'Seductive promises' and the use of online mathematics instructional programmes in New Zealand primary schools

Internet access and the availability of digital devices in the classroom have grown exponentially. Correspondingly, we have online platforms for learning mathematics that are subscription-based and available for schools or individuals to purchase. Research in mathematics education tends to focus on the benefits to teaching and learning afforded by digital technology, while less attention is given to the implications of having commercial applications in our mathematics classrooms, and their considerable cost. This paper reports on a study of online mathematics instructional programmes in primary schools of New Zealand. Data sources include a survey sent to mathematics leaders of all primary schools, and a discursive analysis of the websites of the most commonly used instructional programmes. There was an obvious similarity found between the promises of the websites and the rationales expressed by school leaders for using the programmes, suggesting that schools are succumbing to the seductive promises of these commercial programmes. It is argued that we need to further examine the implications of using such programmes in our mathematics classrooms, especially in the context of profit-making inside public education.

СOMMONALITY OF PLAUTUS 'COMEDIES AND V. KATAEV'S COMEDY «QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE»

Статья посвящена исследованию литературных источников драматургической техники комедии В. Катаева «Квадратура круга». Исследование формальных приемов в структуре произведения строится на текстуальном анализе трех комедий Плавта и комедии «Квадратура круга». Анализ сходства драматургической техники производится путем сопоставления отдельных сцен в комедиях Плавта «Клад», «Близнецы», «Пленники» и комедии В. Катаева «Квадратура круга». Автором статьи используется терминология, существующая в научном обороте, но не имеющая нормативного употребления. Слова «схема», «фигура», «элемент» являются синонимами и обозначают отдельный прием драматургической техники. Процесс текстуального сличения отдельных сцен комедий Плавта и Катаева демонстрирует очевидную общность драматургической техники. Сходство приемов драматургической техники, их количественный уровень указывает на факт заимствования Катаевым отдельных элементов из комедий римского автора. Драматургические фигуры, составляющие общность приемов в комедиях Плавта и Катаева, различны на идейно-тематическом и структурно-композиционном уровне. Глубина профессионального освоения творчества Плавта вкупе с дарованием и талантом самого Валентина Петровича способствовали феерическому успеху «Квадратуры круга» на российской и мировой сценах. Использование литературно-исторических традиций античной драматургии Катаевым является бесценным опытом и примером создания произведения высокого художественного уровня. The article is devoted to the study of literary sources of the dramatic technique of V. Kataev's Comedy «the Quadrature of the circle». The study of formal techniques in the structure of the work is based on the textual analysis of three comedies by Plautus and V. Kataev's Comedy «the Quadrature of the circle». The similarity of dramatic technique is analyzed by comparing individual scenes in Plautus 'comedies «the Treasure», «the Twins», «the Prisoners» and V. Kataev's Comedy «the Quadrature of the circle». The author of the article uses terminology that exists in scientific circulation but does not have normative use. Words: the schematic of figure element are synonymous and refer to the individual reception of dramatic technique. The process of textual comparison of individual scenes of Plautus and Kataev's comedies demonstrates an obvious similarity of dramatic technique. The similarity of the techniques of dramaturgical technique ,their quantitative level, indicates the fact that V. Kataev adopted certain elements from the comedies of the Roman author. The dramaturgical figures that make up the commonality of techniques in the comedies of Plautus and V. Kataev are different on the ideological-thematic and structural-compositional level. The depth of Kataev's professional development of Plautus ' work, combined with the talent and talent of Valentin Petrovich, contributed to the enchanting success of the circle Quadrature on the Russian and world stages. The use of literary and historical traditions of ancient drama By V. Kataev is an invaluable experience and example of creating a work of high artistic level.

Technology in Education: EdTech in GCC States and COVID-19 Challenges

In recent years, “EdTech” and “E-Learning” concepts have become part of people’s routine. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the conception of social development, the nature of progress, and the application of information technologies. How reasonable is the development of distance learning? This question was raised by many actors. Meanwhile, during the most acute outbreaks of the pandemic, there was a sharp adoption of entire measures for the EdTech introduction around the world, including the Arab states. This article looks into characteristics of the situation in the field of educational innovative technologies in the states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) in the period preceding the pandemic and in the last year and a half. The emphasis is placed on the peculiarities of the development of the situation in each of the countries: despite the obvious similarity of the economic, political, and cultural fields, all six Member States of the Council had different attitudes to the goals of education, to the reform of this area, and to the use of technology and EdTech in education process. The article is divided into two main parts according to the chronological principle: The first briefly describes the processes of implementing educational technologies until 2020 characterizing the overall dynamics of the development of the sector in each of the six countries. The second part similarly covers the period of the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic as well as introduces the measures and steps taken in the GCC countries, provides analysis of their effectiveness and the reasons for their success or failure. The problem of the research seems to be extremely relevant despite the little amount of academic works devoted to this topic. Further study of the experience of Arab countries will not only allow to make several assumptions about the effectiveness of certain measures in other countries (e.g., in Russia) but also can become the basis for a broad comparative study covering the entire region of the Middle East and North Africa.

