Maria José Rodrigues1, Rui Marques Vieira2 
(1. School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança;
2. Research Centre for Didactics and Technology in Teacher Education, University of Aveiro, Portugal)

 

 

Abstract: Education in sciences should contribute to everyone’s scientific literacy and encourage their democratic participation in informed decisions making. In a time when we claim the educational relevance of science, promoting its early start among three to six-year-old children is necessary to create appropriate strategies to guide educators towards practices which are consistent with the current national science curriculum guidelines. The objectives of this study are twofold. Firstly it aims to depict the type of training kindergarten teachers of the district of Bragança receive in the field of sciences. Secondly it intends to clarify didactical and pedagogical aspects set out by educators in the context of experimental sciences in their everyday workplace. The data was gathered through questionnaires, in the universe of the kindergarten teachers in this district. It is based on a case study of descriptive and interpretative nature. The overall results show that they are satisfied with the experimental sciences training they received in their initial degrees, although a more practical training is needed to implement sciences in their everyday practice, as well as more scientific and pedagogical resources in order to make them feel more confident regarding education in sciences.

 

 

Key words: education in sciences, educational practices, in-service teacher training and practical work