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This paper aims to present the discourse analysis capabilities within a Foucault's perspective as an analytical and critical tool next to the field of educational policies. The article first undertakes a brief contextualization about the ways used by Foucault to materialize his methodological proposal, followed by the presentation of some essential notions of the author regarding the discourse analysis. Subsequently, we seek to articulate the philosopher's thinking around objects related to educational policies, taking as an example, the notion of 'educational quality', assumed here as the axis of a series of strong political discourses and practices in contemporary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current paper relates two views on social reality, each one considered within its specific historical period. The first, from the XVIII century, is presented by Montesquieu (1721), in Cartas Persas, and the second, presented by Pondé (2012) in Guia Politicamente Incorreto da filosofia. Four themes were selected: courage, hypocrisy, female and male relationships and intellectual vanity. Parts Letters I to LII by Montesquieu were selected in which ironical views of reality were detected. The choice of the first third part of Cartas Persas was made by the first experiences of the interlocutor with the other culture, specifically, the French society of the XVIII century. The presentation of the Letters, however, is not linear, but correspondent to the themes selected for this research. It may be observed that both sources, imbued with ironical literary resources, contribute towards an understanding of societies, the French one in the XVIII century and Brazilian society in the XXI century. Underlying ironical language, the two authors try to uncover society's hypocrisy and demonstrate the need of a profound respect, and not a politically correct respect, among individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology is considered a strategic area within the Brazilian Science, Technology and Innovation policy. It has been promoted since 2001, and more intensively since the launching in 2004 of the National Program for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Since 2009, the Nanotechnology Competitiveness Forum comprises a Working Group that has been analyzing the workforce needs for the development of nanotechnology in the country. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we analyzethe profile of the workforce employed in activities involving nanotechnology and the demands of companies in terms of qualification. Secondly, we examine the supply of trained professionals by three undergraduate nanotechnology courses in the country. Based on questionnaires completed by companies in different industries that develop or use nanotechnology and interviews with coordinators of the nanotechnology courses, we identified a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary training. We found that most of current nanotechnology workers have post-graduate level and work in R&D. With respect to the provision of training in nanotechnology, our research shows two paths: one course offers interdisciplinary training in nanotechnology generally, with contributions from chemistry,physics, biology and engineering, and two others propose a specialization in nanotechnology from courses in physics and engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having as a frame of reference certain formative aspects in Antigone by Sophocles, this paper intends to discuss how the dramatist, in the aforementioned play, represents the process of transition between myth and reason -- gentilic faith and City-State laws -- which the Greek society of the 8-5th centuries B.C. faced. The reflection proposed by Sophocles has as its guiding principle the acts of princess Antigone against an edict by King Creon, concerning the burial ceremony of her brother, Polynices. As the protagonist is backed up by the religion of the patriarchal society, the antagonist is the defender of the City-State laws. Within this conflict, not only did Sophocles make use of his character's issues, but also those of the Greek Man during that transitional time. Thus, in Antigone, the poet presents, though not intentionally, the formative ideal that would fulfill the necessities of the Hellenic society of his time. Therefore, in order to develop this approach, a methodology that contemplates the Greek society of his time is required, as this is the basis to discuss the formative process inherent in Sophoclean drama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to determine the degree of importance that experimentation has in physics education. To that end, a project was developed with 18 first-year high school students from a private institution in Maringá, Paraná State, during the 3rd bimester of the 2006 school year. Research and production were done by the students outside school hours, and every 15 days a physics class was given to answer questions. Over the course of these classes, we noticed that, in spite of the difficulties faced by the students, what effectively happened were moments full of joy, enthusiasm and motivation, which really got our attention, as the students had been put in a new situation. During that period, information was collected through reports by the participants in the project, as well as photos and videos produced by them. Ten months later, an interview was conducted with each student who had participated in the project to observe whether the experimentation can contribute effectively with the teaching and learning process, providing good results in student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper was developed by making use of some theoretical contributions by Tomás de Aquino, in order to understand his conceptions, concerning reasoning and intellect, as well as to be aware of the role played by reasoning and intellect aspects in the medieval period. Thus, it is necessary to reflect upon the influence played by Church and by Christian philosophy on the constitution of medieval society. Within such a context, the relationship between reason-subjectivity in Aquino's thought is emphasized. Thus, based on both, the theoretical contributions by Deleuze and Guattari (1996), and on the conceptualizations about the significance of intellect in the human constitution, it is made a brief conceptualization about subjectivity. Tomás de Aquino conceives the human reasoning as the subject's power for acting when in search for knowledge, a fact that makes possible a counterpoint with the concept of instrumental reasoning, established by Adorno and Horkheimer (1985), whose peculiarity or singularization is understood as a possibility for developing the intellectual power of human being, as well as a possibility of constituting more conscious subjectivities in contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]