Abstract:

In modern society, due to its characteristics, and especially the nature of its development, science and technology are related to the general public. Science education seeks to provide situations of learning that promote the understanding of the natural world, and its (inter)relations with the social world. Science education will also contribute for the development of the pupils’ skills and attitudes, which are necessary for a comprehensive training that allows not only a better understanding of the world that surrounds them, but also their intervention in building the future.
Apart from what critical literature says, one of the starting points of this project was done by collecting information at Aveiro (Portugal) schools. It was done between May and June 2007, and it showed that the pupils, of the 2nd and 3rd cycle of basic education with special needs with an alternative curriculum, do not have Physics and Chemistry and only 34.7% have Natural Science.
Thus, it was intended to make these pupils have contact with science, recognize its importance in society and develop their scientific literacy, even if at an elementary level.
With the development of this project we wanted to contribute to the successful education and the inclusion of all pupils, having in mind the different rhythms of learning with innovative methods as far as science education is concerned.
This project was developed as a partnership work between Fábrica Centro Ciência Viva (a science center in Aveiro), the Department of Didactics and Technology of the University of Aveiro and the schools that have taken part in the project. Its implementation involved:
1 - The design of a curriculum area where issues of physical and natural science are treated.
2-This area is part of the curriculum for students with alternative curriculum of the 2nd / 3rd cycle of basic education.
3 - The activities were developed once a week (about 90 minutes), in Fábrica Centro Ciência Viva.

Keywords:

science education, pupils with special needs, non-formal environment.