Integration with Undergraduate and Technical High-School

I – Indications of Integration with Undergraduate and Technical High-School

The process of creating the PPCIC emanates from initiatives coming from the collegiate of the technical courses in computer science and undergraduate courses in computer science at CEFET/RJ. For this reason, the PPCIC faculty focuses on the relationships between these three levels of education. This initiative is in line with the CEFET/RJ PDI. Specifically, in the case of PPCIC, the institution’s professors interact with the undergraduate and/or technical course by giving classes, guiding scientific initiation projects (PIBIC and PIBIC-EM) and end-of-course projects. In addition to providing mandatory subjects included in the curriculum of undergraduate courses, introductory elective courses were created for other subjects provided for in the master’s degree to stimulate interest, prepare and bring undergraduate students closer to the activities developed at PPCIC.

It is hoped that such initiatives to strengthen this integration can be observed by the portion of students from undergraduate who participate in the selection process and enter the Program. It should be noted that the graduation course in Computer Science at CEFET / RJ was recognized at the end of 2016 by INEP / MEC with concept 4 (on a scale ranging from 1 to 5) during the quadrennial period 2013-2016.

Below are described several integration actions with undergraduate and technical high school that bring reciprocal benefits.

Offer of courses for undergraduate and technical high school

PPCIC professors teach subjects in the Computer Technician course, Bachelor in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Control and Automation Engineering, Electronic Engineering, and other institution degrees, according to the workload declared in Sucupira in a specific area. In addition to offering mandatory subjects included in the curriculum of undergraduate courses, introductory elective courses were created for other subjects in the master’s degree to stimulate interest, prepare and bring undergraduate students closer to the activities developed at PPCIC.

Notably, in the discipline of Applied Research Practice and the other elective subjects associated with the PPCIC, undergraduate students have the opportunity to interact with master’s students, who support the discipline through teaching internship, and use the Program’s laboratories. The offer of courses for undergraduate courses is also ensured by the institutional standards for accreditation and maintenance of teacher accreditation in stricto sensu graduate programs at CEFET / RJ, which establish that every teacher, to work in graduate school, must teach at least, a subject in undergraduate or high school / technical (when applicable).

The integration of PPCIC also occurs with the other high school subjects taught at this institution, considering that there are relevant aspects for Data Science focused on the educational area (from English, Data Science in Education). For example, the historical analysis of basic subjects (Mathematics, Portuguese, History, Biology, Physics and Chemistry) by high school and elementary students. These data are extremely relevant to implement educational quality policies in educational institutions. Besides, many of the researches for scientific initiation use various data obtained by various disciplines at the secondary and fundamental levels (through partnerships with schools in the municipality).

Scientific Initiation

Regarding scientific initiation, CEFET/RJ offers two programs: the Scientific Initiation (PIBIC) and the scientific initiation of high-technical education (PIBIC-EM). An annual call is published to grant scientific initiation scholarships funded by PIBIC and PIBIC-EM programs. The institution has 138 scientific initiation Scholarships (38 funded by CNPQ and 100 funded by CEFET/RJ) and 80 scholarships for technical high school education (30 funded by CNPQ and 50 funded by CEFET/RJ). Even students not contemplated with the grant of scholarship can carry out scientific initiation, provided that they fulfill all activities and requirements of the program (project submission in the period established by the call, frequency, presentation of reports and Participation in the Scientific and Technological Initiation Seminar).

The PIBIC is accompanied by an internal committee and an external committee, which is composed of researchers from CNPq. In 2006-07 (last evaluation of the PIBIC programs provided by CNPQ), the PIBIC of CEFET/RJ was classified in fifth-place in the list of all Brazilian institutions evaluated. The distribution of the scholarships is based on the current classification criteria established by the local committee. The students present the results of the projects in the Scientific and Technological Initiation Seminar of CEFET/RJ, an annual event promoted by the institution, and the project abstracts are published in the Book of Abstracts. The Scientific Initiation Journey takes place since 2001 in the Teaching-Research and Extension Week of CEFET/RJ. The event commonly relies on the support of FAPERJ through the program APQ2 (event support).

During the 2013-2016 quadrennial, the PPCIC professors advised 65 scientific initiation projects of undergraduate or middle-technical students. Between 2017 and 2018 PPCIC professors advised, on average, 24 PIBIC/PIBIC-EM projects per year.

