Ontologia e epistemologia na educação científica

Abstract

The objective of this research is to analyze the implications of different ontological and epistemological premises in science education. The analysis, as a whole, is guided by four Fundamental Questions. Within the scope of ontology, some possible answers have been considered concerning the question of whether nature has a foundation. Within the scope of epistemology, three issues are examined: the ontological perspective questions whether a world exists independently of the mind; the epistemic approach questions what can be known; and the semantic question considers the relations between language and reality. The research is divided into three parts, each of which corresponding to a chapter of this study. In Chapter 1, potential responses to the Fundamental Questions are analyzed and classified according to their philosophical stance. Regarding the ontological thought, we examined the position affirming nature’s foundations (foundationalists), the one denying it (nihilists), and the one which refrains from answering the question, which in this context is represented by the Buddhist philosophical approach of the Middle Way (Madhyamaka). With respect to epistemology, the realist, the idealist and the Middle Way perspectives are analyzed. In Chapter 2, we assess the possible implication and contribution which these premises produce in science education. Various topics are addressed, such as: conflicting world views from the perspective of students and of science, the role of presuppositions in scientific argumentation and education, the students’ difficulties regarding conceptual changes and the role of the concept of truth in the post-truth era. Finally, in Chapter 3 we present a way in which this research may contribute to the teaching of Quantum Mechanics, where we emphasize some questions that can be addressed in the course of the study of theory.