Abstract:

Didactic resources have an important role in the organization of science classes in elementary school, and the analysis of these materials is fundamental to understand how they fulfil their role in facilitating learning. With the aim of discussing the pedagogical potential of the resources for teaching sciences in elementary schools, an analysis was conducted, focusing on curricular materials produced by the state secretariat of education, and used in public schools in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Observations were also conducted within the science classes, in order to check the use of these materials and the pedagogical practice. For that, participants were observed for a total of 50 hours, recorded in a field diary and an audio of discussions with 32 teachers were recorded (after consent term). Analyses of the curricular material revealed conceptual errors, absence of interdisciplinary discussions and lack of scientific references, as well as lack of teaching support material. The material presents some activities of a more practical nature, but it disregards the reality of the schools (e.g. lack of resources), and they have little relationship with activities and results produced by research done in the science teaching field. In spite of the presence of activities that may contribute to less expository classes, during the observations, practical activities were seldom performed, there was little insertion of technological resources, or activities that challenged students to solve problems, make questions or inferences. In most classes the teacher uses only the curricular material, follows the presented sequences and performed the question-and-answer activities. The exposition of concepts and theoretical discussions make-up the majority of teaching time. In some moments, the teachers revealed a lack of knowledge about concepts and contents in sciences. The need for discussions with teachers in the exercise of topics, such as teaching methodologies and didactic resources specific to science education was evident. There is a gap between issues discussed by academic research and the capability of the teachers, and teachers' lack of knowledge about such research. Greater integration between university and school is fundamental, with the creation of spaces for dialogue and continuous and perennial formation.

Keywords:

Science teaching, didactic resources, pedagogical practice.