Educação científica no contexto pós-ontológico: por uma concepção plural de conhecimento e educação

The development of this work arises from the research of sociological and philosophical characters contemplating also other approaches which aims to answer the followingquestions: what is the responsibility of science teaching for the image one has about science? ; which scientific education should be designed for nowadays? . After considering the assumptions brought along by rationalism and the criticisms to the illuminist model proposed by sociology and philosophy of science, as well by the biology of the knowing process, going through discussions concerning post-modernity issues, one is given to understand that the image of science has become the central point of discussion in the last hundred years, including what concerns the area of science teaching, and that practically none of those discussions really reached natural science classes indeed. We adopt the term postontological to characterize the recent proposals on philosophy and sociology, because we evaluate that this term allows a better identification of the scientific realism crisis, which supports the existence of an ontological domain which science, and only science, is able to understand. One notices that the general public is not aware of those discussions, mainly if they are science teachers and students. So we believe that discussing the logic in which science is structured, the new understandings concerning the scientific undertaking, especially those of an externalist character, and the relationship between science and society, all of this contributes to build up a science teaching which contemplates a reflective contribution, besides allowing the inclusion of the study of other epistemologies in the educational practice. We argue that a revisionist posture seems to be the most appropriate for the contemporary scientific education, contemplating, besides the teaching of the usual science contents, discussions on the issues involving that knowledge, as well as respecting epistemologies alternative to the modern Western scientific one, in order one can work on the perception of local knowledge generated from other epistemological bases. We describe here practical activities we did involving teachers (short-term courses) and high-school students in an inland school in the Rio Grande do Norte state, in Brazil, as a way to demonstrate the possibility of interventions which can take those conceptions, discussions and changes to the classroom

A Experiência como ordenação da realidade: uma estratégia orgânica para a educação científica

Knowledge is understanding. According to the philosopher Gaston Bachelard our immediate contact with the reality is only worth as confusing and provisional data. This phenomenological contact requires inventory and classification. For this reason our first reading on any phenomenon is limited to a basic levels of reality. Elements such as dynamics, functioning or detailed characteristics of what is observed can only be accessed at higher levels of reality, explains the physicist Werner Heisenberg. The ideas woven by these two great intellectuals oxygenates the notion that a well-made thinking does not require only observation and description of the nature, but assigns value and meaning to the knowledge. Based on these ideas and on the cognitive horizon brought by the complexity sciences, this research aims to nurture a reflection on our understanding of the world built from a rational perspective of experience, as an organic sequence of research. This arguments, over the study, describes how the experience is able to oxygenate a well-made thinking, as the concept created by Edgar Morin and expanded by Conceição Almeida. I argue that the experience as a path of investigative research allows one to ventures in the shadows of the unknown to access upper layers of reality. The experience is, therefore, an organic strategy for a well-made thinking - A nutritious mud that oxygenates, regulates, repairs and configures the quality of understanding. As a thread to discuss this ideas I've used my professional journey over a year and a half as a Natural Sciences' teacher on the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, where I could see how experiences helped on breaking a simplified understanding of the world. I chose to work with the research problems developed by 398 students over these three semesters. The problems were essential to the questioning of the phenomena that once seemed obvious or uninteresting, bringing out operational reasons and dynamics of the observed structures. Experience, in this sense, is the founder of dynamic thinking, as the need to deconstruct the phenomena's first impressions, assigning value and meaning to gestated knowledge.

Robótica e educação: uma possibilidade de inserção sócio-digital

This paper presents a reflection on the use of robotics in education technology and the fostering of social and digital inclusion, unveiling a new field that has been outlined today. Robotics constitutes a tool still little known and not regulated at national level in education, there is little experience involving the tool in the Northeast. This research aims to reveal one of the first experiments with educational level robotics in Rio Grande do Norte. We present a field research conducted in a public school chancellor for a major institute of science and technology education of the state from seeking review of the robotics course, understand how they work and show their use in school and shows that contributions were generated for digital inclusion category students, based on speeches by teachers, engineers, management and students. As part of gathering information, we used the focus group technique, applied in two stages, one with groups of students, teachers and other school administration, as well as comments directed to the times when the robotics course was being finalized. As a result, we found that the school, through the robotics course is a provider of social and digital inclusion, since it awakens in the sample of students in this research knowledge enabler of social change. And that despite the student category do not understand the depth of meaning of inclusion, the same report in daily actions that integrate technology into their social context in harmony, enjoying its cultural citizenship in full

