THE USE OF PRACTICAL CLASSES IN SCIENCE TEACHING: CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES

Abstract

Practical activities are methodologies and resources that can contribute in an attractive and meaningful way to effectiveness in science teaching and learning. The objective of this research was to evaluate how the teachers and students of the State Education Network of the city of Umuarama, Paraná, conceive and develop the practical activities in science classes, listing the reasons that hinder the use of these methodologies. For this, a survey was conducted seeking to know which strategies, resources and spaces are used in practical classes and also what challenges to develop them. Qualitative research was employed through semi-structured interviews with teachers and educators from five schools. The 9th grade students answered a questionnaire with closed and open questions. The results of the interviews with students showed little use of practical methodologies, although they show interest in the methodology and state that it also improves learning. In contrast, most of the teachers interviewed stated that they use this type of class, despite pointing out numerous factors that make it difficult to use this practice. They cited that the lack of laboratory and material, as well as maintenance in laboratory equipment are reasons that hinder such execution. Also, reasons such as: excess of students, indiscipline and the very poor academic and continuing education, make it difficult and cause insecurity in the execution of practical classes. The teachers pointed out that the practical classes are important resources as a complement to the theoretical classes and that their execution would be necessary more frequently. It was concluded that practical methodologies are desired by students and teachers, but there are factors that limit their implementation, despite being facilitating in the teaching-learning process.