Since its establishment, PPGEFHC has been guided by the understanding that even the researcher specialized strictly in the field of science teaching must have a solid background based on epistemology and maintain an intense dialogue with philosophy and history of sciences. After all, as Matthews (1994) points out, many educational debates cannot be properly understood without a historically and philosophically understanding of what is being discussed, as in the case, for example, the debates on constructivism and multicultural education.
In short, PPGEFHC focuses its attention in terms of research and teaching, on the critical observation of science, its results, its production and its dissemination, particularly through education, conducting its activities within two areas of concentration:
- Scientific education and training of science teachers, notably Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.
- History and Philosophy of science and their implications in the teaching of science.
The performance of the faculty members, the pedagogical activities and the academic life of our Program revolve around these two milestones in an explicit effort for an open dialogue. In this sense, we hope that scientific education and teacher training will benefit from the history of sciences and epistemology in order to provide a critical and well-informed perspective on the educational practice in this field. We understand that epistemology is confronted with challenges imposed by scientific and educational practices (such as issues related to relativism, multiculturalism, social role, justification, etc.).
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