Concepções de experimentação nos Manuais do Professor de Ciências: uma análise de atividades didáticas nas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental

Abstract

In the early years of elementary school students consolidate their first conceptions of science, which will assist them in teaching and learning processes in subsequent years. The textbook has an important role in this process, listing knowledge, practices and methodologies for teachers and students. Taking books and guides for the Science Teacher as sources in this study, the main objective was to identify and analyze experimental concepts in teaching activities of 16 books of four collections aimed at early years of elementary school - Porta Aberta, Projeto Buriti, A escola é nossa e Projeto Ápis. Porta Aberta, Projeto Buriti, A escola é nossa e Projeto Ápis. Experimental conceptions were categorized as: demonstrative, inductive-empiricist, deductivist-rationalist and constructivist. The publishers of these collections have a tradition in publishing of textbooks and their authors have initial training in Biology, Education or Physics and graduate in the fields of Biology and/or Education. In the trial activities were identified pictorial and textual elements that can be related to didactization of knowledge and in several images children perform the procedures of the activities. The four collections feature experimenting with concepts in diverse number and distribution in educational activities, with a greater frequency in demonstrative and inductive-empiricist conception and less frequently in constructivist conception. Some activities on the same theme have appropriated different experimental designs. In other activities knowledge and ways of teaching were presented similarly in all four collections, configuring itself as a tradition in science teaching. It is argued that the increased frequency of demonstration activities may be related to didatization of methodological procedures for teachers working conditions in schools.