RETHINKING SCIENCE EDUCATION: BRAZILIAN AND ARGENTINIAN TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

This study aims to identify what science teachers from Brazil and Argentina think about science education. This study is based on the viewpoint that science teaching, even today, is so fragmented and decontextualized with the predominance of traditional methods such as lectures and textbooks which in turn favor an abstract approach of the contents, decreasing the students' motivation and interest for science. The research is qualitative, involving 20 teachers of science and biology, 10 from Brazil and 10 from Argentina, who responded to a semi-structured interview. The results show that the interviewed teachers, both in Brazil and Argentina, understand the need to rethink and change the current structure of science education in the intention of renewing curriculum structure, pedagogical practice and encourage the training of teachers towards meeting the training needs of the contemporary world.