History

The Graduate Program in Science Education (PPGEC) consists of the Professional Master’s Degree in Science Education, authorized for operation by CAPES on 12/14/2011, with Concept 3, and recognized by the MEC by Ordinance No. 1,324 of 11/08/2012, published in the Official Gazette on 11/09/2012, Section 1, p.8-10. The Program began its activities in 2012, with 13 students, and currently has 32 students. The field of activity of the Program, due to its geoeducational insertion within the scope of UNIPAMPA, preferably involves Basic Education schools in the border region of the southern half of Rio Grande do Sul, which is fragile in socioeconomic and educational terms, according to IDS and IDEB indicators. The Program has permanent faculty from UNIPAMPA’s Bagé and Caçapava do Sul campuses and collaborating faculty. The Program’s headquarters is the Bagé Campus, where classes take place during the regular academic semesters of UNIPAMPA’s stricto sensu Graduate Program, from Thursday evenings to Saturdays, and during periods concentrated during the school vacation months in Basic Education, subject to the availability of faculty and students.

Currently, the Graduate Program in Science Teaching (PPGEC) consists of Master’s and Professional Doctorate courses in Science Teaching and has been recognized with a grade 4 by the Ministry of Education (MEC) since 2022.

Area of ​​Concentration

Science Teaching

Mission

To promote quality scientific and professional training in graduate studies in science teaching with a view to meeting local, national and international issues.

Vision

In line with UNIPAMPA’s Mission, the PPGEC seeks to promote integration between research developed within the scope of postgraduate studies permeated by teaching and extension practices applied in science education to form committed and qualified individuals to act in a significant and relevant way in regional development, committed to national issues and international dissemination. It is consolidated as a reference Program that emphasizes the importance of University-School integration and national and international cooperation/partnership in scientific research in search of producing methodological innovations and improvements in the quality of Science Education.

Objectives

The Program’s general objective is to improve the professional qualification of teachers who work preferably in Basic Education, in the areas of Physics, Chemistry and Natural Sciences, in a joint effort between UNIPAMPA professors and teachers from the schools where they are inserted. To this end, the Program seeks to fulfill specific objectives that cover two general dimensions of knowledge, the dimension of training and the dimension of professional practice, outlined as follows:

to provide an increase in teachers’ capacity for innovation for the planning and evaluation of innovative pedagogical proposals, theoretically based and associated with methodological designs, through a curricular proposal that enables the deepening of theoretical-methodological assumptions for the understanding of the relationships between teaching and learning;

to provide the development of skills in the technical-pedagogical use of contemporary technologies and their incorporation into pedagogical proposals involving experimental and computational practices, with the support of adequate infrastructure and curricular proposal, and its teaching staff;

to provide monitoring and guidance for study projects and final projects, with the support of adequate infrastructure and its teaching staff; and,

to provide opportunities for professional internships, exchange of knowledge and experiences, through exchanges, and other forms of improvement;

To enable postgraduate students to work in teaching, research and extension activities and to develop a transformative professional practice, through the incorporation of the scientific method and the application of knowledge of new techniques and processes, aiming to meet socio-educational demands;
To train qualified professionals to work in terms of revisiting and deepening basic training content and discussing innovative teaching and learning processes in the area of ​​Science.
To develop, disseminate and disseminate educational products for teaching science in the form of methodological proposals, teaching materials, digital materials and resources, pedagogical activities and digital and printed publications;
To collaborate with the updating and review of science teaching practices, whether through academic scientific production or through the implementation of pedagogical interventions;
To disseminate a set of knowledge, themes and practices for teaching science contextualized with the region and the sociocultural characteristics of the area of ​​activity of the PPGEC;

Develop and disseminate educational products with accessibility features in order to promote equity and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the school context.
Value Generated
Qualify Science Teaching by training professionals capable of developing transformative professional practices at different levels of education, by incorporating the scientific method and applying knowledge of new techniques and processes, aiming to meet socio-educational demands.

Theoretical and methodological rigor in the production of knowledge and educational products;
Respect for the theoretical and methodological plurality of the fields of activity and academic backgrounds of researchers;
Inter and transdisciplinary dialogue in the production of knowledge and the development of educational products;
Social and educational relevance, for the school, the region and the country, of the knowledge and products produced;
Intense dialogue between the training/experience of the program’s teaching researcher and the training/experience of the PPGEC student;
Cooperation and solidarity with other programs and national and international partner communities.
Graduate Profile
The aim is for graduates of the Program to mobilize skills and competencies from their training and professional practice for innovative actions in teaching methods and in the use and development of resources, with the potential to reconfigure the educational environment, involving the teacher, the school and the students in understanding and transforming the reality in which they live.