Professional Development in a Postgraduate Program in Science Education: Emerging Elements of Students’ Social Representations

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35819/tear.v13.n1.a7172

Abstract

This article presents an exploratory qualitative investigation into the context of a postgraduate program in Science Education, based on students’ social representations about topics related to the professional development of Natural Sciences teachers. Data was collected via questionnaire and interpreted through content analysis. The group investigated, made up of postgraduate students graduated in teacher education programs, showed convergence with the foundations of constructivist, Science-Technology-Society and sociocultural approaches, including topics linked to teaching strategies, pedagogical trends and learning assessment. Participants also evoked different rationalities when asked about teacher education. The identification of social representations and the awareness of subjects about such themes were considered as procedures that can help students to construct thoughts about the realities with which they interact and the pedagogical references by which they are guided, the teaching qualities they intend to constitute and the nature of the training from which they intend to develop. It is inferred that postgraduate programs, in addition to being training spaces capable of facilitating the elaboration and implementation of scientific research projects, can also stimulate the construction of professional development projects for their students by presenting themselves as a locus of discussion about the means, ends and contexts linked to the teaching work.

Keywords: Professional development. Representations. Science education.

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Author Biographies

  • Carlos Ventura Fonseca, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

    Doutor em Educação  e professor da Faculdade de Educação e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação em Ciências da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

  • Felipe Augusto de Oliveira, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

    Licenciando em Química (UFRGS). Bolsista de iniciação científica (2023).

Published

2024-07-09

How to Cite

Professional Development in a Postgraduate Program in Science Education: Emerging Elements of Students’ Social Representations. #Tear: Journal of Education, Science and Technology, Canoas, v. 13, n. 1, 2024. DOI: 10.35819/tear.v13.n1.a7172. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ifrs.edu.br/index.php/tear/article/view/7172. Acesso em: 9 jun. 2026.