As pegadas das crianças nas trilhas do bosque da ciência: estudo sobre a vivência das crianças na visita a um espaço não formal

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to understand the meanings behind the children´s actions and behaviors, visiting the non-formal space Bosque da Ciência. For this purpose, we adopted the theoretical assumptions that sustained the Bosque da Ciência as a non formal scientific education space and place of scientific culture, and children as competent social agents to take part and construct meanings for their experiences. These perspectives have guided the actions in the field of research, in order to build a methodological approach that would achieve the proposed valuation of the participation of children so that they were in charge of talking about a visiting. From an ethnographic perspective, participant observation, interviews and rounds of conversation, followed up in the period October-November 2012 and April-July 2013, groups of children in their activities visit to Forest Science. Of accompanied visits, five were selected, with groups of children aged 5-10 years, of which also participated in non-school group. We analyzed the data based on descriptive and interpretative analysis. The results showed that children experience the organization of visits by adults in order to build forms to establish their interests and interact in this space, in entertainment and recursive movements, sharing discoveries and stories. It was inferred that scientific knowledge is recognized as a knowledge that can explain their questions or answer your questions, and were experienced in their actions of interactivity and playfulness in the context of the visit. The appreciation of children's voices open space to include them as part of an active dialogue between non-formal spaces and children's views. This implies thinking ways to build these spaces, the children's participation, and the experience of active citizenship.