PPGECT - Professional Master's and Academic Doctorate
Objectives
General
Train educators and researchers capable of developing high-level teaching and research activities, focusing on scientific concepts appropriate to the demands of science and technology and the context of their teaching.
Specific
- Provide theoretical, methodological and epistemological foundations linked to the teaching and learning of Science and Technology, as subsidies for adequate performance in the classroom and for the development of research in specific areas;
- Promote the updating and deepening of knowledge related to specific curricular content, with emphasis on aspects relevant to learning.
Area of Concentration
Science, Technology and Education
It aims to assist teachers in understanding, discussing and updating the various scientific and technological knowledge, its implications and interdependencies, so that such professionals can promote analysis and development of strategies that allow the improvement of the teaching-learning process.
Research Lines
Fundamentals and methodologies for teaching science and mathematics
It aims to discuss different possibilities for teaching and learning in science and mathematics. In this sense, it involves studies about mechanisms and tools that can be used to transform the teaching practice, enabling an effective construction of knowledge.
Technological Education
It covers the understanding, discussion and use of scientific and technological knowledge and tools that can help the Technological Education teacher to solve problems in the classroom reality, aiming at improving teaching practice.
Justification
Among the demands for continuing education for teachers in Paraná, issues arise related to the needs for a solid scientific education, which enables citizens to prepare themselves to consistently meet the needs of education in a conscious, critical, ethical and responsible manner.
Despite this demand, what is perceived in the majority of cases is a teaching that is still closely linked to academic traditionalism and the reproduction of knowledge. According to Prof. Marco Antônio Moreira, in 2005, “the educational practice still does not encourage the 'learning to learn' process that will allow the person to deal with change in a fruitful way […]”. [1]
In view of this situation, the Graduate Program in Teaching Science and Technology - PPGECT of UTFPR Ponta Grossa Campus identifies the need to expand research activities in the area. Having consolidated the professional master's degree, in order to meet the demands required for the continuing education of science and mathematics teachers, it also offers a doctorate course in order to continue the work that had already been done, but at a higher level, maintaining consistency between the concentration area, lines of research and projects.
What is proposed is an innovative training, which in addition to resulting in scientific articles and a thesis or dissertation, also enables the development of innovative educational didactic products, through applied, developed and tested research, in order to bring teachers practical results, which translate effective proposals for solving real problems, identified in the teaching practice of the researcher teacher.
In other words, when entering the PPGECT, the teacher must research his own practice, identify gaps and learning problems, looking for ways and solutions. Therefore, he/she should seek theoretical, epistemological and methodological foundations, and in possession of these foundations, he/she should develop didactic-pedagogical products, testing them within the methodologies, controls and tests that will give rigor to scientific research. Finally, he/she will disseminate the results to his/her peers, through the publication of a book, a collection, software, among other products that will be developed, in order to promote not only the incentive to pedagogical renewal, but also theoretical reflection about the contribution of that product to the area.