This article aims to map the scientific production concerning the inclusion of people with disabilities in Science Education to promote a reflection on the production of this area. Bibliometric analysis is used to help understand what stage of research a particular subject is at. Publications on the topic indexed at the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) were evaluated. A total of 119 articles published between 2009 and July 2019 were selected as dealing specifically with the subject. An increase in the number of articles associating Science teaching (ST) and Inclusive Education (IE) was noted. The journals that published the most, the most productive authors in the area and their collaboration networks were identified. A content analysis of the research was also carried out and the main investigated topics were pointed out. Educational levels, types of disabilities, central themes and specific science areas prevailing in the mapped research were also indicated. We conclude that, despite the growing number of articles, scientific production associating SE and IE is still small, concentrated, and not shared with the scientific community through scientific education journals, and that most research is focused on the use of methodologies and resources, and not on their development.

A narrativa, sob forma oral ou escrita, pode constituir um método poderoso de investigação em educação. Neste texto abordarei o conceito de narrativa, tendo por base fundamentos de diversos autores. A análise narrativa constituirá um aspecto relevante e será ilustrada com histórias recolhidas a partir de investigação realizada com professoras em início de carreira. Serão apresentadas duas perspectivas de análise, sendo uma delas adotada na apresentação de outras histórias que ajudam a compreender as potencialidades da narrativa em estudos com professores. Uma das perspectivas assenta num modelo de análise de conteúdo em que diferentes momentos de evolução dos acontecimentos, correspondendo a significados do discurso também diferentes, são evidenciados e interpretados. Outra perspectiva tem por base um modelo sociolingüístico de análise (Labov, 1972-1982), constituindo uma estrutura mais rígida, mas permitindo pôr em evidência determinadas características do discurso que ajudam a analisá-lo mais em profundidade. Apresentam-se também três potencialidades da narrativa - como processo de investigação em educação, como processo de reflexão pedagógica e como processo de formação - ilustradas com episódios relatados por professores. Oral or written narrative can be a strong method of research in education. In this text I shall present the theoretical concept of narrative based on several authors. Narrative analysis is a relevant aspect and is illustrated with stories collected from the research undertaken with teachers at the start of their careers. Two analysis perspectives will be presented, one of which is adopted in the presentation of other stories that help understand the potentialities of narrative in studies with teachers. One of the perspectives is based on a content analysis model that highlights and interprets different moments in the evolution of events, and also corresponding to different discourse meanings. The other perspective is based on a sociolinguistic model of analysis (Labov, 1972/82) that has a more rigid structure but still shows certain discourse characteristics that help analyse it more deeply. I also present three potentialities of narrative - as a process of research in education, as a process of pedagogical reflection, and as a process of teacher education - illustrating these with teachers' accounts

This article discusses the results of a mainly qualitative study into possible impacts of recent controversial socio‐scientific issues on a group of Portuguese secondary school students regarding their conceptions about scientists. The 86 participants: (1) answered a questionnaire with open‐ended questions; and (2) wrote a science fiction story involving a group of scientists working on a particular situation of her/his choice. Next, semi‐structured interviews were carried out to clarify and discuss the ideas embodied in the stories and mentioned in the questionnaire. All data underwent a process of content analysis. The socio‐scientific controversies recently discussed, and the way science and scientists are depicted in the media, seem to have produced some impact on students' conceptions about scientists. Based on the results obtained, some remarks and educational implications are discussed.

Research has shown that hands-on projects promote stem education, namely via problem-solving. CanSat, literally ‘satellite in a can’, is a stem educational project promoted by the European Space Agency. This paper addresses this issue by researching this STEM project and trying to understand how secondary students solve problems in the STEM CanSat project. We use qualitative techniques of data collection and analysis. The results showed that students used sophisticated thinking strategies to process information within this interdisciplinary project: (a) cognitive testing, cognitive organization, cognitive regulation, and monitoring, in addition to computer language and physical-mathematical calculations, are cognitive and metacognitive behavior strategies revealed in the CanSat; (b) problem-solving was suggested as a specific model, where students’ higher cognitive and metacognitive ordering processes deepen in project development; (c) computational, lateral, or divergent and convergent thinking were detected as thinking types of students associated with and mobilized in the course of problem-solving. The findings of this research have practical implications for STEM education in space science. Hands-on projects using problem-solving are an essential strategy to promote STEM. This project reinforces this. Additionally, they are a starting point to promote meaningful learning and new thinking types.

In this article the authors resort to a qualitative analysis of the plot of science fiction stories about a group of scientists, written by two 11th‐grade Earth and Life Science students (aged 17), and to semi‐structured interviews, with the double purpose of diagnosing their conceptions of the nature of science (namely, as regards scientists’ activity), and discussing the potentialities of this methodology in terms of research and education in science. The adopted methodology proved particularly effective in diagnosing the students’ conceptions of scientists’ characteristics, scientific activity, and science–technology–society interactions. The limited content of certain conceptions and a certain lack of knowledge on the part of the students concerning the processes and the epistemology of science highlight the need to pay explicit attention in science classes to the nature of scientific activity. Some of the ideas brought up by the students clearly show the influence of stereotypes and catastrophic scenarios depicted in films, television programs, and books, revealing media’s limitations when divulging scientific and technological themes to the general public and stressing the need for the school to promote a critical debate about science and technology images conveyed by the media.