A percepção de ciência e a imagem do cientista de estudantes do ensino fundamental

Abstract

The present work investigated the perceptions of science and scientist of elementary school students, aged between 11 and 14 years old, registrated in public and private schools in a metropolitan of Southeats São Paulo. Acknowlege these perceptions allows us to understand how students see science, appropriate the contents of the discipline's classes, using them in their daily lives. In addition, understanding the image they have of the scientist can help to understand the reasons that get them closer to or far from the scientific career. For data collection, three forms were used, two aimed at the perception of science and one to the scientist's image. As for the science perception forms, both were prepared with questions taken and adapted from the international project The Relevance of Science Education (ROSE): a closed questionnaire, containing 23 statements on a Likert scale; and an open questionnaire, with 2 questions. The third instrument, an image questionnaire, allowed students to attribute physical characteristics, clothing, social and family behavior, to female and male scientists. In all, 132 students answered the three questionnaires, applied online, as the survey was carried out in a pandemic moment that required social distancing. The frequency distribution of responses was analyzed for the total number of students and for the subgroups defined by the student's gender; science teacher gender; and gender of the student and teacher. The general results showed that students have a positive view of science and the discipline's classes; also showed that they can relate the contents of Science classes with their daily lives. They believe that the population should be more concerned with environmental issues, a topic that arouses the interest of students, second only to health. The image of scientists shows evidence of stereotypes that have been perpetuated by different media. In the subgroups, the girls considered the science subject more difficult than the boys, and the students, in general, agreed that it is more difficult to learn science with your male teachers, pointing out gender differences in the answers.