Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Científica e Tecnológica

1. Teacher Education

This line of research aims to investigate teacher education focused on science and technology education, from the perspective of teachers’ practices, theories, and epistemologies in different teaching and learning environments and educational levels. It covers investigations of both initial and continuing teacher education. The main research focuses include:

– Research on the conceptions, ideas, and imaginaries of teachers in initial or continuing education;
– Studies on the curricula of related teaching degrees, including reflections on supervised internships and on teaching practice as a locus of knowledge, rather than merely an application of theories;
– Studies on the teacher’s role in the development, implementation, and evaluation of teaching proposals in participatory, ethnographic, and action research approaches, aimed at rethinking pedagogical practice. 

Faculty members involved in this line of research:

2. Science Teaching and Learning

This line brings together investigations into the teaching and learning
processes in the various areas of Science (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) and Mathematics. The main research focuses include:

– Theoretical conceptions of learning and human development, aiming at the construction of pedagogical models;
– Cognitive, affective, motivational, and other factors involved in the teaching and learning processes in these areas;
– Teaching and learning strategies, such as building islands of rationality, meaningful learning, problem-solving and modeling, among others;
– Semiotic representation registers in mathematical learning;
– Students’ prior conceptions of science and mathematics in different
educational levels;
– The proposition of innovative materials for the teaching and communication of science and mathematics to be used in different learning environments – formal, informal and distance learning.

Faculty members involved in this line of research:

3. Social Implications of Science and Technology in Education

This line of research is dedicated to investigating, across the three levels of education, aspects of science and technology education related to perceptions of the relationships between science, technology and society (STS) and the environment, arising from STS
studies and environmental studies in their various theoretical and methodological orientations and approaches (Latin American, European, and North American). The studies included in this line are based on contributions from sociotechnical analysis and the philosophy and history of science and technology, among other perspectives. Aspects of the communication and popularization of scientific and technological knowledge are also addressed, particularly in connection with the teaching of sciences and mathematics, both in formal and informal education. The main research focuses include::

– Conceptions of the relationships between science, technology, society, and the environment, and their influence on science, technology and environmental education;
– Curriculum aspects of science and technology education from an STS
perspective;
– Investigations into STS teaching in different areas and levels of education and its curriculum implications;
– Research on the relationships between Paulo Freire’s pedagogy and STS relationships in science and technology education;
– Investigations into scientific and technological literacy and interdisciplinary islands of rationality;
– Studies on the characteristics of the processes of science communication and popularization, and their relationships with science education;
– Analysis of discourses in science and technology.

Faculty members involved in this line of research:

4. Epistemology and the History of Science and Mathematics

Based on research produced in the field of history of science and mathematics, and on a deepening of epistemological understandings that emerged after logical empiricism, this line of investigation examines the social, historical and cultural aspects involved in the emergence, development and dissemination of theories, models and concepts in biology, physics, mathematics, and chemistry. Epistemological categories, along with texts produced by historians of science, support historical-epistemological analyses of episodes from the history of sciences, aiming at exploring their potential contributions to addressing research problems in science and mathematics education at the three levels of education. The main research focuses include:

– Research on the role of the history of science and epistemology in teacher education, in the development of teaching and learning strategies, and in the teaching of physical systems modeling;
– Production, implementation, and evaluation of teaching materials that adopt a historical-epistemological approach;
– Research on students’ and teachers’ conceptions of the nature of scientific knowledge and of specific scientific concepts.

Faculty members involved in this line of research:

5. Media and Science Teaching

This line of research explores the limits and possibilities of socializing the knowledge of science and technology education, considering the conflicts and challenges that information and communication technologies have brought to all levels of education. It examines the context of education as mediated by technology, especially the virtual learning environments that host hypermedia: text, image, movement, sound, and simulations with variable scales. The main research focuses include:

– Investigations into theoretical conceptions of the teaching and learning process, with the aim of developing pedagogical models grounded in a theoretical-practical reflection on the teaching of natural sciences and mathematics;
– Investigations into teaching and learning strategies in the areas of natural sciences and mathematics, considering the use of information and communication technologies;
– Investigations that supports the innovative production of educational materials and the communication of natural sciences and mathematics, in formal, informal and distance learning environments.

Faculty members involved in this line of research:

6. Language and Teaching

This line of research emphasizes the importance of language functioning not only as a simple communication tool, aiming to establish less naive and naturalized relations about the mainstream discourses of science and technology. Language is seen as a set of “language games” that are established by rules and conventions shaped by culture and history – producers of meanings in technoscience and education, centered on cultural and socio-historical aspects. Language is investigated as a form of representation in diverse domains such as art, science and technology education, mathematics, history, and architecture. The main research focuses include:

– Investigations into reading and writing, aiming at rethinking the formation of readers in science and technology teaching;
– Analysis of language functioning (in textbooks and other materials, in classroom discursive interactions, and in media), with a view to proposing strategies for science and technology education;
– Investigations into students’ and teachers’ imaginaries regarding language and its functioning in science classes;
– Studies on problematization as a means of generating knowledge;
– Discourse analysis and STS (science-technology-society) relations in science and technology education.

Faculty members involved in this line of research: