Volume 39 (2018): Edizione 334 (August 2018)

The constructivist approach is based on the idea that knowledge can never be passed from one person to another. The only way to acquire knowledge is to create or construct them. The constructivist approach changes also the role of the teacher in the educational process, the task of them is to organize the environment so that the student himself can construct the cognitive forms that teacher wants to give him. In the paper, the nature of the constructivist approach is identified, different aspects regarding mathematics education are analysed as well as the potential impact on the development of mathematical competences in the context of sustainable development is discussed. The study process and learning methods appropriate to constructivist approach also were studied. In order to illustrate the need for a constructivist approach in mathematics education, the survey of students from Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies (LLU) and Riga Technical University (RTU) were carried out, the results of which proved that mathematics learning at universities has to be changed. The current study proved that the constructivist approach radically changes the process of teaching and learning mathematics, connecting it with daily life, rather than teaching only abstract formulas and using a creative approach to mathematical tasks solving. This study shows that using constructivist approach to the teaching of mathematics, the competences needed for sustainable development are boosted.

1991-2017 the Southeast coast of the Baltic Sea area, Lithuania, Latvia and Kaliningrad Region of the Russian coastal habitats was very intense, often chaotic variety of recreational facilities and areas of privatization and urbanization. These processes significantly influenced the character of the recreational landscape of Palanga, Jurmala and other resorts and coastal areas, as well as the expression of the urban structure and architecture of seaside towns, Ventspils, Liepaja, Giruliai, Melnragė, Karklė, Šventoji, Curonian Spit and other settlements. After a quarter of a century, some tendencies of the recreational environment and the evolution of the cultural landscape identity can be noticed. Recently, several projects for the improvement of recreational infrastructure and architectural environments have been implemented in Lithuania with the assistance of the European Union Structural Funds. Unfortunately, the results of the projects are not always positive. The planning of coastal settlements is often overlooked by good long-term planning experience. This article analyses the impact of changes in the quality of the Lithuanian recreational territorial system in the South-Eastern Baltic and the region’s recreational potential. Palanga resort areas dominated by architectural chaos and recreational quality of the environment tended to deteriorate, especially experts poorly assessed the central Basanavičiaus street. The changes in cultural landscapes are influenced by a whole range of methodological and practical factors: insufficiently effective research and modeling methods, unjustified privatization of state property, huge flows of individual automobiles, faults in the formation of recreational greenery. Based on the research of the recreational system of the coastal region of the long-term seaside, it can be concluded that in recent years the quality of the environment of many coastal zones of Lithuania has lost important qualitative components, deteriorated the quality of public spaces and increased urban and architectural chaos.

Rural households are displaced from their lands without any plan in place to resettle or compensate them, for a promise of improvement in their living standards. This has not only resulted in a decline in the living standard of the rural populace, in terms of loss of land and livelihoods, the poor are also further marginalized and impoverished. This study examines the welfare implication of domestic land grabs among rural households in Delta State, Nigeria, employing primary data obtained from one hundred and seventy-three representative farming households. Descriptive analysis revealed that majority were low-income earners and engaged in farming as their major occupation. Econometric analysis revealed land size, secondary education, community leaders’ influence, compensation and the use to which the grabbed land was put into as some of the significant factors influencing domestic land grabs in the study area. Further, the size of land grabbed, no compensation for the use of land and low farm output were found to have negative effects on the welfare of the farmers. Thus, the need to intensify efforts to ensure that the rural populace is not being unreasonably dispossessed of its lands, becomes imperative. The need for commensurate compensation of rural households whose lands were grabbed and periodical checks on community leaders who positively influence domestic land acquisitions arbitrarily also becomes pertinent for improvement in the welfare of the farmers. This is especially so, if these small-scale farmers are to be significant drivers of global food security.

In order to assess the nature of climate change, it is important to analyze the indicators of climate variability in different scales: spatial and temporal. The analysis at different scales can lead to understanding of the nature of variations. Climate change studies are essential for comprehending the nature of global processes, to refine global climate patterns and also develop further research for natural processes (Meinke, Stone, 2005; Hulme et al., 1999). Processes in nature are united, continuous and in constant interaction. Variance of interaction types are immeasurable, types can be connected with different scales and science fields, for example, biological, ecological, physical etc. If interaction is taking place between the land and atmosphere, it is defined as hydrological interaction. As water is significantly important for many purposes on the Earth, it is relevant to analyze precipitation and water runoff on a local scale. In the territory of Latvia, the amount of precipitation exceeds the level of evapotranspiration. Long-term monitoring data show that precipitation leads to average runoff of 250 mm per year (Ziverts, 2004). The monitoring data collected at three research sites located in Latvia was used for this research including Berze (Lielupe river basin, meteorological station in Dobele), Mellupite (Venta river basin, meteorological station in Saldus monitoring) and Vienziemite (Gauja river basin, meteorological station in Zoseni). The results from this study show that there is a pronounced interaction between runoff and precipitation with an average of 53 to 82%.

Population of Indonesian around 265,015,300 people, so they need a huge amount of food. Rice is the most important food staple, but it is still imported around 500,000 t to stabilize the price in Indonesia. However, the country’s import of wheat is approximately >10,000,000 t. Hunger reduction and poverty eradication are the top priorities under SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Production of food based on cereals and grains was inert. Thus to meet the global claims root-crops, particularly cassava, has the potential to be explored. Cassava originated from tropical Latin America; it was distributed to Asia and Africa after Columbus discovered America in the 15^th century. Early distribution of cassava was only across the longitude, recently its distribution is athwart the latitude. Literature review as well as arena reflection were used to gather information to meet the methodology in this research. Increasing productivity to meet the demand of food, feed, and other industrial needs with prosperous communities is considered an endless charity which requires a solid global cooperation. Price fluctuation was a factor affecting cassava progress; however, it was neglected by the government.