Professores de ciências naturais: necessidades formativas para ensinar a medir em trabalhos práticos e experimentais

This paper presents a research realized with Physics, Chemistry and Biology teachers, and it aimed to evaluate: 1) the development level of those teachers regarding the abilities that make possible to teach high school students about how to measure in practical and experimental work; 2) the formatives necessities regarding those abilities; and 3) the order of priority for teacher´s formation regarding those abilities. The study is based on the activity theory, from A. N. Leontiev (1983), since we considerer the teacher´s formation a kind of activity for which the category necessity is source of motivation and in which is a necessary condition for professionality and for the professional development. A questionnaire with open and closed questions was applied to 116 teachers during three pedagogic workshops realized to dynamize the science laboratory. The instrument allowed us to obtain the personal and professional profile of the participants, as well as their development level, their formative necessities and their order of priority about the teaching of the abilities related to the work of testing measuring hypothesis, regarding: a) to operationalize variables of a hypothesis in experimental work; b) to measure in practical and experimental work; c) to estimate possible measuring mistakes and use proper procedures to minimize them; d) to estimate the validity of a measuring; and e) to estimate the confiability of a measuring. The research results indicated some limitations of the teachers about their development level in all the analyzed abilities. More than 90% of the teachers considered those deficiencies as necessities of the continuing formation. Most of them (about 54%) expressed immediate priority for formation in each one of the abilities. From a correlation, using the statistic chi-square test, between the development level and the formative necessities for the five abilities, the obtained results allow us to assure that, for all those teaching abilities, there is a strong correlation between the development level and the formative necessity. This situation is symptomatic of the importance of approaching more the science teaching and the teacher´s formation on practical and experimental work in high school as key-component of scientific education in basic education. The obtained results can contribute, as subsidy, for continuing formation courses, having as base the necessities that constitute motivation elements of the teachers for professional development

Literatura de monteiro lobato no ensino de ciências

Advocating education as a humanizing task, the humanizing function of literature and the importance of scientific education, this paper proposes linking Science and Literature in Science Teaching using two specific books of Monteiro Lobato in the final series of elementary school level. Adopting the action research methodology, an interdisciplinary approach, we used the books A Reforma da Natureza and Serões de Dona Benta in two classes (8th and 9th) at Escola Estadual Professor José Mamede, located in the town of Tibau do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte. The readings were performed in Portuguese Language s course and the scientific content were discussed in Science´s classrooms. The book A Reforma da Natureza permitted to approach issues related to the environment, while the use of Serões de Dona Benta showed particularly its effectiveness in questioning the concepts of matter, mass, weight and some questions about the Nature of Science (NOS). In general, the analysis of results shows that the readings of these two books permitted interaction and dialogicity in the classroom, as well as indicates the potential of these books in contextualing and questioning the scientific content contained in it. We advise, however, the need for the science teacher be aware of the conceptual mistakes present in literary works, avoiding erroneous learning and reinforcement of alternative conceptions

Controvérsias sobre a natureza da luz: uma aplicação didática

Researches in the field of Science Teaching have shown, in recent decades, that students from high school level have difficulties in understanding basic concepts of science, in general, and physics, in particular. The specific literature indicates, as a priority for a scientific education of better quality, a more structured understanding about science. This work proposes the introduction of elements of History and Philosophy of Science in high school as an aid to learning the concepts of optics, in general, and of aspects concerning the nature of science, specifically. Making use of historical episodes regarding the controversy on the nature of light, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as clippings of the history of optics in relation to the development of models that explain the process of vision, we formulated a teaching unit and implemented it on two night high school classes of a public school in the city of Parnamirim (RN). The unit involved, primarily, the reading of three historical texts containing written questions followed by a collective debate ("moot"). The results indicated some difficulties in overcoming the misconceptions related to the process of vision and the nature of light. Nevertheless, we believe that the teaching unit has succeeded in relation to the learning of most students, both in relation to a better understanding of science as well as concepts of optics

