Este trabalho abordou a pesquisa do professor sobre temas ligados à sua prática docente, aliada a processos de formação continuada. O objetivo foi analisar o processo inicial de questionamento do professor em formação e a ocorrência das primeiras sistematizações dos objetos de sua prática. Para desenvolver esta proposta foram empregados referencias teóricos sobre a formação de professores incluindo aqueles que configuram investigação de professores como um princípio norteador da formação. A curiosidade é outro referencial e foi primeiramente analisada segundo seus diversos sentidos e segundo várias perspectivas e, em seguida, estabeleceu-se uma ligação da curiosidade com a ideia da investigação do professor e seu processo de conhecimento. Nosso interesse foi saber como uma curiosidade inicial ou espontânea do professor em formação pode se tornar sistemática e rigorosa, ou seja, curiosidade epistemológica. O professor é considerado como alguém que produz conhecimento e pode desenvolver uma investigação sistemática sobre sua prática docente. Este trabalho é resultado de estudo de caso desenvolvido em uma disciplina de Fundamentos Metodológicos de Ciências e Matemática de curso de Mestrado Profissional em Ciências e Matemática. Por meio de uma metodologia interpretativa, no qual a pesquisadora realizou uma observação participativa, foram analisadas as atividades desenvolvidas na disciplina por dez professores de Matemática, além de entrevistas semiestruturadas. As análises dos dados produziram a caracterização do desenvolvimento da reflexão dos mestrandos e da manifestação de atitudes investigativas sobre questões da própria prática. Os resultados indicam que a proposta da disciplina auxiliou na participação dos mestrandos em falar e escrever sobre a própria prática docente. Os depoimentos dos mestrandos evidenciaram que eles procuram problematizar suas próprias experiências docentes, mas ao mesmo tempo, têm dificuldades com os estudos sobre Educação e Educação Matemática. Foi possível observar nexos e elementos que indicam que os mestrandos estiveram, num movimento direcionado para ultrapassar uma curiosidade inicial. Novas ideias e questionamentos sobre a prática docente surgiram segundo as experiências efetivas dos mestrandos como professores. / This thesis addressed the professors research about topics related to their teaching practices combined with the processes of continued education. The goal was to analyze the initial process of questioning the professor in training and to arrange methodically their first subjects of practice. To develop this proposal, theoretical references were used about the teachers in training, including those that take into account the teachers research as a guiding principle of training. Curiosity was also another referential and was primarily analyzed according to its various senses and various perspectives. Moreover, a link was established between curiosity itself and the teachers research idea and knowledge process. Our interest was to find out how the teachers initial curiosity or spontaneity during training can become systematic or rigorous, in other words, epistemological curiosity. The professor is considered as someone who produces knowledge and can develop a systematic investigation about their practices. This thesis is a result of a case study developed in the course Methodological Foundations of Science and Mathematics of Professional Masters of Science and Mathematics degree. Through an interpretive methodology, in which the researcher carried out a participative observation, ten Mathematics professors analyzed developed activities from the course and semi-structured interviews. The data analysis characterized the graduate students reflexion of development and revealed investigative attitudes about their own practices. The results indicate that the course proposal helped in the participation of graduate students to share about their own teaching practices. Their statements showed that they put in doubt their own instructing experiences but at the same time have complications with the studies about Education and Mathematics Education. It was possible to notice connections and elements that indicate that the graduate students were part of a direct movement to overcome the initial curiosity. New ideas and discussions came up according to effective experiences of the graduate students as teachers

Este trabalho abordou a pesquisa do professor sobre temas ligados à sua prática docente, aliada a processos de formação continuada. O objetivo foi analisar o processo inicial de questionamento do professor em formação e a ocorrência das primeiras sistematizações dos objetos de sua prática. Para desenvolver esta proposta foram empregados referencias teóricos sobre a formação de professores incluindo aqueles que configuram investigação de professores como um princípio norteador da formação. A curiosidade é outro referencial e foi primeiramente analisada segundo seus diversos sentidos e segundo várias perspectivas e, em seguida, estabeleceu-se uma ligação da curiosidade com a ideia da investigação do professor e seu processo de conhecimento. Nosso interesse foi saber como uma curiosidade inicial ou espontânea do professor em formação pode se tornar sistemática e rigorosa, ou seja, curiosidade epistemológica. O professor é considerado como alguém que produz conhecimento e pode desenvolver uma investigação sistemática sobre sua prática docente. Este trabalho é resultado de