Entre educação científica e processos de (res)socialização: Contribuições da Epistemologia Fleckiana e da  História da Ciência para uma abordagem crítica da natureza da ciência no ensino de Química em prisões

Abstract

This study analyzes the potential contributions of Ludwik Fleck’s epistemology to Chemistry teaching in contexts of deprivation of liberty, articulating it with the History of Science and discussions on the Nature of Science. It is based on the assumption that science education, when understood beyond the mere transmission of content, may constitute a space for critical education, the expansion of students’ interpretive frameworks, and the strengthening of formative processes associated with resocialization. The research is qualitative and interpretive in nature and was developed as an educational case study in a prison unit in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, within the context of Youth and Adult Education. As a didactic strategy, an Episode from the History of Chemistry centered on alchemy was designed and implemented in order to problematize the historical and social construction of scientific knowledge. The data were produced through students’ discursive interactions during the activity and analyzed in light of epistemological categories for the Nature of Science inspired by Fleck. The results indicate that the approach fostered the development of more critical understandings of science, the overcoming of less elaborated conceptions about alchemy, and the recognition of scientific knowledge as a historically, socially, and culturally situated production. Students’ interactions also revealed movements toward expanding ways of interpreting science, society, and their own personal trajectories, suggesting that science education in contexts of deprivation of liberty may contribute to resocialization processes mediated by the reconstruction of ways of thinking. It is concluded that the articulation between Fleckian epistemology, History of Science, and Chemistry teaching constitutes a fruitful framework for the development of critical educational practices related to the Nature of Science and socially contextualized practices within prison education.