Trabalhos prático-experimentais no ensino da biologia: Uma análise dos livros didáticos de Biologia aprovados no PNLD/2012

El trabajo práctico experimental en la educación en Ciencias y en el contexto de la enseñanza de la Biología es un objetivo clave. Teniendo en cuenta la influencia de los libros de texto en la actividad profesional de docentes, interesado en este estudio para caracterizar la orientación de este tipo de materiales, para el trabajo práctico experimental y el uso de la medición en esta actividad. Para ello analizaron las ocho colecciones de libros de Biología aprobado en PNLD en 2012. La investigación es de naturaleza descriptiva e interpretativa y de recogida de datos ha sido elegida por el método de análisis de contenido (BARDIN, 2002). El análisis de los trabajos práctico experimentales buscó caracterizar su naturaleza epistemológica, concepción de la ciencia implícita, conceptual, tipología, contenido conceptual de Biología utilizado, cuántos implican medidas, y cómo se utiliza en este contexto según el procedimiento general para medir propuesto por Núñez y Silva (2008). Los trabajo práctico experimental ha sugerido una epistemología de la enseñanza conceptual, carácter racionalista en su mayoría y dominada por las actividades del tipo de ejercicio práctico, a necesidad de medir está presente en una minoría de estos y se se utiliza el procedimiento general de medición de forma parcial e implícito en la mayoría de los trabajos prático experimentales. Por lo tanto, proponemos en este actividades de estudio a desarrollar una guía de análisis de los trabajo práctico experimentales propuesto en los libros de texto de Biología

Física do meio ambiente: desafios de uma disciplina focada na formação de habilidades gerais

A disciplina Física do Meio Ambiente (FMA) foi criada em 1976 no Departamento de Física Teórica e Experimental da UFRN e, atualmente, faz parte da estrutura curricular do curso de Licenciatura em Física da UFRN e é de caráter obrigatório. Tal caráter se justifica, dentre outros motivos, pelo fato de que esta disciplina representa uma boa oportunidade dos licenciandos estudarem de que forma a Física pode contribuir para a compreensão de fenômenos relativos ao nosso Meio Ambiente, sejam eles relacionados às atividades humanas ou aos fenômenos naturais propriamente ditos e que, de uma forma ou de outra, afeta a sociedade. O nosso trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivo principal elaborar um novo programa de ensino para a disciplina de Física do Meio Ambiente adequado às necessidades da educação científica para o século XXI. A pesquisa foi conduzida inicialmente com um levantamento histórico da disciplina desde sua origem no Departamento de Física ate os dias atuais, analise dos Projetos Pedagógicos do curso de Licenciatura em Física da UFRN, revisão bibliográfica sobre as definições de competências e habilidades em um contexto de ensino e segundo o pensamento de vanguarda nesse campo de pesquisa, acompanhamento do curso durante um semestre através de aulas observacionais, aplicação de questionário para a coleta de dados e análise de alguns livros didáticos de Física do Ensino Médio. A partir do perfil ou modelo profissional para o licenciado em Física da UFRN definimos os objetivos gerais para a disciplina de FMA em termos de habilidades gerais relacionadas com as atividades que um futuro professor de Física irá desempenhar no seu dia a dia. O nosso programa de ensino foi pensado no sentido de introduzir conteúdos de didática específica ao longo da disciplina, isto é, familiarizar os professores em formação com investigação e inovação didáticas voltadas para o ensino de temas que envolvam a conexão entre Física e Meio Ambiente. Como resultado de nossa pesquisa foi proposto um novo Programa de Ensino para FMA que pode ser útil aos futuros professores desta disciplina e foi elaborado segundo uma metodologia de organização científica do processo ensino

Possibilidades de enfoque CTS para o ensino superior de química: proposta de uma abordagem para ácidos e bases

