Science curriculum for primary school - study of (dis)continuities in the pedagogical message

Abstract

The study is centred on the analysis of the science curriculum for primary school. The difference in the message transmitted by the curricular documents Essential Competences - Study of the Environment and Syllabus of the Study of the Environment with regard to the what and to the how of the teachinglearning process is analysed. Possible influences on teachers’ pedagogic practices are discussed. Theoretically, the study follows psychological and sociological perspectives, with particular emphasis on Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse, and methodologically uses a mixed methodology. With regard to the what is taught, the complexity of scientific knowledge and the complexity of investigative competences were analysed. With regard to the how, teacher-student and school-community relations and also relations between discourses and between spaces were analysed. The results show that the Essential Competences document calls for a more conceptualized
learning and for a pedagogic practice more children centred when compared with the Syllabus document. The coexistence of these documents for ten years may have been influencing negatively teachers’ pedagogic practices and also textbooks’ authors. The study gives therefore data for reflection on the principles that underlie primary science curriculum and their possible influence on science teaching and learning.

Keywords
Curricula; Primary school; Science education