A história da ciência na educação básica brasileira: reflexões a partir do currículo na área de ciências da natureza

Abstract

The History of Science is fundamental to Science Teaching, as it seeks the problematization process and the context of reconstruction of human knowledge. However, there is concern regarding the existence and way in which this theme is developed in the Natural Sciences curriculum in Basic Education. The research had the general objective: Analyze the History of Science approaches proposed in curricular documents for Science Teaching in Brazilian Basic Education. The research is qualitative, bibliographic and documentary, in which content analysis was used. The state of knowledge of the History of Science and Science Teaching in/for Basic Education, Brazilian research pointed to a polarization of these in the Southeast and South Regions of the country, and the predominance of thematic focuses in the History of Science with the use of Sequence Didactics. In the second part, the thinking styles that characterize Brazilian research on dissertations and theses on the topic were analyzed. The results revealed that the established style of thinking is what articulates the History of Science in Science Teaching as a humanized and contextualized style. In the third part, a comparative analysis was carried out of the History of Science approaches identified in the skills of the National Common Curricular Base in the area of Natural Sciences and the possible relationships in eight Textbooks in the area of Elementary Education. Science approach was found, as it did not have the problematization of the reconstruction of human knowledge. In the fourth part, excerpts from the History of Science were analyzed in eight Natural Science Textbooks for Elementary School. The analyzes demonstrated an approach that is limited to a linear History of Science, linked to traditional curriculum theory, with an informative character, responsible for distorting knowledge and distancing Brazilian students from knowledge, as there is a lack of meaning in this Eurocentric scientific knowledge and far from everyday life.