Controversies on the nature of science in teaching and learning sequences about cosmology

• Grant number: 11/07728-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2011
• End date: July 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Specific topics in Education
• Principal Investigator: Joao Zanetic
• Grantee: Alexandre Bagdonas Henrique
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/02218-3 - History of relativistic cosmology and controversies regarding the nature of science, contributions to science education, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

In this research we intend to investigate which aspects of nature of science may have great potential to be discussed in teaching and learning sequences about cosmology. For this, we will study papers involving disputes over the nature of science, selecting the most relevant aspects for basic education. Then we investigate which of these aspects can be discussed specifically in cosmology, from studies of its history. Thus, we intend to create subsidies for planning lessons both for teacher training and for middle school students. After this theoretical study, we will investigate the feasibility of these discussions proposed in middle school, creating some didactic sequences on cosmology to discuss aspects of the nature of science. During the application of sequences, we will investigate how a historical-philosophical approach that shows science as a human construction affects students' motivation to learn science, assessing the risk of inducing naive relativist conceptions about its nature. (AU)