedagogically well-designed software and good learner participation leads to a successful learning community. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted