Metáfora conceptual e conhecimento nos discursos e práticas de professores do ensino fundamental

Abstract

The present thesis investigates two levels of knowledge representation by teachers of elementary education: the level of consciously professed beliefs and that of the values underlying less monitored discourses, comparing and contrasting these levels with that of the actual teaching practices. Situated within the spectrum of the studies on teacher cognition, its goal is to achieve a better understanding of the ways teachers conceptualize knowledge and to contribute with inferences to the elaboration and implementation of teacher education programs. Three theoretical axes frame the research: the conceptions of knowledge in philosophy, their reflections upon the pedagogical proposals throughout the history of education in Brazil and the theory of conceptual metaphor as a tool to understand the representations of knowledge that belong to the cognitive repertoire of teachers. The research, keeping the characteristics of an interpretative investigation, used questionnaires with closed and open questions, as well as the observation and recording of actual classes in audio and video as tools for the elicitation of data. The access to the professed beliefs and the values underlying discourses was done by the identification and discussion of the conceptual metaphors of knowledge suggested by the data, while the classroom practices were interpreted according to the communicative models verified in the pedagogical actions. Three metaphors of knowledge seem to struggle in contemporary discourses by teachers of elementary education: knowledge as transmission, as construction and as the intertwining of nets. It was found that the participants tended to elaborate eclectic personal theories about the issue, and that the influence of such beliefs over the pedagogical practices is an indirect one. Thus, it was concluded that the elaboration of programs for initial or in-service teacher education should take into consideration the previous knowledge of teachers and future teachers, avoid the imposition of a sole epistemological perspective and focus mainly on classroom practices and on reflecting upon them, as a way of facilitating the transition from a teaching process based mainly upon the transmission metaphor to practices more centered on the student and his/her autonomy as a social being.