This study evaluated the impact of workshops on health and gender conducted through extension programs under Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) in the city of S o Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The method was based on participatory research and action-based research. Women's groups were organized in two locations in the city. The first group was attended by 14 women, with a total of 6 meetings. The second received 18 women and held a total of 11 meetings. The themes discussed and experienced were: relations between parents and children, gender stereotypes and roles, conjugality, limits to abusive behaviors, body and sexuality, and empowerment to deal with violence. Thirteen women who attended the second group changed their behavior patterns, looking for jobs, going back to school, improving their body image, and reassessing situations involving violence. The group of researchers approached the S o Leopoldo Women's Forum and helped strengthen a support network, as well as increasing the visibility of specific policies and the planning and implementation of public policies for women.

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Araucaria angustifolia is a critically endangered tall tree species of valuable wood, and field observations led to the suggestion that limitations imposed to the vertical growth of its tap root system greatly restrict the height of mature individuals. However, experimental studies dealing with the effects of soil depth on the species growth are mostly lacking. This study evaluated and compared the growth responses of young plants of A. angustifolia to distinct rooting depths but same soil volumes. Seeds were planted in pots of different heights and diameters, all containing 3 liters of soil mixture. Plants were submitted to four available rooting depths: 65 (T1), 35 (T2), 20 (T3), and 10 (T4) cm. There were eight experimental units in each treatment, arranged in a randomized complete block design, each block containing two units per treatment. Contrary to what was expected, the T3 and T4 plants had accumulated more mass and attained the same height as the other two groups, after a 10-month growth period in a green house. Those plants also had thicker stems, longer shoot branches, and thicker and longer lateral roots, which were interpreted as compensatory responses to increase plant anchorage and stability. The inverse relationship between rooting depth and plant mass was attributed to a downregulation of shoot growth because or restricted lateral space and/or poor soil aeration of the longer and narrower pots. This experiment allowed us to demonstrate that is not the possibility of the tap root to grow deep into the soil that ensures a better growth to plants of A. angustifolia: provided that the offer of soil volume and resources are the same, the vertical extension of the tap root does not result in greater growth of the plants. In fact, much greater growth impairment is expected from lateral than from vertical restriction to root growth.

Diante da complexidade e diversidade das representações ambientais frente às práticas incipientes em Educação Ambiental (EA) que visam o reconhecimento de problemas ambientais e não o seu enfrentamento, este estudo objetivou analisar atividades interdisciplinares desenvolvidas sob enfoque crítico. Entrevistas semiestruturadas foram realizadas antes e depois da execução das atividades as quais foram desenvolvidas pautadas em temas ambientais locais. A partir delas foi constatado que os alunos possuíam uma visão naturalista de ambiente e relacionavam EA apenas com a natureza. A realização das atividades interdisciplinares viabilizou o entendimento da responsabilidade social e política da comunidade escolar e a visão ambiental se tornou globalizante.

This work sought to investigate how the teaching of Sciences in Rural Education was constituted within the scope of the Escola Família Agrícola (EFA) project, through the instruments of the Pedagogy of Alternation. The EFA is located in the municipality of São Lourenço do Piauí and operates on an alternating basis, students spend 15 days at school and 15 days in the community where they live, a routine that is inspired by the guiding principles of the Pedagogy of Alternation. As for the methodology, a qualitative-quantitative approach was developed, also counting on the documentary and ethnographic method. Materials were consulted, including official documents that contribute to the understanding of the functioning of the EFA. In the field data collection, a version was used as a basic instrument for the Scientific Literacy Test (TACB), applied to students. For the monitors, in addition to the TACB, a semi-structured form was used to outline their profile. The results revealed that, of the 38 students in the 3rd year of the Integrated High School Technical Course in Agriculture and Animal Science, only 11 (28,9%) could be considered scientifically literate, while 27 (71,1%) didn´t reach the minimum number of hits in the three axes. The research carried out in this work indicated that the students´ results were unsatisfactory in relation to the Simplified Basic Scientific Literacy (TACB-S), which implies the quality of science teaching in this EFA.