É hoje amplamente defendida uma educação em ciências e em matemática, numa perspectiva de literacia, que habilite cada um a contribuir para a melhoria da qualidade de vida de todos e um ambiente sustentável para as gerações atuais e futuras. Nessa linha, em conjugação com o facto de o pensamento crítico emergir como proeminente e estreitamente ligado à literacia científica e matemática, o presente artigo centra-se em estudos desenvolvidos pelos autores com a finalidade de conferir clareza e inteligibilidade a esse campo, estabelecendo um referencial que possa ser usado para orientar a formação de professores e a educação em ciências e em matemática das crianças e jovens. O referencial aqui apresentado configura-se como um suporte à construção de ideias claras acerca de literacia científica, literacia matemática e pensamento crítico, passíveis de serem congruentemente plasmadas no desenvolvimento de materiais didáticos e de práticas pedagógico-didáticas intencional e fundamentadamente orientadas para o promover da literacia crítica dos alunos.

This paper reports research work related to a wider study, aimed at developing a mobile app for Science Education in primary-school. Several studies reveal that Science Education can be improved by using technology, namely educational software. However, to promote a structured use of technology, innovative learning approaches must be designed for educational software. This paper aims to answer how the interaction between students and a mobile app for Science Education can promote students’ scientific competences development and self-regulated learning. To achieve this, a learning approach was designed, combining the Universal Design for Learning principles, Inquiry-Based Science Education and the BSCS 5E – teaching model for Science Education designed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, which results in the acronym of the model. The 5E is related to each phase of the model: Engagement; Exploration; Explanation; Elaboration; Evaluation. The proposed was based on a grounded, participatory, and user-centred approach, crossing literature contributions with data collected among primary-school teachers through the application of a questionnaire (n = 118). Data collected allowed deductions about the expected adequacy of the learning approach, according to Nieveen’s criteria for high quality educational interventions. This adequacy was revealed through the teachers’ conceptions about the potential impact of the conceptualized mobile app (i) to provide a comprehensive and practical Science Education learning; and (ii) to enhance students’ scientific competences development and self-regulated learning. The paper aims to contribute to the design of an innovative learning approach in Science Education and to share it with other researchers since it can be expanded to other educational software.

Science education become one prioritie of modern societies, with the purpose of forming scientifically literate youth and adults. They play an active role in solving the problems existing in society, making critical and informed decisions. In this paper we discuss the need for scientifically literate citizens and the relevance of practical work as a key strategy for science learning in the early years. We’ll describe the investigative process which supported in real-life educational contexts of a set of Didactic Strategies. We’ll focus on the results of the ‘Materials Lotto’ detailing the results in science teaching and learning in kindergarten. The results show that children mobilize a wide array of skills and attitudes/beliefs, showing scientific knowledge at different degrees of complexity. We concluded that practical work in science education in the early years is an effective strategy for science teaching and learning, as groundwork for future science literacy of kindergarten children.

STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—and STEM literacy have emerged as one (of many) concerted efforts aiming to provide the different competences required for future generations to adapt to an evolving world. Despite lacking a comprehensive framework for STEM, this concept has been studied under different perspectives, one of which is the digital competences of teachers. This study focuses on the digital competence and proficiency of 20,935 teachers, distributed across the following subjects: mathematics and natural sciences, physics and chemistry, biology and geology, and mathematics. It uses DigCompEdu as a conceptual framework to describe teachers’ use of digital technologies to teach STEM subjects. The results show that biology and geology teachers achieved significantly higher digital proficiency scores when compared to teachers from the other three subjects. Physics and chemistry teachers also scores significantly higher than mathematics and natural sciences teachers. The results show the existence of significant positive correlations among all competence areas for the four STEM subjects. In conclusion, Portuguese teachers presented different levels of digital competence and perceived themselves as differently prepared for integrating digital technologies. A potential implication of this study is the need for teacher education about digital competences and a focus on producing teachers capable of dealing with STEM in their future classroom teaching and learning.

A sociedade contemporânea evidencia diversos avanços científicos e tecnológicos que têm contribuído para a melhoria da qualidade de vida de seres humanos. Todavia, tem também acentuado problemas e assimetrias entre os mesmos, como a escassez de água potável e de produção alimentar, o acesso a cuidados de saúde e a desinformação. O ensino das ciências necessita, pois, de ser repensado de modo a responder eficazmente a estes complexos desafios. Nesse sentido, uma das exigências e radica na necessidade de se centrar o curículo, os programas e as práticas de ensino no âmbito de todas as disciplinas em áreas de competências, como as de pensamento crítico e criativo (PCC). Uma das formas de o conseguir é investindo no desenvolvimento de propostas didáticas para os alunos vivenciarem a participação cidadã responsável, mobilizando explicitamente o PCC. Neste quadro, realizou-se um estudo com o propósito de elaborar, implementar e avaliar propostas didáticos com foco no PCC, para o ensino das ciências com alunos dos 8 aos 12 anos. Decorrente disso, a questão de investigação norteadora do estudo foi: “As propostas didáticas elaboradas e implementadas contribuem para a melhoria do PCC dos alunos envolvidos”? O estudo seguiu uma natureza mista, por um lado, com um planeamento de Investigação-ação para o desenvolvimento de propostas didáticas e, por outro, um design pré-teste e pós-teste com seleção não aleatória dos sujeitos. Os resultados obtidos suportam a conclusão de que as propostas didáticas elaboradas e implementadas promoveram estes tipos de pensamento dos alunos envolvidos. Estas propostas relevam-se, pois, de amplo potencial, no contexto do ensino das ciências, para alunos destes níveis etários, dadas as temáticas transversais em que se centraram. Afiguram-se também como exemplos a serem usados na formação de professores, de modo a desenvolverem práticas que promovam explícita e intencionalmente estes dois tipos de pensamento.