On a Type of Russian Chests Called «Baul» of the 18th-19th Centuries. History and Art Style

The study of specific types of chests is one of the most prolific areas of the research of Russian chest production. However, today they receive insufficient attention from researches. This paper deals with the history of one of the types of Russian chests called «baul». The issues of their appearance in Russia, their connection with European items (in particular, Scandinavian ones) are considered and specific museum works are analyzed. The comparative method is used to identify the artistic features of Russian «bauls». Items of Russian and foreign museum collections were used. The author draws several conclusions: the chest called «baul» is an independent type of Russian chests; the «baul» as a type of chest was most likely borrowed by Russian craftsmen from Western Europe; despite of the obvious similarity that can be seen in its form and design, Russian and foreign products have their own art style; Russian masters were participants in the pan-European cultural process.

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott in the Creative Perception of Ivan Turgenev. Article One

In the article, on the material of Ivan Turgenev’s library and his short story “The Jew”, the issue of reading and creative perception is examined. Turgenev’s perception of Ivanhoe by Walter Scott is in the focus. The research attention is developing from the interpretation of several Turgenev’s notes left in the English version of the novel to the analysis of the creative perception of the images of Isaac and Rebecca, which became the ideological and semantic basis of “The Jew”. The reading of Ivanhoe in the original in the early 1840s became for the writer a penetration into Scott’s individual writing system. Turgenev’s few notes indicate that he became acquainted with Scott’s creative manner: the ability to voluminously weave comic elements into the pathetic-heroic atmosphere of action, the combination of historical and artistic material, the boldness of the ironic tone, and the mastery of speech characteristics. The reader’s perception of Scott’s novel was soon replaced by its creative interpretation, as a result of which “The Jew” appeared. Following the example of the English novelist, the object of Turgenev’s artistic reflection is a Jewish father and his daughter, who find themselves in a socio-historical and moral-psychological crisis — the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Foreign Campaigns of the Russian Army. There is an obvious similarity between Scott’s Rebecca and Turgenev’s Sarah: from the elements of the external description and the details of the portrait to the moral and psychological characteristics. The two young girls are especially united by the sense of pride and the awareness of their dignity, which clearly manifest themselves in the moments of danger that threatens them. Besides, the relationship between the Jewish girl and the Russian officer in Turgenev’s story vaguely resembles the situation of Rebecca and Ivanhoe. But the love line in “The Jew” does not develop in full. Considering William Shakespeare’s and Gotthold Lessing’s experience, following Walter Scott, Turgenev reflects on the universal nature of the “humiliated tribe”. The Russian writer depicts the psychology of the experiences of the Jew Girshel, accused of spying for the French. In the tradition of objectivity and epic literature, inherited from Scott, Turgenev draws a tragic line related to the position of an ordinary person. But, unlike the English novelist, Turgenev brings the torment of the character to the highest limit – the death penalty. At the same time, the Russian writer explicates sharp contradictions in the image of his character that turns out to be a carrier of suffering, on the one hand, and a source of laughter, on the other. This shows Turgenev’s orientation on the features of Shakespeare’s image of a person, in which the tragic invariably coexists with the comic. Walter Scott sensitively learned the law of ambivalence from Shakespeare, too.

The complex of the chapels of the Kazan Temple’s parish in Zaozerje village, as an example of the influence of the Calvary construction tradition in Europe

The article is devoted to the chapel phenomenon in the village of Zaozyor'ye, Uglich district, Yaroslavl Region, Russia; there the parish of the temple of Our Lady of Kazan used to include about two dozen of chapel structures. The main attention of this article is paid to the collection of lost information about all the chapels of the complex, the consecration of chapels, ceremonies and traditions, associated with them. There are no similar complexes in Russia. The article attempts to search for their analogues on the nearest territory abroad. In this regard, the author examines the large chapel complexes in Poland, known as calvaries (dedicated to Golgotha). In fact, calvaries are kind of spacial markers of some of the scenes of Pashion of the Christ, e.g. him carrying the cross. Some of the European calvaries are devoted exclusively to Mother of God. Seeing an obvious similarity with the European calvaries, dedicated to Virgin Mary, the author comes to the conclusion that in the neighbourhood of Zaozyor'ye there was a local tradition of worshipping Mother of God, which was originally closely related to the mineral spring "Plotnitsy".