estudo de caso desenvolvido em uma disciplina de Fundamentos Metodológicos de Ciências e Matemática de curso de Mestrado Profissional em Ciências e Matemática. Por meio de uma metodologia interpretativa, no qual a pesquisadora realizou uma observação participativa, foram analisadas as atividades desenvolvidas na disciplina por dez professores de Matemática, além de entrevistas semiestruturadas. As análises dos dados produziram a caracterização do desenvolvimento da reflexão dos mestrandos e da manifestação de atitudes investigativas sobre questões da própria prática. Os resultados indicam que a proposta da disciplina auxiliou na participação dos mestrandos em falar e escrever sobre a própria prática docente. Os depoimentos dos mestrandos evidenciaram que eles procuram problematizar suas próprias experiências docentes, mas ao mesmo tempo, têm dificuldades com os estudos sobre Educação e Educação Matemática. Foi possível observar nexos e elementos que indicam que os mestrandos estiveram, num movimento direcionado para ultrapassar uma curiosidade inicial. Novas ideias e questionamentos sobre a prática docente surgiram segundo as experiências efetivas dos mestrandos como professores. / This thesis addressed the professors research about topics related to their teaching practices combined with the processes of continued education. The goal was to analyze the initial process of questioning the professor in training and to arrange methodically their first subjects of practice. To develop this proposal, theoretical references were used about the teachers in training, including those that take into account the teachers research as a guiding principle of training. Curiosity was also another referential and was primarily analyzed according to its various senses and various perspectives. Moreover, a link was established between curiosity itself and the teachers research idea and knowledge process. Our interest was to find out how the teachers initial curiosity or spontaneity during training can become systematic or rigorous, in other words, epistemological curiosity. The professor is considered as someone who produces knowledge and can develop a systematic investigation about their practices. This thesis is a result of a case study developed in the course Methodological Foundations of Science and Mathematics of Professional Masters of Science and Mathematics degree. Through an interpretive methodology, in which the researcher carried out a participative observation, ten Mathematics professors analyzed developed activities from the course and semi-structured interviews. The data analysis characterized the graduate students reflexion of development and revealed investigative attitudes about their own practices. The results indicate that the course proposal helped in the participation of graduate students to share about their own teaching practices. Their statements showed that they put in doubt their own instructing experiences but at the same time have complications with the studies about Education and Mathematics Education. It was possible to notice connections and elements that indicate that the graduate students were part of a direct movement to overcome the initial curiosity. New ideas and discussions came up according to effective experiences of the graduate students as teachers

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the Doctor of Technology degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Research productivity is one of the core functions of a university and it plays a crucial role for a nation to develop and find its standing in our global world. This study examined the effect of ICT adoption and training on the research productivity of university academics. Much research has been done on using technology in research with a view to increase productivity. However, hardly any research could be found on the use of ICT combined with ICT training with a view to increase research productivity. This study addressed this gap in the literature. The study sought to design a model that can increase research productivity of academics while optimizing ICT adoption and training effects. The study was conducted at four public universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, whilst the part of the study on ICT training was conducted at one of the four universities. This study was conducted both in the form of a survey of 103 university academics and in the form of experimental sessions, where the use of ICT (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training was used for research, the use of ICT without training was used for research and, finally, a session where a manual system (without using research software/tools and training) was used for research. The overall aim of the study was to investigate and design a model for the increase in research productivity of academics in universities after having adopted ICTs. The final results of the research revealed that the use of ICT tools (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training increases research productivity as compared to using ICT tools without training, and/or using a manual system (without using research software/tools and training). A statistically proven model is recommended with a view to increase research productivity of academics.