STS education (science, technology and society) for the early years of elementary school: the earth and the universe in focus

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the implications of the planning and execution of a teaching proposal on Earth and the Universe, considering the Science, Technology and Society (STS) perspective, from the discussions promoted by a teacher. The research focus is justified since the literature shows few approaches on this topic in elementary schools and due to the formative gaps of science teachers. The environment from which the data was collected was a Brazilian municipal school in the interior of the Sao Paulo state, a teacher and her first year elementary school class, composed of twenty-nine children. The data collection instruments were: reflective diaries; recordings (audio and video); children's questionnaires and portfolios. To analyze the data, we used Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA), which allowed us to identify categories. We found that, during the activities, the children were motivated and curious to learn about the world, encouraged to write words and numbers and willing to do autonomous research on the subject. These evidences showed that teaching from a STS perspective contributed to both scientific and native language literacies. Among the implications of this work, we highlight the importance of the early years teacher’s actions who, when being creative, dynamic, motivated, with well-defined goals and objectives, seeks to overcome the current Science teaching to migrate to an investigative and attractive model for the children.

Keywords

• ensino de ciências
• terra e universo
• cts
• formação docente.