Scientific education has been passing by redefinitions, contestations and new contributions from the research on science teaching. One contribution is the idea of science and technology literacy, allowing the citizens not only knowing science but also understand aspects on the construction and motivation of scientific and technological research. In accordance with this idea, there is the Science-Technology-Society (STS) studies which, since the 1970s, has been contributing for science teaching and learning according to the comprehension of the relationships with society in the Western countries of the North. In Brazil, this approach began to gain projection from the 1990s when the first essays on the theme were published. Currently, there is a clear influence of this approach on the national curriculum guidelines, especially for the area of Natural Sciences, and also on the textbooks chosen by the High School National Program (Programa Nacional do Ensino Médio). However, there seems to be a gap in relation to the discussion on the specific curricular component seen in college on this approach. Thus, this study aims at adopting the approach STS, face to the preparation of complimentary educational material on acid and bases concepts studied in the course of General Chemistry of the Natural Sciences graduation program. To this end, it was performed a bibliographical research aiming at making the state-of-the-art in in these concepts in specific literature to science teaching. It is divided in two stages: systematic study (with sixteen journals chosen according to Qualis-Capes and an unsystematic study with direct search in databases and references in the papers of the systematic study. The studies had their content analyzed and the categories chosen a priori were the level of education, the acid-base theory adopted, and the strategy/theoretical frame of reference adopted. A second stage aimed at identifying attitudes and beliefs on STS (Science-Technology-Society) and CSE (Chemistry-Society-Environment) of students in the teacher and technologist training course in three diferent institutions: UTFPR, UFRN and IFRN. In this study, it was used two questionnaires, composed of a Likert scale, semantic differential scale and open questions. The quantitative data reliability was estimated through Cronbach’s alpha method, and tha data were treated according to classic statistics, using the mean as the centrality measures, and the mean deviation as dispersion. The qualitative data were treated according to the content analysis with categories taken from the reading of answers. In the third stage, it was analyzed the presence of STS and CSE content in chapters on acid and bases concepts of nine General Chemistry textbooks, frequently used in graduation programs in public institutions of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The results showed that there are few proposals of acid and bases teaching, and they are generally aimed at High School or at instrumentation for teaching courses, and no course for General Chemistry. The student’s attitudes and beliefs show the presence of a positivist point of view based on the concept of Science and Technology neutrality and the salvation of its mediation. The books analysis showed just a few content on STS and CSE are found in the studied chapters, and they are generally presented disjointedly in relation to the rest of the main text. In the end, as suggestion to solve the absence of proposals STS in General Chemistry books, as well as the student’s positivist attitudes, it was developed some educational material to be used in the course of General Chemistry at College. The material is structured to introduce a historical view of the concepts preparation, present the use of materials, the industrial and technological processes, and social and environmental consequences of this activities

Corpo, beleza e cultura: reflexões a partida produção científica da educação física

Falar em corpo e beleza parece algo bastante familiar à Educação Física. Para tanto, consideraremos a relação entre os significados do corpo e da beleza identificados nas produções analisadas e os modelos de beleza na Educação Física. Essa pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa, tendo a Análise de Conteúdo para tratamento dos dados. O corpus de análise foi composto por 8 dissertações da área de Educação Física, publicadas no Banco de Teses da Capes no período de 2004 a 2008, selecionados a partir da temática corpo e beleza. Diante do exposto, foi possível observar que a compreensão do corpo e da beleza na área, vem sendo ressignificada ao admitir outras concepções estéticas de belo, o que representa o avanço ocorrido na área no trato do conhecimento do corpo e da beleza

Análise do processo de aprendizagem e alfabetização científica sobre a evolução dos veterbrados em um museu de ciências

