Undergraduate Physics teaching programs at Federal Centers of Technological Education: contributions and critical analysis

Abstract

The present dissertation is the result of a research on the Physics Teaching courses created at CEFET Campos in 2000 and CEFET São Paulo in 2001. The three chapters present a bibliographic review of undergraduate Teacher Education courses on the whole and more specifically, of Physics teaching – a research topic that has increased over the last decade. Supported by the work of acknowledged authors, legislation, and the author’s teaching experience, the study investigates the history of vocational education in Brazil and how the Technical Federal Schools changed, in the past ten years, into Federal Centers of Technological Education, known as CEFETs,. Based on the analysis of data collected in documents, statements given by teachers and students, and field observation, the dissertation presents an historical account of the creation of those courses and describes the models and initial curricular structure implemented at CEFET Campos and CEFET São Paulo. Initially, CEFET Campos offered a comprehensive Degree in Sciences, the first to be created in such centers; the following year, CEFET São Paulo created a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Science Education. These two different experiences were important contributions to qualified Physics Education programs in the country. The study also presents an analysis of the public policies formulated by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) concerning Science Teaching programs during the educational reform of neoliberal inspiration enforced by different Brazilian governments in the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first.