Cursos de licenciatura em Ciências da Natureza: o conhecimento químico na formação de professores de ciências para o ensino fundamental

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a research that investigated the relation between chemical knowledge and the academic and professional training of science teachers in the last grades of elementary school. Our goal was to analyze how chemical knowledge is approached during the training of a science teacher and characterize the points of view of the graduates about chemical knowledge and elementary teaching of science. We consider that the subject of science in elementary school integrates the knowledge from fields like chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy and geology. The main characteristic of this subject is the interdisciplinarity and the integration of knowledge (organized ideas) from each of the areas to develop a critical view and to understand natural phenomena. To obtain our data, we used different methodological procedures that involved either qualitative and quantitative aspects. Initially, we described the evolution of the Licentiate degrees in natural science in Brazil. We analyzed the curriculum and syllabus of the subjects of chemistry from the ones which were avaliable on institutional websites. Thereafter, we selected a Licentiate degree in Natural Science to investigate the opinion of the graduates about: their training process, their perspectives in teaching, their points of view about science in elementary school and chemical knowledge, which is – or can be - disseminated in science teaching and science degrees. To gather data, we applied a questionnaire to undergraduates who took part in subjects related to supervised internship or subjects that involved school training. We interviewed the undergraduates, the coordinators (from both nightly and daytime courses) and some chemistry professors who had taught in the studied Licentiate degree. The analysis of the curriculum and syllabus permited us to conclude that, generally, the Licentiate degrees in Natural Science have meaningful discussions about the chemical knowledge that is needed to teach science. We observed that, in general, universities where there are well-stablished chemistry, physics and biology intstitutes are not interested in offering those courses because it takes an effort to integrate the teaching staffs of the courses. This behavior was actually reinforced by the interviewed professors, coordinators and undergraduates. The importance of creating institutional and structured spaces was also featured because it could permit professors of all areas to socialize. For those, the role of chemistry in elementary school is related to the critical investigation of phenomena and objects that are part of the routine of the students from the basic education; and the main goal is to arouse the understanding of how those processes occur around us and also how scientific and technological advances influence in the choices and in the way of life of the students. Besides, the graduating students featured that having access to chemical knowledge, knowledge from other areas and a new point of view on how we teach during our graduation period is essential for approaching the topics and contents in elementary school in an integrated way without prioritizing only one of the areas.