Os museus como centros de ciências, enquanto espaços de educação não formal podem, por meio da participação ativa do público, promover a compreensão da ciência ao aguçar a curiosidade do indivíduo e estimular o prazer pela descoberta. Ação desenvolvida como intervenção acadêmica, social e cultural associada ao PIBID/UFRN/Biologia, tem como objetivo avaliar o uso de espaço de ensino não formal, na aprendizagem de conceitos, promovendo a alfabetização científica através de uma exposição em um museu de ciências e morfológicas. A visitação foi realizada no Museu de Ciências Morfológicas da UFRN, com alunos do 1º ano do ensino médio da escola Estadual Lourdes Guilherme, sendo aplicados questionários de pré e pós-visita sobre a Evolução dos Vertebrados, com intuito de analisar a contribuição do museu na aprendizagem destes conteúdos. A porcentagem de acertos no questionário pré-visita variou entre 8 e 68% em relação ao conhecimento geral dos alunos quanto à evolução dos vertebrados, enquanto no pós-visita essa variação foi de 16 a 90%. Com base nesses primeiros resultados verificamos o quanto os museus interativos de ciência se apresentam como um espaço educativo complementar à educação formal, possibilitando a ampliação e a melhoria do conhecimento científico de estudantes. Isso demonstra que o uso de espaços não formais contribui para a aprendizagem significativa, além de promover a alfabetização científica destes alunos ao gerar a compreensão da ciência e aguçar a curiosidade dos mesmos para o prazer da descoberta.

Permanências e perspectivas no ensino de projeto de arquitetura no Brasil: uma análise a partir da produção científica dos Seminários UFRGS (1985) e Projetar (2003-2011)

O objeto de estudo desta tese é o ensino de projeto de arquitetura no contexto acadêmico brasileiro. O trabalho procura analisar esse objeto nos aspectos relativos ao ensinar a fazer e ao aprender a fazer , por meio de uma perspectiva epistemológica e cognitiva, a partir da produção científica dos Seminários UFRGS (1985) e Projetar (2003-2011) sob o olhar de três estados constitutivos: conservação, permanência e transformação. A metodologia de investigação é qualitativa e seus pressupostos são investigad os por meio do método hipotético-dedutivo em busca de um conhecimento aproximativo. Dentro do universo pesquisado, as hipóteses conduzem: primeiro, à investigação e caracterização de estruturas que se conservam; segundo, à investigação e levantamento de valores e conceitos que permanecem adequados por sua capacidade de adaptação às mudanças e paradigmas; e, terceiro, por procurarem destacar práticas pedagógicas que indicam novos caminhos na maneira de agir e de se pensar o ensino de projeto de arquitetura. A pesquisa demonstrou que, embora em menores proporções, ainda se conservam ações e posturas pedagógicas que: valorizam os ideais funcionalistas e racionalistas da arquitetura; adotam posturas deterministas, caminhos prescritivos ou intuitivos no ensino da concepção arquitetural; não apresentam clareza metodológica na abordagem da problemática arquitetônica; os contextos urbanos são pouco explorados na experimentação; utilizam um sistema de concepção baseado em princípios estéticos canônicos e universais, sem problematizar as causas da transformação da arquitetura contemporânea e qual o seu papel numa sociedade complexa e diversificada. Com relação às novas perspectivas encontradas, a análise da produção científica demonstrou que a prática pedagógica do ensino de projeto de arquitetura no Brasil passa por transformações críticas valiosas. Essa constatação foi percebida, por meio, também, de reflexões e de práticas pedagógicas que valorizam a integração de conteúdos; que possuem um discurso crítico e conciliador com relação à necessidade de renovação de práticas, paradigmas, meios e conteúdos; que estão abertas às posturas cooperativas e às estratégias para a constituição de um corpo teórico-prático para o ensino do projeto que não se limite ao campo da arquitetura; que reconhecem a importância das novas tecnologias computacionais na concepção projetual e no ensino do projeto, assim como, as tecnologias e estratégias que atualizam as soluções projetuais no uso adequado dos recursos ambientais; que consideram o espaço acadêmico como um lugar propício para as experiências projetuais e pedagógicas; que manifestam um esforço em considerar a participação do usuário, assim como em realizar um processo de apreensão de contextos complexos como objeto de estudo, adotando uma postura de valorização do processo projetual. O trabalho conclui que a educação do arquiteto deve estar atenta aos aspectos relativos à inclusão da realidade sociocultural e ambiental como referência para o fazer arquitetural em detrimento da primazia dada à racionalidade técnica, uma vez que essa realidade permite a mediação, entre o ser e o mundo , como uma estratégia que supera qualquer antecipação programática e viabiliza a transformação e a construção do próprio ser e do mundo . Assim, se o aprender fazendo é necessário para a formação do arquiteto, que esse fazer seja refletido e retroalimente a prática

