A prática de iniciação à pesquisa em uma turma de alfabetização

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the work developed at the Introduction to Research course with first year students from elementary school at Centro Pedagógico da UFMG, in 2016. This course aims at allowing children to conduct group research on topics of their own choice. The focus is to stimulate the children to learn and practice the several skills and procedures often used in scientific research. The utilized work methodology was the investigative teaching, a didactic tool characterized by the following elements: question making, searching for and interpreting information and written and verbal sharing of results. We based our work on the conception of investigative and experimental teaching trying to break with the formal education strategy focused on information repetition. We intended to bring the students closer to scientific research by mentoring them on phenomena investigation and supporting them on the exploration of topics that shows the usefulness of the scientific thought for enhancing social welfare and shaping conscientious citizens. It is noteworthy that the work developed with little children at the Introduction to Research course has created a new framework for teaching, contributing to broaden the students’ curriculum.