Os desafios para a implementação do ensino de ciências por investigação nos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental: um processo formativo

Abstract

This study presents a qualitative case study that seeks to understand the difficulties faced by teachers in the implementation of investigative practices and to analyze how continuing teacher education, in the form of advisory support, contributes to inquiry-based science teaching in the early years of elementary school. The research is guided by the following question: what difficulties do early years teachers face when implementing inquiry-based science teaching, and how can continuing education, in the form of advisory support, contribute to overcoming them? Accordingly, the general objective was to understand the difficulties presented by teachers in the development of investigative practices and to analyze the contribution of continuing education, through advisory support, to the implementation of inquiry-based teaching in science classes. Four teachers participated in the study, two classroom teachers and two support teachers, working in the 4th and 5th grades of two municipal schools. Data were collected during a continuing education process and in the classrooms of the participating teachers, using field notes, video recordings, and audio recordings as instruments. Data analysis, based on Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA), was organized into emerging categories related to inquiry- based science teaching, teaching planning, pedagogical mediation, epistemological and didactic aspects of content, and assessment, in line with the specific objectives of the research, which sought to analyze teachers’ conceptions, understand the process of elaboration and implementation of Inquiry-Based Teaching Sequences, and interpret the challenges and advances throughout the formative process. The results indicate that the main difficulties faced by the teachers were related to a superficial understanding of inquiry-based science teaching, problem formulation, lack of time for planning, insecurity in mediating discussions and discursive interactions with students, and difficulties in understanding and relating scientific concepts to everyday contexts, which directly impacted the conduction of investigative lessons. The conclusions reveal that continuing education, especially in the form of advisory support, significantly contributes to teacher learning and to the adoption of investigative practices, promoting changes in teaching practice and enabling the use of interdisciplinary strategies to optimize time and meet pedagogical demands, as well as fostering advances in pedagogical mediation, planning of the sequences, and understanding of the teacher’s role in inquiry-based teaching. However, the results also warn of the risk of dependence on the trainer throughout the process, highlighting the need to foster teacher autonomy so that teachers can conduct their own investigative practices in a confident and independent manner. Associated with this research, an educational product is presented: a teacher education material, developed as an e-book entitled “Inquiry- Based Science Teaching in the Early Years: an experience of teacher education through advisory support,” which addresses basic concepts of inquiry-based teaching, presents two Inquiry-Based Teaching Sequences on transformations of matter and density, and offers guidance for their application in the classroom, aiming to support continuing teacher education processes.