Course Completion Works

PPCIC professors, given that they act in undergraduate courses, regularly advise end-of-course projects. In addition to advising, PPCIC professors also collaborate regularly participating in the projects defense board. The Course Completion works of CEFET/RJ are developed in two periods (Final Project I and Final Project II) and can be performed in a group of at most three students.

There are institutional norms for the elaboration of these projects, and the defense of them follows a similar pattern to the defense of a dissertation. In addition to advising such works, PPCIC professors Eduardo Ogasawara and Eduardo Bezerra led the reformulation of the Course Completion Work norm, including an mandatory experimental evaluation. Such reformulation produced an increase in those works quality, without increasing its complexity. As a consequence, several works served as base for the production of academic papers.

During the 2013-2016 quadrennium, PPCIC professors guided 52 course completion works. Between 2017 and 2018, on average, PPCIC professors advised 15 works per year.

Seminars of the School of Informatics and Computing

Since 2015, the seminars of the School of Informatics and Computing (EIC) have been organized weekly. The seminars are lectured by researchers of our state, graduate students, undergraduate, and technical high-school education. The seminars are part of an official extension project that is open to the community. The programming is available on the EIC portal (http://eic.cefet-rj.br/seminarios). The seminars aim to awaken in undergraduate and high-school students the interest in participating in research projects and are currently bringing fruit in the area of interaction between postgraduate, undergraduate and technical high-school education.

Laboratories for Research

Another action that shows the integration with the other levels of education is the use of PPCIC laboratories by undergraduate and technical high-school students. This infrastructure is available for students who develop projects of scientific initiation, final project or who are attending some discipline that demands the use of equipment and software installed in the laboratories of PPCIC. This sharing of the physical space is encouraged as a way to increase the interaction between undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the inclusion of undergraduate pupils in an environment focused specifically on research activities.

Structuring Faculty

There is also the participation of professors of the PPCIC in the Structuring Faculty (NDE) of The Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (BCC), in Computer Engineering (EC), in Electronic Engineering (EE) and Control and Automation Engineering (ECA) courses of CEFET/RJ. Professors Kele Belloze, Eduardo Bezerra and Jorge Soares (Coordinator of the BCC) are part of the NDE of the BCC, recognized with concept four by INEP/MEC. Professor João Quadros is also part of the NDE of EE. Professor Rafaelli Coutinho is part of the NDE of ECA. Professor Laura Assis is  part of the NDE of the EC and is the current coordinator of the EC Course. Professors Eduardo Bezerra, Gustavo Guedes have already acted as department heads and coordinators of the BCC course.

According to Conaes Resolution N 01 of June 17, 2010:

Art. 1. The Structuring Faculty (NDE) of an undergraduate course consists of a group of professors, with academic assignments of accompaniment, acting in the process of conception, consolidation and continuous updating of the pedagogical project of the course.

Single paragraph. The NDE must consist of members Faculty, who exercise academic leadership within it, perceived in the production of knowledge in the area, in the development of teaching, and in other dimensions understood as important by the institution, and that act on the development of the course.

Coordination of the Supervised Internship Course

The supervised internship of the undergraduate courses of CEFET/RJ has a regulation that provides for the monitoring and evaluation of the activities developed by the students. The supervised internship has a workload of 360 hours and must be carried out in a company that has an agreement/registration with the institution. Professor João Quadros was responsible for coordinating this activity in the Computer Science course.

II – Teaching Internship

The teaching internship is a mandatory activity for the scholarship students of the PPCIC. Moreover, it is also encouraged that non-scholarship students can devote themselves to this activity to increase the interaction between undergraduate and graduate studies. It is encouraged the Teaching Internship activity to occur in the Practice of Applied Research course, where in addition to teaching some classes under the supervision of the discipline teacher, PPCIC students coordinate research activities, during the class, for groups of students enrolled in the course. These students have already begun working on the exploration of matters related to their dissertation. This interaction increased the interest of both the master’s student and undergraduate students who became interested in the subject as well. These will be able to choose it as the topic for the Course Completion work, serving as a stimulus to potentially develop them in the future in the master’s degree.

It is noted, therefore, that it is a strategic part of the pedagogical project of both undergraduate and graduate programs to use, in an integrated way, the Practice of Applied Research course as an inductive mechanism for Course Completion works. This brings the advantage of increasing the level of TCCs and research challenges, in the case of PPCIC, are explored. This action aims to consolidate the ongoing research in the PPCIC and stimulates new students to the master’s degree from the base of the undergraduate course in computer science.