Literature Index

In this article, we describe an experience with the teaching and learning of the Poisson´s Model, directed to university students. We used the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic and the principles of the Mathematical Modeling Process for the elaboration of the teaching sequence, showing that it is possible to build the model without resorting to the Binomial limit, making use of the notions of calculus. In the development of the learning activities, the computer was used as a didactic tool. The analysis of results was based on the Theory of the Semiotic Functions and proved that the students learned many significant elements considered in the teaching. On the other hand, the study allowed for the identification of difficulties throughout the process: for example, the interpretation of expressions such as "at least" and "at most", the representation used, the analysis of the results of hypothesis tests and the manipulation of the software.

Criticism of, exposure to, and justification of the educational task of universities is escalating. The era of the untouchable ivory tower has gone forever. Universities are experiencing an increasing loss of status. The reason for this is that functionality is used as criterion for efficiency end effectiveness. The value and meaning of universities for society, in terms of the provision of manpower, contribution to the national economy, planning, and the solving of problems, are of prime importance. In addition, the democratisation process requires increasingly more claims on and participation in the management and control of universities by all interested parties, whether parents or students or donors or the community (as ratepayers) or the professions. Whatever the case may be, the searchlight is directed more and more at the lecturing function of universities. Present-day universities are no longer "elite" universities, but mass universities. Because of this, as well as the ever-increasing cost of equipment and facilities, the claims of the ratepayer are growing, and therefore he or she looks more and more critically at the effectiveness of universities, which according to him or her - inadmissably oversimplified - is measured in pass and fail figures. In its great and unique task, namely the provision of high-level manpower, only one guarantee for success exists for the educational task of universities: to strive for excellence at all levels; and only one successful reality: a healthy balance between the timeless - striving for intellectual and academic progress and the contemporary - meeting the demand of relevance. For the lecturer this means the optimum allocation of his or her time to teaching, research, and rendering of professional service, and to build and develop these tasks on excellence.