Desafios e estratégias no ensino de ciências da natureza em escolas estaduais durante a pandemia: um recorte de Lavras e Ijaci, MG

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the teaching context of Natural Sciences in public state schools located in the municipalities of Lavras - MG and Ijaci - MG during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three schools agreed to participate in the research, two in Lavras and one in Ijaci (the only state school in the municipality), namely the Escola Estadual Azarias Ribeiro, Escola Estadual Firmino Costa, and Escola Estadual Maurício Zákhia. After the institutions' acceptance, contact was made with the teachers of Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics subjects, in order to recruit volunteers to respond to the survey, totaling 10 teachers. Next, a questionnaire was sent to the participants for them to respond; for data analysis, Bardin's Content Analysis (1977) was used, along with the theory of complex networks with the assistance of the software Iramuteq for the treatment of responses and the construction of analysis categories. From these categories, it was found that a large part of the methodologies used by the teachers went against the nationally used methodologies, while most of Brazil increased its presence on social networks, a portion of the teachers in Lavras and Ijaci resorted to Virtual Learning Environments, increasing the use of audiovisual resources. The difficulties presented relate to the presence of the students, who often found themselves unmotivated and absent from synchronous or asynchronous classes, with another portion of the difficulties stemming from contextual consequences, such as limited familiarity with information and communication technologies (ICT) by both teachers and students, the need for restructuring of plans, and socioeconomic problems that hindered access to ICT and the students' attendance in school. Upon completion of the previous part, the teachers were invited for an interview, however, only one teacher showed openness to an interview to delve into the issues addressed in the questionnaire, which led, first, to a reinforcement of the methodologies and difficulties encountered, focusing on three aspects: the teacher's personal field, their interaction with the school, and their interaction with the students.The work investigated the main strategies and difficulties faced by elementary and high school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on teachers from public schools in the state education network of Lavras and Ijaci, MG, teaching Natural Sciences in Middle School and High School; the main points of difficulty for teachers were identified, the type of assistance they would need to effectively conduct remote emergency teaching, as well as what would be necessary for students to avoid dropping out and promote better teacher-student integration during social distancing. The study also listed the main technologies used by teachers during the pandemic, how teachers' work was affected, and how the relationship between teachers and students was established during the pandemic, including communication and/or dissemination resources, difficulties in accessing Communication and Information Technologies by the school community, and suggestions on how to prepare teachers, students, and other education professionals for possible similar scenarios in the future.