CONTEXTUALIZATION AND EXPERIMENTAL IN CHEMICAL TEACHING: CURRICULAR PRACTICES IN MOURA - RONDONIA SCHOOLSChemistry Teaching, Contextualization, Practical classes.
Official curriculum documents for Brazilian education, such as the National Curriculum Parameters PCN) and the Complementary Educational Guidelines to National Curriculum Parameters (PCN +), are important because serve as an orientation guide for schools and teachers applying the Guidelines Law and Bases of National Education (Portuguese acronym: LDBEN). In the pedagogical perspective, the references for the teaching of natural sciences in high school organize learning based on two didactic-methodological axes: interdisciplinarity and contextualization. However, few studies investigate wether teaching in schools in the amazon region is structured on these axes. Thus, the present study investigated if the didactic and methodological practices used by chemistry teachers in schools under study match the proposals of the official educational curriculum documents, especially regarding the experimental activities and the contextualization of the studied subjects. In addition, an intervention was conducted with these professionals, through a short course, in order to instigate reflections on their practices in a constructive manner. The research was structured in interviews and observations of the classes of three teachers who teach in the state public network of three schools in Rolim de Moura - Rondônia. It was found that the frequency of practical activities when confronted with the documents is minimal, and that the participating teachers present understandings considered simplistic about the optics of contextualization in teaching (a fact that ends up influencing their pedagogical actions). They also reported finding it difficult to use the speeches presented in curricular practices. In general, the didactic-methodological practices employed by the teachers in the researched schools fell short of what the guiding documents of education suggest.