Abstract:

The National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), a normative document establishing the essential learnings all Brazilian students must acquire throughout basic education, is based on the development of competencies, advocating that the natural sciences area should promote a contextualized and meaningful education, fostering scientific literacy, and encouraging the formation of critical and reflective citizens. It stimulates the use of multidisciplinary projects and methodologies student centered, aligning with global educational policies that establish specific demands for science education and citizenship development. It considers that there is a direct relationship between scientific and technological development and the national economic expansion. However, results from large-scale assessments and other studies suggest that science education in Brazil has not been achieving its objectives, both due to structural, political, and economic issues, as well as concerns related to the methodologies used in the classroom.

Inspired and contextualized STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) approaches based on episodes or themes from the history of science and technology can become an alternative to meet the BNCC. They provide a different perspective on the problem, enabling the discussion of aspects on the nature of science, critical thinking development, motivating non-interested students in sciences, and contributing to improvement of other skills and competencies related to scientific literacy.

Thus, considering that non-formal education can enhance formal education and can offer more flexible and appealing learning practices to 21st-century youth, the non-formal education project titled "Back to the Future: The History of Science in the Context of STEAM Education" aims to contribute to the development of scientific literacy among basic school students. Particularly, it focused on skills and competencies development related to physical sciences and their technologies, through weekly meetings held at a different time from the students' regular classes, involving lectures, reading texts, replicating experiments, and maker activities.

The results of the conducted investigation during three cycles of an action research plan, are presented, attempting to identify the impacts of this approach on the participants’ scientific literacy and on other findings that emerged during the data analysis.

It used non-parametric statistical tests, descriptive statistics, and content analysis. The data were collected through standardized objective tests, open-ended questionnaires, slide production, student presentations in the classroom, and interviews.

Consistent with previously published preliminary results, we identified an improvement in the level of scientific literacy among the students, although the non-parametric tests are inconclusive. They have impacts on the understanding of technical and scientific concepts and terms, the understanding of the nature of science, and the relationships between science, technology, and society. Additionally, we identified positive impacts on the students' interest and motivation in science and technology-related areas, as well as on the motivation and interest of the teachers in developing similar approaches in formal education.

Acknowledgement:
This work is financed by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. under the projects UIDB/00194/2020 (CIDTFF).

Keywords:

History of Science and Technology, STEAM Education, Science Teaching, Non-Formal Education, Scientific Literacy.