Historical and inquiry approaches to teaching the Nature of Science: a systematic review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22600/1518-8795.ienci/2025v30n3p103Keywords:
Inquiry-based Teaching, History and Philosophy of Science, Nature of Science, Conceptions of Science, Systematic ReviewAbstract
This paper presents the results of a Systematic Literature Review on the impact of pedagogical approaches that incorporate inquiry practices and historical cases for teaching the Nature of Science in the context of Basic Education. The selection process of the 632 papers identified in the Portal de Periódicos da CAPES resulted in a sample of 334 articles published between 2014 and 2024 in journals rated Qualis A or B in the fields of Teaching or Education. From this group, only 20 presented empirical results of pedagogical proposals and comprised the final analysis corpus, which was subjected to Thematic Analysis. As result, four themes related to the contributions of historical cases were identified, along with three others concerning the use of inquiry practices in teaching the Nature of Science. These approaches were found to be particularly effective in: challenging empiricist-inductivist views; presenting science as a social practice, constituted by a community of scientists; and contextualizing the human and historical nature of scientific endeavor. The study emphasizes the need for research focused on the teaching-learning process of the Nature of Science, especially in Elementary Education and the subject of Biology, as well as the integrative potential of historical and inquiry approaches.References
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