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Book of abstracts
OF THE ISHPSSB & ABFHIB
2017 MEETING
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL
STUDIES OF BIOLOGY (ISHPSSB)
&
ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE FILOSOFIA E
HISTÓRIA DA BIOLOGIA (ABFHiB)
São Paulo, Brazil
16 to 21 July, 2017
162
ORGANIZED SESSION STANDARD TALKS – CD-A1
Teaching Brazilian Biology: Historical Case Studies for Nature of
Science Education
Orgs.: Nathália Helena Azevedo (Interunit Graduate Studies Program in
Science Teaching, University of São Paulo, Brazil,
helena.nathalia@usp.br) and Thiago Marinho Del Corso (Graduate
Studies Program in Education, University of São Paulo, Brazil,
thiagodelcorso@usp.br)
The defense of the use of History and the Philosophy of Science in
science education is remarkable in the biological education research and
favorable positions to the use of this approach are relatively old, dated
from the end of the 19th century. This is due to the expectation that it
can make it possible to overcome problems related to the teaching-
learning process. Historical cases allow highlighting, for example, the
slow processes related to the development of scientific concepts. They
also allow analyzing science as a human construct strongly influenced
by the sociocultural context, and contribute to the development of a
critical understanding of science. However, there is a shortage of
didactic materials that portray historical contexts and relate them to the
163
everyday situations and the scientific advances. This gap may hamper
the creation of learning environments in which students can build
hypotheses, reflect and establish relationships between the scientific
concepts studied and the situations experienced in everyday life. To this
discrepancy is added the fact that most Brazilian students do not have
contact with the contributions and history of our main national scientists,
since regional factors related to scientific practice are rarely taken into
account. Addressing Brazilian science in science classes can contribute
to the students constructing empathy with science, which would allow
them to recognize the nature of science (NOS) aspects related to the
construction of scientific knowledge. Thus, talking about the history of
biological research in Brazil can offer a critical and formative
contribution, providing the students with subsidies for a better
understanding the directions and paths of research, which are rarely
brought into the classroom. In this organized session, it will be presented
three historical cases involving scientific research developed in Brazil
and designed to promote discussions and thoughts about NOS aspects.
The historical cases particularities presented make it possible to
explicitly explore certain NOS aspects and can contribute to undoing the
image of a ready and finished science originated exclusively from richer
and more developed countries. The development of historical cases that
address biology research in Brazil contributes to the recognition of a
national scientific culture that is currently forgotten in didactic materials
in general.
Chair of the session: Nathália Helena Azevedo (Interunit Graduate
Studies Program in Science Teaching, University of São Paulo, Brazil,
helena.nathalia@usp.br)