Abstract:

The National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) is the current guiding document for Brazilian basic education. Focused on the development of skills and competencies, the BNCC advocates that science teaching should promote scientific literacy through interactive activities that place the student at the center of an investigative process. STEAM approaches, inspired and contextualized by episodes and themes from the history of science and technology (HST), can be an interesting option for developing multidisciplinary activities or projects.

After conducting a literature review to identify inspiring activities related to HST and STEAM approaches, a multidisciplinary team of teachers developed and implemented an extension project in the form of non-formal education. The project aimed at enhancing the scientific literacy of participants through STEAM inspired and contextually embedded approaches centered on episodes or themes of HST. This project was offered by the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (Ifes) in partnership with a public school in the municipal education network, serving 36 students in the last year of 'Ensino Fundamental' in Brazil (14 to 15 years old), equivalent to the last year of basic school in the USA, in three classes offered between 2022 and 2023.

This study aims to demonstrate some of the potentialities of these approaches, based on content analysis of interviews conducted with teachers directly involved in the project. The results show that the participating teachers identified positive impacts on students' motivation and interest in topics from the HST relatable with STEM areas. Additionally, advances were observed in the development of learning related to science and technology contents /themes, in the understanding of the nature of science, in the relationships between science, technology, and society, and in the development of various skills essential for facing contemporary societal challenges.

The analyzed recording units suggest that teachers attribute these advances mainly to the strategies and methodologies used during the project activities, which used episodes from the history of science and technology as inspiring themes, placing the student as a protagonist in the investigative processes.

Furthermore, the teachers considered the episodes and themes from the history of science and technology appropriate to be used as integrating themes in STEAM approaches. This aligns with BNCC recommendations, and the teachers expressed interest in partially or completely reproducing these approaches in their formal education classes.

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.