The Development of Science Education Research in Brazil and Contributions from the History and Philosophy of Science

Over the last 50 years a new research area, science education research, has arisen and undergone singular development worldwide. In the specific case of Brazil, research in science education first appeared systematically 40 years ago, as a consequence of an overall renovation in the field of science education. This evolution was also related to the political events taking place in the country. We will use the theoretical work of Rene Kaes on the development of groups and institutions as a basis for our discussion of the most important aspects that have helped the area of science education research develop into an institution and kept it operating as such. The growth of this area of research can be divided into three phases: The first was related to its beginning and early configurations; the second consisted of a process of consolidation of this institution; and the third consists of more recent developments, characterised by a multiplicity of research lines and corresponding challenges to be faced. In particular, we will analyse the special contributions to this study gleaned from the field known as the history and philosophy of science.

The informational turn in Philosophy: any novelty in the study of Mind?

The concept of information is analyzed starting from Adams' hypothesis in The Informational Turn in Philosophy, according to which there has been a far-reaching turn in Philosophy following the publication of Turing's article "Computing Machinery and Intelligence". Adams maintains that new guidelines are being indicated in philosophical research, having the concept of "information" as the basis for treatment of classical problems, such as the relationships between mind-body, perception-action, and the nature of knowledge, amongst others. Partially agreeing with Adams, we believe, however, that his hypothesis faces difficulties, the most fundamental of which concerns the different meanings given to the concept of information. We argue that even though the concept of information underlying the mechanicist proposal of Turing, according to which "to think is to compute", is indeed being employed in Philosophy, this is not because of its mechanistic nature, but mainly due to the representationist presupposition dominant in this area. From this point of view, the informational turn in philosophy would not provide any great novelty, given that since the earliest days philosophical approaches to the nature of mind have always been mainly representationist. The novelty would not lie specifically in the Turing thesis, but in reflections on the nature of information, especially ecological information, and its relation to action.

The Rechtslehre doctrine and Kant's philosophy of history

The text is divided in two phases. In the first phase, consisting of three parts, the main concepts of Kant's Doctrine of Right are considered in a comprehensive approach related to: the issue of the relations between natural right and positive right, problem closely connected to that of the relations between natural state and civil state, private right and public right; to the doctrine of property and its connection with political right. on treating the right in its several types, we intend to appoint the practical reasoning as a background of the Doctrine. In the second phase, concerning its last section, the consideration on the presence of the practical reasoning into the right is placed before some specificities of Kant's phylosophy of history, with the intent of establishing the possible relation between Rechtslehre and that philosophy.

A Questão da unidade e da diversidade nas obras de Bronislaw Malinowski e Clifford Geertz

Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais - FFC

Cartas schillerianas: a conciliação entre a dimensão estética e política

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Antropologia e direito: a justiça como possibilidade antropológica

Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais - FFC

Música, educação e indústria cultural: o loteamento do espaço sonoro no espaço escolar

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Imagem do pensamento: do antropológico ao acontecimento na Educação

Pós-graduação em Educação - FFC

Humanization of health care: a reflexive theoretical essay based on the philosophy of Emmanuel Lévinas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Encampment time : an anthropological analysis of the land occupations in Brazil

In this article the social trajectory of a land occupation participant, an encamped woman (Edesmaria) who is a member of an extended landless family, is closely examined in order to demonstrate the inner workings of what is called 'the world of land occupations' in Brazil. Through a native expression (encampment time), it is demonstrated that nowadays, for some individuals, involvement in land occupations and landless workers' movements represents not just an opportunity to claim a parcel of land, but, even more importantly, a chance for social mobility and recognition. In this sense, encampment time is a social code and, as such, it not only quantifies the amount of time spent in a given encampment, but it is also a marker of prestige and status as well as a principle that organises and orders social relations in the land occupation world.

Lugar do imaginário do ver: diálogos a partir do espelho lacaniano

Lacan’s conception of the mirror stage involves a rich network of theoretical dialogues. Amidst this network, an idea of subject is drawn. The aim of this paper is to examine that idea, not inside Lacan’s work, but in the theoretical framework related to the theme under analysis. We are interested in situating certain methodological and anthropological aspects of the mirror stage in relation to its mediating theories. Our observations are focused on three authors: Wallon, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. As early as in 1931, the first underlined the importance of the child’s experience in front of the mirror to study his/her psychogenesis. The second is considered a representative of a Cogito philosophy and, therefore, seems to serve as a counter-reference for the psychoanalyst. The third established a relation of mutual dialogue with Lacan, reinforcing the heuristic nature of confrontations between psychoanalysis and phenomenology.

Fundamentos filosóficos e antropológicos da teoria do se-movimentar e a formação de sujeitos emancipados, autônomos e críticos: o exemplo do currículo de educação física do Estado de São Paulo

This article examines philosophical and anthropological underpinnings of the Sich-Bewegen Theory, based on the phenomenological philosophy by Merleau-Ponty and social anthropology by Mauss and Geertz. It also considers implications for Physical Education Elementary and High School curricula aimed at forming emancipated, autonomous and critical individuals, taking the Physical Education Curriculum of the State of Sao Paulo as example. It concludes that the curriculum needs to imbricate into students'social life and take into account the challenges and issues from contemporary society.

Pedagogical practices carried out during an in-service teachers education project: approaching history and philosophy of science to physics teaching

We report here part of a research project developed by the Science Education Research Group, titled: "Teachers’ Pedagogical Practices and formative processes in Science and Mathematics Education" which main goal is the development of coordinated research that can generate a set of subsidies for a reflection on the processes of teacher training in Sciences and Mathematics Education. One of the objectives was to develop continuing education activities with Physics teachers, using the History and Philosophy of Science as conductors of the discussions and focus of teaching experiences carried out by them in the classroom. From data collected through a survey among local Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics teachers in Bauru, a São Paulo State city, we developed a continuing education proposal titled “The History and Philosophy of Science in the Physics teachers’ pedagogical practice”, lasting 40 hours of lessons. We followed the performance of five teachers who participated in activities during the 2008 first semester and were teaching Physics at High School level. They designed proposals for short courses, taking into consideration aspects of History and Philosophy of Science and students’ alternative conceptions. Short courses were applied in real classrooms situations and accompanied by reflection meetings. This is a qualitative research, and treatment of data collected was based on content analysis, according to Bardin [1].