Implementation aspects of the inter-unit curricular component Natural Sciences and Knowledge of the Cosmos at the University of São Paulo.

• Grant number: 24/20471-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Cristina Leite
• Grantee: Leandro Cabral Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos Avançados (IEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/06977-5 - Implementation research of curriculum innovation, pedagogical strategies, and emerging technologies for quality-equity in basic education, AP.TEM

Abstract

The aim of this scientific initiation project is to investigate the implementation bases of the inter-unit curricular component Natural Sciences and Knowledge of the Cosmos at the University of São Paulo (USP). This discipline, taught in the second semester of 2024, aimed to promote learning about the main knowledge related to natural sciences about the universe (from the big bang to the present day), presenting science in an inter-transdisciplinary, multi-epistemic and decolonial dimension. The research sources will include questionnaires, student logbooks, reports on discussion groups of the discipline participants (teachers, students, post-doctoral students and pedagogical development professors), audio and video of interviews and classes, as well as documents of the discipline's co-construction processes. The investigation of these sources in text, audio and video format will be carried out using the qualitative data analysis software MAXQDA, which is based on a qualitative inspection of content and discourse with mixed methods. The final product is intended to support a series of research projects by the group and will be a description of the implementation bases of the Natural Sciences and Knowledge of the Cosmos discipline and its main characteristics regarding interdisciplinarity and decoloniality, so that it can serve as a reference for the next inter-unit courses proposed at USP.