Abstract:
The article focuses on how science as a school subject has been discussed in Brazilian theses and dissertations between 1981 and 1995. It analyses nine dissertations and theses that investigate elementary school teaching and that adopt a historical approach. Drawing on Goodson's history of the school subjects, the article argues that internal and external factors are necessary to understand the steps followed by a school subject. It stresses the importance of analysing dissertations and theses submitted to Brazilian graduate programmes. It suggests that there is much left to be researched on the development of science as a school subject, since most of the studies carried out are very much descriptive. In other words, historical studies have not been a concern of science education researchers. The studies tend to understress the influence of conflicts on the general context of the constitution of scientific school subjects.
Keywords:
curriculum; science education; history of school subjects.