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the Doctor of Technology degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Research productivity is one of the core functions of a university and it plays a crucial role for a nation to develop and find its standing in our global world. This study examined the effect of ICT adoption and training on the research productivity of university academics. Much research has been done on using technology in research with a view to increase productivity. However, hardly any research could be found on the use of ICT combined with ICT training with a view to increase research productivity. This study addressed this gap in the literature. The study sought to design a model that can increase research productivity of academics while optimizing ICT adoption and training effects. The study was conducted at four public universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, whilst the part of the study on ICT training was conducted at one of the four universities. This study was conducted both in the form of a survey of 103 university academics and in the form of experimental sessions, where the use of ICT (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training was used for research, the use of ICT without training was used for research and, finally, a session where a manual system (without using research software/tools and training) was used for research. The overall aim of the study was to investigate and design a model for the increase in research productivity of academics in universities after having adopted ICTs. The final results of the research revealed that the use of ICT tools (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training increases research productivity as compared to using ICT tools without training, and/or using a manual system (without using research software/tools and training). A statistically proven model is recommended with a view to increase research productivity of academics. / D

This study examines the criteria which help academics receive National Institute of Health funds (NIH). The study covers 3,092 NIH recipients and non-recipients in the same department or institute at twenty-four universities. The universities are drawn from those below the top twenty in terms of receipt of NIH funds. With regards to performance, non- recipients have lower performance than recipients. A key determinant of the receipt of NIH funds is individual performance, as measured by the number of articles published and average citations per article in the two years immediately prior to the grant application. Professors receive more NIH money than do associates and assistant professors. Other positive contributors are the field of study, whether the academic has both a PhD. and Medical degree, and has licensed an innovation, been involved in the start of a new business and patented an invention through the university. To the extent that individual performance criteria represent the quality of the research proposal, allocation of NIH funds is based on merit. A Tobit model indicates that being highly cited does not guarantee increasing returns. Likewise, career citations have only a small statistically significant impact. In addition, a negative coefficient associated with the second derivatives of both articles published in 2006-07 and their associated citations indicate diminishing marginal returns.

While existing literature shows a considerable increase in the numbers of women in academia research on the experiences of women in universities has noted their continued occupation of lower status academic positions in relation to their male counterparts. As the ladder gets higher, the number of women seems to drop. These studies indicate the marginalization of women in academic settings, highlighting the various forms of subtle and overt discrimination and exclusion women face in academic work environments. In this study I ask how academic women in South Africa narrate their experience of being ‘outside in’ the teaching machine. It has been argued that intertwined sexist, patriarchal and phallocentric knowledges and practices in academic institutions produce various forms of discrimination, inequality, oppression and marginalization. Academic women report feeling invisible and retreating to the margins so as to avoid victimization and discrimination. Others have pointed to the tension between the ‘tenure clock’ and the ‘biological clock’ as a source of anxiety among academic women. Where a masculinised presentation of the self is adopted as a solution to this dilemma, the devaluation of the feminine in the academic space is confirmed. However, experiences of academic women are not identical. In the context of studies showing the importance of existing personal and social resources, prior experience and having mentors and role models in the negotiation of inequality and discrimination, I document the narratives of women academics who are the first in their families to graduate with a university degree. These first-generation academic women are therefore least likely to have access to social and cultural resources and prior experiences that can render the academic space more hospitable for the marginalised. Employing Spivak’s deconstruction of the concept of marginalisation as my primary interpretive lens, I explore the way in which, in their narratives, first-generation academic women negotiate marginality. These narratives depict a marginality that might be described, following Spivak, as ‘outside/in’, that is, as complex and involving moments of accommodation and resistance, losses and gains, pain and pride.