A Biologia Educacional nas Escolas Normais paulistas: uma disciplina da eficiência física e mental

Abstract

This article deals with the history of Educational Biology (1933-1970) taking into account the development of this discipline in the Normal Schools in São Paulo (Brazil). The investigation is based on several kinds of documents, mainly teaching plans, programs, schoolbooks and testimonies from former teachers. It considers the projects for schools renovation developed since the 1920’s, as they produced certain kind of needs for the teacher education. It examines three periods of that history: the insertion of the discipline in the curriculum, its stability and decline. The focus is on the organization of the school subjects built by the pair heritage-environment. The conclusion is that the organization of this Educational Biology was based in the idea that the educators should act in a double productive way: in one side, to direct the students for the best physical and mental efficiency; in the other, to build ideal outlines for shape the children, women and teachers’s social behavior.