Nature, concept of in Akan thought

It can be argued (and sometimes is) that Africans do not make a distinction between the natural and the supernatural. But the resulting conceptual economy may be rationally defensible. Nature is not just the spatio-temporal realm of existence governed by regular laws. It is also understood in contrast, at least conceptually, to the supernatural, as transcending both that realm and its laws. This contrast is unintelligible in the conceptual framework of at least the West African peoples known as the Akan. For them, reality is a spatio-temporal array of orders of being with the Supreme Being at the top, spirits and humans (in that order) in the middle and inanimate matter at the bottom. All events and interactions, without exception, are governed by law. There is an obvious similarity between this worldview and that of naturalism, but there is also a subtle difference.

Did Ms Wisdom of Proverbs 8 become a mystery in 4QInstruction?

The Hebrew Bible is quoted and alluded to in 4QInstruction. There is an obvious similarity between the way the raz nihyeh of 4QInstruction and Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8 function. This intertextual study investigates this phenomenon by comparing 4Q416 2 III 8–21 and 4Q417 1 I with Proverbs 8:12–21 and 8:22–31. It is concluded that apocalyptic influence changed the character of Lady Wisdom but not her essential function.

Influências de uma Política Pública Brasileira na Transformação de uma Obra didática de Química / A Brazilian Influences of Public Policy in the Transformation of a Didactic Work of Chemistry

ABSTRACTThis work is part of a larger study investigating the influence of Brazilian educational public policy in the preparation of textbooks Citizen Chemistry, from a higher education project. The objective of this study is to identify what changes observed in the preparation of editions of didactic work approved by the National Textbook Program (PNLD) by preestablished aspects in the evaluation sheets and Notices selection. The analyzed textbooks were approved on selections made by PNLD for the 2007 academic years, 2012 and 2015 to the curricular component chemistry in high school. With the qualitative research option in its development, this work makes use of bibliographic data available in official Notices and teaching guides forwarded to teachers of Brazilian public schools, and the characterization of the didactic work Citizen Chemistry, uses the interpretation of images and texts, as subcategories established. This is different situations similarity between its different editions, where the didactic work analyzed turns out to "say the same thing or nearly so" (Valen you cited Chervel, 1990, p.203), in its various editions, or also called by the authors of Vulgate, due to obvious similarity between the books.RESUMOEste trabalho faz parte de um estudo mais amplo que investiga a influência da política pública educacional brasileira na elaboração do livro didático Química Cidadã, oriundo de um projeto do ensino superior. O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar quais as mudanças observadas na elaboração das edições desta obra didática aprovada pelo Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD), mediante aspectos pré-estabelecidos nas fichas de avaliação e Editais de seleção. Os livros didáticos analisados foram aprovados nas seleções realizadas pelo PNLD para os anos letivos de 2007, 2012 e 2015, para a componente curricular Química no ensino médio. Com opção pela pesquisa qualitativa, em seu desenvolvimento, este trabalho recorre a dados bibliográficos disponibilizados nos Editais oficiais e nos guias didáticos encaminhados aos professores das escolas públicas brasileiras, e na caracterização da obra didática Química Cidadã, recorre à interpretação de imagens e textos, conforme as subcategorias estabelecidas. Nesta encontra-se com diferentes situações de similaridade entre as suas diferentes edições, onde a obra didática analisada acaba por “dizer a mesma coisa ou quase isso” (Valente apud Chervel, 1990, p.203), nas suas diferentes edições, ou também denominada pelos autores de vulgata, devido a evidente semelhança entre os livros. Contato principal: [email protected]

Small Low Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Lithium-Polymer Battery Monitoring System

Lithium-Polymer (LiPo) batteries are becoming a popular choice for electric small low cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). In case of a multirotor UAVs, a battery failure means a certain loss of the air frame. To fully utilize their potential and maintain mission safety, a monitoring system predicting battery behaviour is required. In this study a change in battery dynamics during discharge, and its effect of thrust produced by actuators is measured. Experiments simulating flight conditions are performed, and measured data are interpolated with double exponential and polynomial curves. An obvious similarity between the battery state-of-charge and produced thrust is observed. Due to conventional altitude controllers’ inability to cope well with changes in battery dynamics, a controller invariant to those changes is presented.