The Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology Federal University of Pernambuco Recife-Brazil The Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology at Recife begun in 1976, first offering a M.A. Degree. During the 80 s and up to mid-90 s the Program gained international reputation for research on the so-called street mathematics, mainly through the works of Terezinha Nunes, Analúcia Schliemann and David Carraher. Since 1998 the Program has offered a Doctoral Degree in the following four lines of research: Cognitive development Developmental aspects of logical reasoning, scientific concepts and informal argumentation. Oral and written communication Individual, interpsychological and contextual aspects of language acquisition and the development of reading and writing skills. Culture and cognition Relationship between participation in cultural practices and the development of reasoning skills and language. Mathematics and science education Conceptual development in specific domains of science, mathematics and technology; didactic engineering and internet research. Most of the research developed in Recife focuses on questions concerning human interaction in cultural contexts, as captured in the diagram below. Language, Discourse and Communication Conceptualization in Science, Math and Technology Culture Context Interaction Socio-Cognitive Development To date, nearly 210 M.A. Thesis and 35 Ph.D. Dissertations have been concluded, as detailed below. M.A. Ph.D. 1976-1986 30 1987-1996 52 1997-Today 102 35 (from 2002) 1
The group includes ten faculty members and over fifty graduate students, most of whom with a scholarship granted by the Federal Government. The sections below present a summary of each faculty s interests and current research. Maria da Graça Dias. D.Phil., Developmental Psychology Oxford University, Oxford, UK, 1988 Visiting Professor, The City University of New York, USA.! Emotion! Moral development! Logical Reasoning! Theory of Mind! The development of reading abilities in adult education programs! Is schooling a prerequisite for the development of reasoning?! Intelligence, mental processes and cultural context (Book chapter)! Logical reasoning in fantasy: Eliminating differences between children with and without experience in school. Revista Interamericana de Psicologia! Reasoning from unfamiliar premises: A study with unschooled adults. Psychological Science! If in the perspective of the Mental Logic Theory. Psychological! The logic of pretending and its comprehension in children. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica.! Retelling stories through sign language! The development of human values from infancy to adolescence Antonio Roazzi D.Phil., Developmental Psychology Oxford University, Oxford, UK, 1988 Visiting Professor, University of London, UK Visiting Professor, CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), Italy 2
Areas of Research! Logical Reasoning! Intelligence! Theory of Mind! Attachment! Moral development! Risk Perception! Emotion! Risk Perception and Attachment Styles! The social representation of AIDS among physicians (Book chapter)! Intelligence, mental processes and cultural context (Book chapter)! The death and its images (Book chapter)! Children s moral choices and those they attribute to adults and peers. (Book chapter)! On the frequentist and probabilistic debate: Dumb-luck turns out to be a plausible explanation. Psicologia: Reflexão & Crítica! Argumentation in children s production of texts in school! Inferences from predicative logic in text comprehension! Knowledge of morfosintactic aspects of Portuguese grammar in schooled adolescents and adults Jorge da Rocha Falcão Ph.D., Psychology of Learning Université de Paris-5, Sorbonne, 1992! Learning and development of scientific and mathematical concepts! Cognitive abilities and tacit knowledge! Affective aspects and gender issues in the learning of mathematics! Neuropsychology of mathematical activity! Didactic engineering for algebra instruction in elementary schools! Cognitive ergonomics! Theoretical and methodological aspects of tacit cognitive abilities! A psychological approach to abilities in school mathematics 3
! Thought and language: A discussion in the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica! Tacit knowing and situated learning perspectives in the context of mathematics education. Springer - Mathematics Education Library! Affective aspects on mathematics conceptualization: From dichotomies to an integrated approach. PME Proceedings! Mathematics teacher dyads talking about teaching mathematics: A psychological approach of subjectivity in mathematics teachers work! Solving additive problems in pre-school with the support of graphical representations Alina G. Spinillo D.Phil., Developmental Psychology Oxford University, Oxford, UK 1991 Visiting Professor, Sussex University, UK! Children s knowledge about texts: Production, comprehension and metatextual development! Number sense! Preschool children s number sense: numbers, sums and measurement! Socio-cultural differences in children s knowledge of genre: Evidence from Brazilian middle-class and street children! Children s production of stories: Textuality in focus (Book chapter)! Children s use of part-part comparisons to estimate probability. Mathematical Behavior! Socio-cultural differences in children s genre knowledge (Book chapter)! Comment les enfants utilisent et comprennent les signes de ponctuation dans la reproduction d histoiries. Lettre de l Association Internationale de Recherche en Didactique du Français 4
