Apropriação da proposta investigativa de um livro didático por uma professora de ensino de Ciências

Abstract

This research has as its core investigation the pedagogical practice of an elementary school science teacher, in a public school in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The research question focuses on understanding how this teacher appropriates an inquiry based learning (IBL) perspective, found in a selected textbook. To achieve this central goal we need to understand other aspects of the selected teachers practice, such as her perspective on teaching and learning by inquiry, the ways she develops inquiry based activities in the classroom and the uses she makes of the textbook. We followed the school routine and the lessons of a teacher in four classes, during two trimesters (late 2014 and early 2015). Immersed in the context of qualitative research within the socio-cultural perspective, based on the theoretical thoughts of Vygotsky and Bakhtin, we analyzed the actions of this teacher interacting with the cultural tools found in her school context. The analyses focused on her interaction with the textbook and her discourse during the development of inquiry based activities, planned (or not) as such. Data analysis was divided into two parts. In the first part, we analyzed the questions raised by the teacher as semiotic meditational means, used in the classroom to assist in the establishment of intersubjectivity. From the analysis of the questions posed by the teacher and her attitude towards the students contributions, we identified an alternation between discourses characteristic of traditional and inquiry based approaches. Appropriation of the inquiry pedagogical approach was identified in the teachers discourse, evidenced by the predominant use of student centered questions. In the second part of the analysis, we sought to understand the influence of the textbook on the work developed by the teacher. The sequence of lessons as a whole was analyzed, searching for influence of the textbooks pedagogical proposal in the planning and development of lessons. Attention was given to the development of inquiry based activities, planned as such, that are present in the textbook. We were able to evidence the central role of the textbook in the teaching practice of the teacher under observation, but also her protagonism in the planning and development of the activities. The implications of this research include discussions about the students participation in the development of inquiry based activities conducted by the teacher and about the processes of choosing textbooks to be used at school.