As mídias digitais no contexto da formação de professores de ciências nos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental: um estudo na Escola Municipal Paulo Freire em Imperatriz/MA

Abstract

Teacher training in Media Literacy is a necessary condition for understanding and using digital media in all areas of teaching. This research aims to investigate the processes of Media Literacy (ML) in the context of teacher training for those teaching Science in Elementary Education at Paulo Freire Municipal School in Imperatriz/MA, with the goal of creating a Virtual Box of Padlets on digital media in Science Education. It is a qualitative research with a case study approach. The research participants are four teachers who teach Natural Sciences in the early years of Elementary Education at Paulo Freire Municipal School in Imperatriz. Two tools were chosen for data collection: a questionnaire and an interview. The research data were analyzed from the perspective of Bardin's Content Analysis (2016). For the analysis, three categories were developed: understanding of media and its uses; access and application of media in the context of science classes; promotion of ML among students. The theoretical references for data analysis are documents released by UNESCO, Media and Information Literacy: curriculum for teacher training (2013) and Media and Information Literacy: guidelines for policy and strategy development (2016). During the research, it was evident that the participants have a good understanding of the importance of media in education, especially in the area of Natural Science Teaching, and that they use a variety of media resources in their classes to enrich their students' learning processes in Science. As a result, competencies and skills that characterize the Media Literacy process were identified. However, it was also found that teachers face numerous obstacles to advancing this process, such as limited space for the topic in the training offered by the municipal education network and difficulties with access to structural resources and materials at the institution. In conclusion, this work presents the Virtual Box of Padlets with information and resources to contribute to the teachers' training, offering suggestions and methodological guidelines for Media Literacy in the context of Science Education.