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A questão ambiental assumiu importância fundamental no final do século XX, época na qual em muitos lugares da Terra despertou-se a consciência para os problemas globais de poluição e deterioração ambientais. Ciente disso, o Museu da Geodiversidade, pertencente ao Instituto de Geociências da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, procura contribuir com atividades educativas sobre temas das Ciências da Terra, sob um viés valorativo e preservacionista. A 1ª Olimpíada Nacional de Geociências ocorreu no ano de 2011, sob o tema "Geodiversidade: conhecer e conservar". Reuniram-se alunos e professores do Ensino Médio de todo o país, que puderam aprender mais sobre o planeta e as melhores formas de utilizar seus recursos de modo consciente. A Olimpíada, financiada pelo CNPq e patrocinada pela Petrobras, desenvolveu-se online nas três primeiras fases e presencial na última, realizando integração de representantes deste imenso país. Apesar das dificuldades encontradas, os resultados da atividade foram excelentes: maior problematização e diálogo sobre a temática ambiental relacionada às Geociências em território nacional, além de uma grande oportunidade de divulgação somada ao incentivo dos jovens em seguir carreiras científicas.

Importance: Upper extremity (UE) dysfunction resulting from stroke significantly affects a person's ability to complete self-care activities, consequently diminishing functional independence. Effective interventions that improve UE function in persons with stroke are needed., Objective: To explore the effectiveness of the Bimanual Arm Trainer (BAT) compared with traditional occupational therapy treatment sessions (i.e., a control group) on improving UE function after acute ischemic stroke., Design: Clinical trial, two-group, nonrandomized repeated-measures design., Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation facility., Participants: Twenty-seven persons with ischemic stroke and an Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) score ≤17., Intervention: Minimum of three 10-min sessions on the BAT., Outcomes and Measures: ARAT, Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Motor Recovery after Stroke (FMA-UE)., Results: Both the intervention and control groups showed significant improvement on the ARAT from evaluation to discharge (main effect of time: p = .02). There was no statistically significant main effect of group and no significant Time × Group interaction (p = .63). FMA-UE scores also improved significantly in the intervention group from evaluation to discharge (p < .001). FMA-UE scores were not available for the control group., Conclusions and Relevance: Both the intervention and control groups demonstrated significant improvements in UE function from evaluation to discharge. There were no statistically significant differences between groups, indicating that the BAT results in similar improvements in UE function, as would be expected in traditional occupational therapy. Further research is warranted to examine additional BAT programs, use different outcome measures, and assess participants over a longer time span. Plain-Language Summary: The Bimanual Arm Trainer (BAT) is a novel device that can be used in occupational therapy to improve arm function among stroke patients. There is limited research on BAT's effectiveness in improving arm function among stroke patients. In an acute inpatient rehabilitation setting, we compared outcome scores of patients who received traditional occupational therapy services with those who also used the BAT. Both groups achieved significant improvements in arm function from evaluation to discharge. We found that the addition of the BAT interventions did not significantly affect the outcome measure scores for either group. We conclude that more research is needed to examine additional BAT programs, use different outcome measures, and assess participants over a longer period of time., (Copyright © 2024 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.)