History of Scientific Education: reviewing aspects and building perspectives

Abstract

This literature review has as its object of study the history of scientific education from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century based on three specific objectives: to understand the political and economic factors that interfered in the development of science education, to analyze cultural factors and pedagogical aspects that permeated this history, and discuss the paths that scientific education has for the 21st century. It is, therefore, a bibliographic research of a historical nature, whose other researches are considered direct sources of investigation. We observe a convergence of the authors to understand that the positivist science and science conceptions, still hegemonic, result from a history marked by strong American political, economic, cultural and pedagogical influences. However, recent research brings new contributions on the role of science and science teaching in the information age, which can mean a change in perspectives and a new way of building 21st century science education.