Conversa com cientista: compreensões de professores de física sobre a produção do conhecimento científico

Abstract

In today's society, where knowledge production is intensive due to several factors, such as the competitive market, knowledge is often confused with the transfer of information. Within this perspective, science education in schools is becoming increasingly important in basic education, as it can promote students' autonomy and critical and creative thinking through activities that involve investigation and discussion. The main objective of science education is to help students learn to reason scientifically. However, even today, the main form of contact between students and scientific knowledge occurs through their teachers throughout the development of classes involving the natural sciences. The involvement of professors and students in the production of scientific knowledge is far removed from the current reality, as access to this knowledge is often limited to research centers and universities. The way teachers understand authentic science and the production of scientific knowledge directly influences their classes and consequently the results that students may present in the future on this subject. The present work presents an analysis of the understandings presented by a group of nine Physics teachers working in basic education in public schools, in dialogue with a scientist who develops research with solar cells sensitized by dyes. The specific objectives of this research seek: i) to identify which understandings about the production of scientific knowledge in the field of Physics are presented by these professors, ii) which understandings these professors have about the social, political and economic context in which scientific knowledge is produced , iii) what understandings do these teachers have about science education, with a view to introducing high school students to science that is closer to reality. A semi-structured interview, observation and analysis of the dialogues were used to identify their understanding of the Nature of Science (NdC). The content analysis was based on aspects and excerpts from the speeches that show understanding of the production of scientific knowledge, but do not present a deepening of consistent dialogues with the scientist. The dialogues also showed an awareness based on the understanding that the scientific knowledge produced is intrinsically linked to the current social, political and economic context. Finally, the educators pointed out that the extensive curriculum for the science area and the reduced number of classes make practices that could lead their students to a better understanding of how science is produced to be unfeasible.