Questões de Concursos Inglês

Text I

The BNCC and Twenty-First Century Skills

The most ambitious feature of the BNCC, which only appeared in the document’s third version, was to establish ten core competencies that all students should develop throughout basic education, starting in early childhood. These competencies include lifelong learning, critical thinking, aesthetic sensibilities, communication skills, digital literacy, entrepreneurship, self-care, empathy, citizenship and ethics. The core competencies broaden the goals of basic education well-beyond academic skills to twenty-first century skills widely regarded as essential to preparing the next generations for the challenges of the 4th industrial revolution.

As ambitious as it was, the BNCC was criticized for the lack of explicit links between the ten core competencies and the subject specific competencies and skills, leaving cities and states with the responsibility of making these links themselves. In addition to this, the core competencies are not generally integrated into teacher training programs and are often de-prioritized for the more basic literacy and numeracy needs. In this context, the Ministry of Education and its partners in the third sector have developed orientations, produced videos and online courses aimed at filling this gap, and helped cities and states integrate the ten core competencies in their curricula.

[…]

Ensuring all Brazilian students master the ten core competencies laid out by the BNCC by the end of high school is a long-term, extremely ambitious goal. Before we can set a timeframe for when we will be able to achieve this feat, we need to know where we stand. Due to the core competencies’ complexity, each involves several skills, attitudes and sometimes values, it is unclear whether we will be capable of measuring all ten of them and by when. Until then we are in the company of the OECD, which is already tackling this challenge and will likely pave the way for Brazil in this respect

Note: BNCC: Base Nacional Comum Curricular;

OECD: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Adapted from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-41882-3_2

Read the excerpt to answer questions 26 to 28.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

― Charles Dickens

TEXT 1

What do AI chatbots really mean for students and cheating?

October 31, 2023 By

Carrie Spector

The launch of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots has triggered an alarm for many educators, who worry about students using the technology to cheat by passing its writing off as their own. But two Stanford researchers say that concern is misdirected, based on their ongoing research into cheating among U.S. high school students before and after the release of ChatGPT.

Here, Lee and Pope discuss the state of cheating in U.S. schools, what research shows about why students cheat, and their recommendations for educators working to address the problem.

What do we know about how much students cheat?

Pope: We know that cheating rates have been high for a long time. At Challenge Success we’ve been running surveys and focus groups at schools for over 15 years, asking students about different aspects of their lives — the amount of sleep they get, homework pressure, extracurricular activities, family expectations, things like that — and also several questions about different forms of cheating.

For years, long before ChatGPT hit the scene, some 60 to 70 percent of students have reported engaging in at least one “cheating” behavior during the previous month. That percentage has stayed about the same or even decreased slightly in our 2023 surveys, when we added questions specific to new AI technologies, like ChatGPT, and how students are using it for school assignments.

So AI isn’t changing how often students cheat — just the tools that they’re using?

Lee: The most prudent thing to say right now is that the data suggest, perhaps to the surprise of many people, that AI is not increasing the frequency of cheating. This may change as students become increasingly familiar with the technology, and we’ll continue to study it and see if and how this changes. But I think it’s important to point out that, in Challenge Success’ most recent survey, students were also asked if and how they felt an AI chatbot like ChatGPT should be allowed for school-related tasks. Many said they thought it should be acceptable for “starter” purposes, like explaining a new concept or generating ideas for a paper. But the vast majority said that using a chatbot to write an entire paper should never be allowed. So this idea that students who’ve never cheated before are going to suddenly run amok and have AI write all of their papers appears unfounded. What would you suggest to school leaders who are concerned about students using AI chatbots?

Pope: Even before ChatGPT, we could never be sure whether kids were getting help from a parent or tutor or another source on their assignments, and this was not considered cheating. Kids in our focus groups are wondering why they can't use ChatGPT as another resource to help them write their papers — not to write the whole thing word for word, but to get the kind of help a parent or tutor would offer. We need to help students and educators find ways to discuss the ethics of using this technology and when it is and isn't useful for student learning.

