Ação formativa de professores de ciências da natureza : da revisão sistemática à sondagem de indicadores de altas habilidades ou superdotação

Abstract

This research is based on the problem that students with high abilities or giftedness (HA/G), although included in the Special Education population and guaranteed rights under educational legislation, still face difficulties in the effective implementation of these rights in school practices, especially due to the need for qualified teachers to address their learning specificities. However, there remains a mismatch between legal guarantees and their realization in everyday school life, since many teachers still do not feel prepared, both in initial and continuing education, to work with these students in Basic Education (Souto, Castro and Delou, 2021; Rangni, 2023). The thesis defended is that a teacher education action that articulates the specificities of Science Education with the principles of Special Education, considering teachers’ training needs, significantly contributes to strengthening teacher autonomy in the identification of students with high abilities or giftedness, especially in the context of Science Education. In this context, the research question is: how can a teacher education action in Science Education contribute to the development of teacher autonomy in the identification process and in Specialized Educational Support for students with high abilities or giftedness in Basic Education? From this question, the general objective of the study was to analyze the contributions of a teacher education model in Science Education to the development of teacher autonomy in the identification process and in Specialized Educational Support for students with HA/G, aiming at the realization of these students’ educational rights in Basic Education. The study is grounded in Renzulli’s (1978, 1998, 2004) Expanded Three-Ring Conception for understanding giftedness. For the analysis of teacher autonomy, it draws on Contreras (2002), while for the identification of scientific giftedness traits, it considers Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) and investigative sequences in Carvalho (2018). The methodological design combined elements of Participatory Research (Brandão, 1984, 1999), seeking the engagement of teachers in constructing solutions to shared problems, with qualitative exploratory research. Science teachers, mostly Biology graduates, participated in two contexts: Brazilian national group related to exploratory qualitative investigation, and a municipal group linked to a teacher education action developed in Goiânia-GO, Brazil. This formative action investigated and expanded participants’ understanding of the theme, incorporating the IBST approach as a strategy for identifying and supporting students with HA/G in Basic Education. Data analysis was conducted using Content Analysis (Bardin, 2016) and Contreras’s (2002) contributions regarding dimensions of teacher autonomy. The results indicate a scarcity of studies on teacher education in Science Education focused on students with high abilities or giftedness, as well as gaps in initial teacher education and conceptions marked by stereotypes and insecurity. In this context, the collaborative formative action developed in the city contributed to reshaping Science teachers’ conceptions, expanding teacher autonomy in the identification and referral of 14 students with HA/G indicators to Specialized Educational Support. Thus, the research confirms the thesis that a teacher education action integrating the specificities of Science Education with the principles of Special Education significantly contributes to strengthening teacher autonomy, expressed both in the expanded ability to identify HA/G indicators in everyday school practice and in improving identification and referral practices to Specialized Educational Support.