HYBRID TEACHING OF NATURAL SCIENCES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN ALAGOA: a research-training on conceptions, possibilities and challenges from the perspectives of teachers, students and their families
Basic Education. Public Schools. Blended Learning. DT in Education.
This thesis investigates how the blended learning (BL) methodology, inserted in the context of the incorporation of digital technologies (DT) in education, and its pedagogical potential is understood by teachers of the natural sciences area who work in public schools of the Alagoas State Education Network (REEAL), as well as by students and their families. The general objective of this research was to evaluate the possibilities and challenges of hybrid educational approaches in the context of public schools in the REEAL, with a view to the constitution of teaching and learning processes that broaden the understanding of topics of interest in the area of Natural Sciences. To this end, a heterogeneous set of data was considered, consisting of elements such as the conceptions of BL and DT in Education that the research participants expressed throughout the investigation through questionnaires, individual interviews, and focus groups, as well as the didactic scripts developed by the research participants teachers during the training offered. In fact, in relation to its procedures, this investigation was configured as a research-training, as it developed, mainly, in the context of a training on BL offered to the participating teachers.This is a qualitative study, with a descriptive character, whose subjects were 21 (twenty-one) teachers, 16 (sixteen) students, and 20 (twenty) family members of students from school communities of REEAL located in the city of Maceió-AL. Among its results, it was possible to identify that the participants in the research understand that the incorporation of DT in education broadens the possibilities of learning, even though it is necessary to be careful so that such resources do not end up being distracting factors in the classroom. On the other hand, when it comes to BL, it was possible to identify that the students' families are unaware of its meaning, while students and teachers share the understanding that BL is simply a mix of face-to-face and online teaching practices. Based on these results, discussions were developed regarding the processes of incorporating DT in public schools, especially in the context of BL practices, with the intention of contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the potential of hybrid educational approaches from the expansion of their epistemological horizons (theoretical and practical).