Banca de DEFESA: Roseane Freitas Fernandes

 Contributions of STS Education in the initial training of chemistry teachers: challenges and possibilities based on perceptions of teacher trainers

STS education; Teacher autonomy; Initial teacher training; Chemistry graduation.

STS Education has influenced the process of teacher training, requiring more and more criticality and interdisciplinary and contextualized approaches to knowledge from the problematization of the relations between science, technology, and society. In this context, investigations in the area of Science Education point to the importance of STS curricular practices in teacher training processes as one of the ways to contribute to the construction of teaching autonomy and social transformation. Therefore, this work sought to understand conceptions, challenges, and training possibilities presented in the discourses of teacher trainers of Chemistry Degree courses in Brazilian public universities about the development of curricular practices from the perspective of STS Education. The theoretical-methodological foundation is anchored in critical education with articulation between the assumptions of the educator Paulo Freire and STS Education in Science Education, before a qualitative-exploratory approach to research in producing and analyzing data. For understanding STS Education in the context of the initial training of chemistry teachers, two methodological paths were outlined that complement each other, the first being theoretical with a survey of academic productions in Brazilian theses and dissertations; and the second of empirical character with the realization of semi-structured interviews with five teacher trainers who have the STS as the object of their research. All data produced were submitted to Discursive Textual Analysis/ DTA and emerged categories, producing Metatexts. The analysis of the selected theses and dissertations allowed us to identify theoretical-methodological characteristics and emphases to the teacher training in chemistry in the STS perspective, related to (i) the development of conceptions about the inter-relations STS and its insertion in chemistry teaching; (ii) the potentialities of the STS perspective in teacher training and (iii) the curricular organization of Chemistry Degree courses. The analysis of the interviews made it possible to recognize formative aspects of STS, which were discussed in two stages. In the first stage, the main themes were discussed: (i) STS training and the production of meaning to pedagogical practice; (ii) polysemic aspects of science teaching from the STS perspective; (iii) confrontations in the development of STS educational practices; (iv) construction of curricular possibilities STS; and (v) potentialities of STS education to teacher training. In the second stage, understandings of teacher trainers about teacher autonomy and critical formative dimensions present in STS educational practices were discussed, which express a) leadership, encouragement, and teacher/student engagement in the context of professional practice; b) problematization of STS relations from themes of social/cultural daily life and the contextualization of chemical knowledge; and c) interactive and collaborative processes for the constitution of reflective and critical teachers. The results show that STS Education is promising and potentiating for the development of critical formative dimensions in the initial training of undergraduate students in chemistry and also in the continuing education of teachers and the construction of teaching autonomy. At the same time, we emphasize the need to reflect critically on the initial training of chemistry teachers, as well as the creation and strengthening of spaces and times of permanent dialogue on knowledge or knowledge in the exercise of teaching, as a way to enable the development of STS educational practices at all school/academic levels.