Curricular innovation and the management of didactic-pedagogical risks in science teaching

Abstract

Since 2003, we have seen researching the limits and possibilities of change in the curricula of Physics at Basic School, in order to adapt them to the needs of the current society as well to the existing science practiced today in laboratories and research centers. We focus on the changes in terms of new content such as the introduction of contents of Science of the twentieth century, but also seeking to modify the design of science students as approaches which focus on aspects of the nature of scientific activity, and also taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the appearance and cheapening of new technologies. In these 10 years, we have learned much about the complexity of changing what actually happens in classrooms of science in schools and lose some naivety that if we have the materials and expertise it was possible to produce major changes in the way how to teach and learn science at the basic levels. Far from discouraging us, the evidence of the complexity of the problem of modifying curricula and traditional teaching strategies made us focus our research in real conditions, adopting a research methodology naturalized, ie, able to study the educational phenomena in their natural environment the classroom. One conclusion that seemed worthy of emphasis in these years of work that was not enough for teachers to recognize a proposal as an innovator in its own terms, but rather translate it and decode it in terms of its theoretical and practical luggage, so if constitute a repertoire that give him the security of a co-author of the same. Teachers must be able to recognize their transformative role in the innovation process. This may help them in future innovations. Another aspect was the fact that teachers realized that in the process of curriculum innovation the relationship between Teacher, Student Skills and the Teaching becomes more evident. That is, besides the content, moves also the set of expectations and mutual responsibilities between teacher and students facing a new wonder, what Brousseau (1986) calls the Didactic Contract. In the innovation process of curriculum content, the teacher will not only teach a new subject, but will also negotiate a new contract teaching. Thus, the teacher must be willing to take some risk. And in this case, be able to manage this risk requires greater autonomy. This research project aims to pursue studies on innovation and risk management courseware. Our current bet is that one of the most important factors in this process lies in the field of emotions. While certainly the area of content and innovative methodologies necessary condition, it seems that they are not enough. This idea comes to fruition in recent times from some achievements in the research group. More recently, we have developed an exploratory study to map the emotional perception that these same teachers have when they develop innovative activities. We studies developed by Tobin and colleagues at the University of the City of New York (CUNY) on the notion of mindfullness and the use of heuristics in an attempt to get some constructs able to inform us about the role that emotions play in the processes of risk management It should be noted however that the use of heuristics is only part of research methodology used by the group Tobin. The prospect of his work involves the idea with Event Driven Research (PEO). The proposed project aims at appropriating the theoretical methodological PEO, through a plan of cooperative work with the group's Graduated Center of the City University of New York. (AU)