Science education: intrinsic and extrinsic factors that limit the use of experimental activities by elementary school teachers

In this paper we discuss the reasons by which teachers of the Brazilian primary school do not make use of experiments in their regular classroom activities. In order to investigate this problem, we have conducted a qualitative research making use of a questionnaire, interviews and an analysis of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Ramos, Luciana Bandeira da Costa, Rosa, Paulo Ricardo da Silva
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2016
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Repository:Revista Investigações em ensino de ciências
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.www.if.ufrgs.br:article/444
Online Access:https://ienci.if.ufrgs.br/index.php/ienci/article/view/444
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:science education
experimental activities
elementary school.
ensino de ciências
atividades experimentais
séries iniciais.
Description
Summary:In this paper we discuss the reasons by which teachers of the Brazilian primary school do not make use of experiments in their regular classroom activities. In order to investigate this problem, we have conducted a qualitative research making use of a questionnaire, interviews and an analysis of the textbooks used by the teachers. Our results show that the absence of pedagogical orientation by the staff of the school and insufficient science content in the preparatory teacher courses are the main reasons appointed by the teachers to justify the absence of experimental activities as a component of the regular classroom work.