Newsletter #40

An overview of mathematical literacy in Brazil: an interview with PISA analyst Esther Carvalhaes

PISA analyst Esther Carvalhaes during her talk at the University of São Paulo, in May (Credit: RIDC NeuroMat) The 2015 OECD’s PISA result “tells us that most students in Brazil, after spending many years in compulsory education, are unable to make use of mathematics concepts and procedures to perform even basic operations and solve very simple problems.” PISA stands for Program for International Student Assessment, a study to assess the performance of 15-year-old students in various countries on three academic areas: reading, mathematics and science. The recently published 2015 assessment has indicated that Brazil “was well below the average performance of students in the developed world in all three areas tested.”

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Last NeuroMat scientific publications

• Shimoura, R. O., Pena, R. F., & Roque, A. C. (2015). Effect of synaptic plasticity on functional connectivity and global activity of a neocortical network model. BMC Neuroscience, 16(Suppl 1), P210.

• Mota, N. B., Weissheimer, J., Madruga, B., Adamy, N., Bunge, S. A., Copelli, M., & Ribeiro, S. (2016). A Naturalistic Assessment of the Organization of Children's Memories Predicts Cognitive Functioning and Reading Ability. Mind, Brain, and Education, 10(3), 184-195.

• Martins, E. F., Lemos, T., Saunier, G., Pozzo, T., Fraiman, D., & Vargas, C. D. (2017). Cerebral dynamics during the observation of point-lights displays depicting postural adjustments. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 217.

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NeuroMat opportunities

• Positions for Postdoctoral Researchers

• Opening for Web-based and mobile application design Scholarship

• Openings for Software Developers

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NeuroMat Parkinson Network

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On NeuroMat

NeuroMat is a research center established in 2013 at the University of São Paulo that is dedicated to integrating mathematical modeling and theoretical neuroscience. Among the core missions of NeuroMat are the creation of a new mathematical system to understanding neural data and the development of neuroscientific open-source computational tools. The research center is headed by Prof. Antonio Galves, from USP's Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, and is funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). To receive monthly updates on NeuroMat's work or pertaining news, please subscribe to NeuroMat's newsletter.

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Previous issues of the NeuroMat Newsletter (features)

Newsletter #39

• New fronts in the effort of disseminating science

Newsletter #38

• NeuroMat organizes meeting on mathematical literacy in Brazil

Newsletter #37

• NeuroMat initiative to address research and education on brachial plexus injuries