Pesquisa odontológica no Brasil: características da produção científica no início do século XXI

Dentistry, as a science and field of knowledge, has presented a substantial development in the last decades in the areas of research and education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Brazilian scientific production in Dentistry, as from their methodological outlining, which characterizes the XXI Century. Five thousand two hundred and three study abstracts were evaluated, comprising works presented in the meetings of the Brazilian Society of Dentistry Research (SBPqO), during the period of 2001 to 2006. The main results identify that, as for the methodology used in the researches, there was a predominance of the studies of an individuate, interventionist and longitudinal nature; of the researches in the areas of Dentistry, Periodontology, Endodontics, Pedodontics and Collective Oral Health and experimental studies about clinical researches or with collective subjects. The inter and multidisciplinarity are pointed out in the outlining of this study, as the triad Education-Health-Research is discussed, so that they transcend in their fields of action, in the direction of the transdisciplinarity. It is concluded that, in the studied period, there was a reasonable and balanced production in Brazilian dental field

Mens sana in corpore sano: compreensões de corpo, saúde e educação

This thesis proposes that the idea expressed in Juvenal s quotation Mens Sana in Corpore Sano, produced in the Ancient Greek-Roman civilization includes undestandings of body, heath and education that were reapropriated and reorganized by scientific and pedagogical theories in the XIX and XX centuries. These theories, especially the ones that received contributions from the biomedical sciences, have influenced Physical Education in the search of becoming a science. In order to realize this reapropriation, we have analyzed the transformations in the concepts of body, health and education produced in the area discourse, aiming at pointing out elements to the configuration of a theory that is being called Corpore Sano. The theory constitutes in possible systematization of scientific, philosophical and pedagogical concepts, and as such, an understanding of the scientific fundaments of Physical Education. The corpus of this analysis was composed by 148 articles that were published in Revista Brasileira de Ciências do Esporte digitalized in the period between 1979 and 2003 and selected according to theme: body, biology, physical activity, effort physiology and health. The analysis of the content and the referential interpretation allowed the combination of philosophical reflection with attention to the empiric field as a comprehensive dimension. Based on the corpus of the analysis it is possible to configure meta-arguments about the concepts of body, health and education in the scientific production of Physical Education. As a metaresearch. Our study did not intend to judge the analyzed production, but look for theoretical elements that may generate a reflection about the scientific rationality in Physical Education and developments in the pedagogical field and in body practices. Such a reflection might be recognized as a theory of the living body, susceptible to modifications and interrogations that are proper of knowledge and practices of Physical Education. It is a theory rejects the idea of the complete truth and holds the comprehension that the truth is built historically through relations among different kinds of knowledge and Physical Education practices

Frankenstein, o prometeu moderno ciência, literatura e educação

À partir des études de l'anthropologue Bruno Latour, dans lesquelles on montre l'importance de la rhétorique et des stratégies institutionnelles dans la fabrication des vérités scientifiques; des hypothèses concernant la nature ambiguë des sciences dressées par Isabelle Stengers et des idées d'Edgar Morin sur la nécessité de combattre la pensée fragmenteuse et de relier culture scientifique et culture humanistique, la thèse aborde la relation de l'homme avec ses artefacts, le défi des descriptions des phénomènes et de leurs propriétés, du dialogue entre les humains et les plusieures dimensions de la matière, et de la responsabilité qui devrait venir avec tous les progrès scientifiques. Victor Frankenstein, sa créature, Brown-Séquard et la testostérone synthétique, sont des acteurs qui aident à composer le panorama cognitif de la recherche qui étend les limites de la science et du social au collectif de non-humains et revendique une réforme de la pensée et de l'éducation que les inclut