Fóruns de Negociações Simulados : uma estratégia didática no ensino de engenharia

Abstract

The National Curricular Guidelines (DCN) for engineering courses in Brazil point to a generalist, humanistic, critical and reflexive formation. However, several obstacles are found in the search for a teaching that provides a broader view of engineering, among them the lack of interdisciplinary activities that can associate issues of specific for- mation with the social context. Thus, this work has as main objective to make a qualita- tive analysis, in the form of a case study, on the implementation of Simulated Negotia- tion Forums as a didactic strategy that can contribute to engineers ́ formation in the country, as proposed by the curricular guidelines. The theoretical foundations involve authors of the STS (Science, Technology and Society) field of research, pursuing ideas such as Reflexive Modernity, Risk Society, Actor-Network Theory, sociotechnical con- troversies and the Social Construction of Technology. Data collection for the research was carried out in a private institution in the State of São Paulo in two stages, in the first semester of 2014 and in the second semester of 2015, with an engineering class. As a way to obtain students ́ engagement, some activities with a STS approach were pro- posed. Toulmin's theory of invariable argument structures was used to set standards in the forum discussions that were held by students representing sectors of society. The results indicated that, for the group investigated, the Simulated Negotiation Forums provided opportunities for the active participation of students in the teaching and learn- ing process, going beyond the specific contents of each area of engineering that are cov- ered by traditional disciplines. In addition, this didactic strategy involved debate around controversial socio-technical situations, teamwork and interdisciplinary aspects. In this way, it was possible to illuminate other areas of professional performance of the engi- neer to act critically and reflexively in the contemporary world, and the STS field of studies was able to offer important contributions, whose perceptions of students en- gaged in research support this view.