The topic of water in the National Common Curricular Core: Some implications for teacher training from the perspective of Bachelard's epistemology

Abstract

This research is an excerpt from a doctoral research project. It is qualitative in nature and involved documentary analysis, using as its main source the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), a normative document that defines essential learning for students in Basic Education in Brazil. To this end, we used as our theoretical and methodological foundation the works carried out and published by Gaston Bachelard (1961; 1979), which highlight some potential epistemological obstacles, seen as internal barriers to scientific thought, and the concept of epistemological profile, which refers to the subject's different attitudes toward this knowledge. In this context, the objective was to discuss how the topic of water is addressed in the BNCC, seeking to list and associate the guidelines related to water with potential obstacles and Bachelard's epistemological profile. We identified the possible occurrence of some epistemological obstacles, such as: the verbal obstacle; the obstacle of general knowledge; the obstacle of first experience; the obstacle of substantialism; the obstacle of unitary and pragmatic knowledge; and the realistic obstacle. We emphasize that these obstacles are not inherent in the documents themselves, but can emerge from the way the topic is addressed, directly influencing the professional who uses these materials—in this case study, the teacher. Therefore, we emphasize the crucial role of the classroom teacher in mediating knowledge about the topic of "water" to overcome potential epistemological obstacles.