Lee: There’s a lot of fear about students using this technology. Schools have considered putting significant amounts of money in AI-detection software, which studies show can be highly unreliable. Some districts have tried blocking AI chatbots from school wifi and devices, then repealed those bans because they were ineffective. AI is not going away. Along with addressing the deeper reasons why students cheat, we need to teach students how to understand and think critically about this technology. For starters, at Stanford we’ve begun developing free resources to help teachers bring these topics into the classroom as it relates to different subject areas. We know that 3 teachers don’t have time to introduce a whole new class, but we have been working with teachers to make sure these are activities and lessons that can fit with what they’re already covering in the time they have available.

I think of AI literacy as being akin to driver’s education: We’ve got a powerful tool that can be a great asset, but it can also be dangerous. We want students to learn how to use it responsibly.

Available from: < https://ed.stanford.edu/news/what-do-ai-chatbots-really-mean-students-and-cheating>. Access: 08 Dec., 2023. Adapted.

Text 2

(Part II) Students’ skills

But graduation rates, while important, speak little to the quality of education received. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reviews the extent to which students near the end of their compulsory education (usually around age 15) have acquired some of the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies, particularly in reading, mathematics and science.

In 2018, PISA tested students from 79 countries, including OECD countries, Brazil, the Russian Federation and South Africa. The students were tested on their reading ability, their skills in maths and level in sciences. Research shows that these skills are more reliable predictors of economic and social well-being than the number of years spent in school or in post -formal education. The average student in the OECD area scored 488. On average in the OECD, girls scored 491 compared with 485 for boys.

Estonia is the highest-performing OECD country, with average PISA scores of 526, followed by Japan and Korea with 520 points. The lowest performing OECD country, Colombia, has an average score of 406. This means that the gap between the highest and lowest performing OECD countries is 120 points.

The best-performing school systems manage to provide highquality education to all students. In Canada, Estonia, Finland and Ireland for example, students tend to perform well regardless of their social background. In Israel and Luxembourg however, the gap between the students with the lowest socio-economic background and the students with the highest socio-economic background reaches more than 120 points, suggesting students’ socio-economic background tends to have an impact on their results. On average across OECD countries, there is a widening 89-point difference in PISA scores between the students with the highest and lowest socio-economic background.

https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/education/

TEXT 2

Workplace Burnout Survey

Burnout without borders

Deloitte’s marketplace survey on burnout

Professionals today are undoubtedly feeling the pressure of an ‘always on’ work culture, causing stress and sometimes leading to burnout.

Deloitte’s external marketplace survey of 1,000 full-time US professionals explores the drivers and impact of employee burnout, while also providing insight into the benefits and programs employees feel can help prevent or alleviate burnout versus those their companies are currently offering.

The findings indicate that 77 percent of respondents say they have experienced employee burnout at their current job, with more than half citing more than one occurrence. The survey also uncovered that employers may be missing the mark whenit comes to developing well-being programs that their employees find valuable to address stress in the workplace.

Additionally, the survey found that:

• Employee burnout has no boundaries: 91 percent of respondents say having an unmanageable amount of stress or frustration negatively impacts the quality of their work. 83 percent of respondents say burnout from work can negatively impact their personal relationships.

• Passion may not prevent workplace stress: 87 percent of professionals surveyed say they have passion for their current job but 64 percent say they are frequently stressed, dispelling the myth that passionate employees are immune to stress or burnout.

• Many companies may not be doing enough to minimize burnout: Nearly 70 percent of professionals feel their employers are not doing enough to prevent or alleviate burnout within their organization. 21 percent of respondents say their company does not offer any programs or initiatives to prevent or alleviate burnout.
• Companies should consider workplace culture, not just well-being programs: One in four professionals say they never or rarely take all of their vacation days. The top driver of burnout cited in the survey is lack of support or recognition from leadership, indicating the important role that leaders play in setting the tone.

• Burnout affects millennial retention: 84 percent of millennials say they have experienced burnout at their current job, compared to 77 percent of all respondents. Nearly half of millennials say they have left a job specifically because they felt burned out, compared to 42 percent of all respondents.

from: <https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/burnout-survey.html> Access: 08 Dec., 2023. Adapted