! The development of metatextual awareness and its relationship to text comprehension! Text comprehension in deaf adolescents Maria C.D.P. Lyra M.A., Developmental Psychology Cornel University, 1975 Ph.D., Developmental Psychology University of São Paulo, 1988! Developmental model of mother-infant communication: EEA! Emergence of self in infancy! Time and narrative! Methodological issues in the study of development! Variability in mother-infant communication -Deaf, Down Syndrome and Autism s! Development of communication as a complex system: Applying statistical mathematical analysis for model building! Developing tutorials for analyzing mother-infant communication! Emergency of the dialogical self! Human development in the process of communication! On abbreviation: Dialogue in early infancy. International Journal of Dialogical Science! Changing Times: Reflections on the development of self and culture. Culture & Psychology! The EEA Model: Definitions, unity of analysis and applications. Reflexão e Crítica! Challenges and strategies for studying human development in cultural contexts. (Book chapter)! Dynamics of dialogue and emergence of self in early communication. (Book chapter)! Development of communication in early life: A deaf infant! Development of mother-infant communication in Down syndrome: Contributions from a dynamic systems perspective! Mother-talk in the development of mother-infant communication 5
Selma Leitão Ph.D., Cognitive Processes University of Cambridge, UK, 1993! Relationships between discourse and cognition: Dialogism and culturalhistorical perspectives! Argumentation in knowledge-building processes! Argumentation and reflection: Development of reflexive thinking and metacognition! Acquisition of argumentative conduct in oral and written language! Argumentation and knowledge-building processes! Early emergence of counter-argumentative conduct! The potential of argument in knowledge building. Human Development! Evaluating and selecting counterarguments: Studies in children s rhetorical awareness. Written Communication! Analyzing changes in view during argumentation. Forum: Qualitative Social Research! Dialogical-argumentative knowledge constituting in the process of written text production! Argumentation in the classroom: A pathway to the development of selfregulation in the classroom Glória Carvalho and Law Ph.D., Linguistics University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, 1995! Language acquisition and language pathologies! Children s speech in Autism and related syndromes! The singular statute of children with and without speech impairments 6
! The error as a difference in children s linguistic trajectory: language acquisition and autism! Singularity in question: the error as a difference in language acquisition! Language acquisition and the echolalic speech in autistic children. Psychê! Language acquisition and autism: A mirror reflex. Latin American Journal of Fundamental Psychopathology! Discursive experience and singularity: questions in the field of language acquisition. Cadernos de Linguagem e Sociedade! Shining through the black clouds: Is there subjectivity in the language of autistic children?! The peculiar role of otherness in the process of language acquisition in sheltered children Luciano Meira Major in Education Ph.D., Mathematics Education University of California, Berkeley, 1991! Communication and dialogue in teacher-pupil interactions! Development from a cultural-historical perspective! Interactional Analysis and videography! Pragmatist analyses of the constitution of meaning in conversation! Research on virtual environments: Learning and social networks! The Zone of Proximal Development as a semiotic field: Lessons from Interactional Analysis research! Using graphs in everyday life! A dialogue-based approach for evaluating educational software. Interacting With Computers! The Zone of Proximal Development as a symbolic space. Social Science Research Papers, UK! The constitution of meanings in the use of graphs. (submitted) Estudos em Psicologia 7
! Mathematical representations as systems of notations-in-use. (Book chapter)! Explorations on the constitution of meanings in play! Communicating mathematical meanings in the classroom! The construction of space and time in virtual communities Síntria Labres Lautert and Education Doctorate, Cognitive Psychology Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, 2005! Processes of teaching and learning mathematics! Development and acquisition of children s scientific and mathematical concepts! Neuropsychology of mathematical activity! Reading and mathematics: understanding texts and resolving divisions problems Recent Publications! The Grasp of consciousness analyzed through the concept of division: a case study! The relations between performance on division problems and children's ideas about division! Children s representation of division: from oral language to other kinds of representation Bruno Campello de Souza Doctorate, Cognitive Psychology Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, 2004! Theories of Intelligence, creativity and intellectual giftedness! Impacts of digital technologies on human cognition! Statistical methods in cognitive research! Business intelligence, organizational learning and knowledge management;! Human cognition in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. 8
! Use of Facet Theory for the identification of scholastic competences! The circulation of knowledge in informal social networks in private organizations: Determinants and impacts 9