The Physics of Ionizing Radiations in the curriculum of Physics courses Licenciatura in the State of São Paulo in the light of the new national curriculum guidelines for the initial training of teachers for Basic Education

• Grant number: 20/03573-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Curriculum
• Principal Investigator: Leandro Londero da Silva
• Grantee: Eric Delarco Bertoni
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In recent years, higher education institutions are being urged to change the curricular structure of their teacher training courses. The set of professionals in education and other areas of knowledge, linked to these courses, have dedicated efforts towards complying with the curriculum policy, made explicit through guidelines of the National Council of Education (CNE). In our project, we start from the premise that there seems to be a difficulty in putting into practice in the classroom the inclusion of content from Modern and Contemporary Physics, and one of the reasons for this difficulty seems to be in teacher training. Thus, we will investigate how the Physics of Ionizing Radiations is inserted in the curricular structure of the Physics Degree courses, in the state of São Paulo, in terms of workload, teaching period, contents covered, and teaching conception. From the possible questions that we would be relevant to answer, it seems significant to us and we propose for this study: a) Which degree courses in physics include, in their curricular structure, the study of Ionizing Radiations? b) At what time are Ionizing Radiations inserted and what is the time allocated for their study/development? c) What contents of the topic of Ionizing Radiation are privileged and what conception is presented in the menus that contemplate this topic with regard to its teaching? To answer the guiding questions, we carried out some investigative actions. Initially, we will carry out a literature review in journals in the area of physics teaching and in conference proceedings to identify the studies already published that deal with the theme of this project. Next, we will carry out a bibliographic survey of national and international literature in the field of education and Science Education in order to deepen the theoretical and methodological basis of the research. Then, we will identify higher education institutions that offer undergraduate courses in Physics. The search for institutions will be carried out by e-MEC. In continuity, we will access the websites of the physics courses of the mapped institutions in order to collect the following documents: Curricular Structure and Course menus. Then, we will build tables and graphs in which we record all the information collected. The table contains the following information: Name of the Institution, Geographic Region of its location, Federative Unit to which it belongs, Administrative Instance (Municipal, State, Federal or Private), Year of creation, Modality (Presential or Distance), Shift of operation (Morning, Evening, Night), Indication of having curricular structure and menus of the subjects available on their websites. When it is not possible to obtain the documents by accessing the websites of the institutions/courses, we will ask the coordinators by e-mail. The curricular structures and menus of all courses will be analyzed in order to map which subjects address ionizing radiation, highlighting those that emphasize the teaching of this theme. To analyze the data obtained, we will use Basil Bernstein's Pedagogical Device Theory, especially the concept of recontextualization. In our analyzes, we seek to identify how the new policies of curricular changes in the area of teacher training have influenced the construction of the curricula of the analyzed courses, especially with regard to the teaching of Ionizing Physics. We will end the research with the elaboration of the final essay, which will contain the systematization of the answers found and notes of the implications for the insertion of Ionizing Radiation Physics in the curriculum of the Physics Degree. (AU)