A argumentação na produção escrita de professores de Ciências: implicações para o ensino de Genética / The argumentative structure of Science teachers written production: implications for Genetics teaching

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Argumentative structure is a main feature in science teaching since it is both related to the process of learning specific content as well as to the means by which scientific knowledge is developed. This research identifies and analyses the elements presented in written texts reasoning, discussing how scientific information is elaborated and what are the central characteristics of genetic knowledge portrayed in these texts. The research was held on two stages. In the first one, the texts analysed belonged to 16 people of different education levels. These texts were the written answers to seven different types of genetic problems. In the second stage, the investigation turned to 25 undergraduate students of Pedagogy at The University of São Paulo, in Ribeirão Preto (USP, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto). These students gave written answers to one question that was pre-selected out of the seven proposed in the first stage. This question raised the issue of whether there is the possibility of genetic material alteration through food ingestion. The argumentative pattern developed by Toulmin (2001) was applied in order to analyze and identify the written production. In the second stage, a previous analyze of the answers was made by identifying the premises and the conclusions which relate to supporting facts or principles of a chain of ideas. This identification combined to the analyze by Toulmins pattern allowed the establishment of categories under which it is possible to deeply understand not only argumentative structure aspects but also the uses of scientific information and genetic concepts in these texts. Toulmins argument pattern (2001) is an important tool to analyze reasoning texts of genetics. In addition to showing the function of evidences in the development of causal explanations, his pattern also allows the categorization of theory grounding. However, there are some limitations when applying Toulmins pattern, such as not taking into account the context of the production. In this sense, the previous identification of premises and conclusions helped considering the context of production because it brought into light the chain of ideas. The notion proposed here is that genetics problematizes everyday issues as well as the elaboration of arguments. A great number of justifications presented were related to genetics knowledge. Therefore, they can be considered adequate to the problematization proposed. This shows that by recognizing the field of knowledge, the majority of people was able to produce quality arguments, even not knowing the subject in depth. Genetics have complex subjects that should be mastered by science teachers when expressing it through argumentative written texts. In this sense, teachers should be able to teach their students how to use biological knowledge in an effective and efficient way aiming at the development of citizens able to discuss fundamental scientific issues in society.

ASSUNTO(S)

ensino de genética linguagem argumentação language genetics teaching argumentative structure ensino de ciências science teaching

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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