RESUMEN

In the post-truth era, one challenge facing science education is the circulation of fake news that distorts the information available for decision-making on issues that have a scientific basis and are controversial for society. In this work, we aimed at designing a learning environment with the objective of equipping students with skills that allow them to deal with socio-scientific issues (SSI) in an infodemic context. To this end, we proposed an educational innovation through design-based research, which was oriented to the treatment of information disseminated in the media and social networks related to COVID-19. We divided this information into four major constructs: virus and disease dynamics; pandemic and environmental crisis; hygiene and protocols; and vaccines, potential solutions, and pharmaceutical industry. On the basis of the activities of the didactic sequence, which included class discussion, interviews with the immediate environment, audiovisual productions, and a final plenary, we identified criteria that students applied to trust or not trust the circulating information and a series of strategies to corroborate the information. In addition, framing COVID-19 as an SSI allowed the discussion of curricular content in science and on sociocultural dimensions that cross the pandemic. Based on the implementation of the teaching-learning sequence, we conclude that the proposed activities favored reflection on critical thinking and awareness of the responsibilities they have as potential disseminators and/or generators of information.

RESUMEN

RESUMO: O vínculo entre educação científica e educação infantil tem se constituído de modo tímido. Isso porque, muitas vezes, pensa-se equivocadamente que a maneira como a criança pequena interroga e investiga o mundo à sua volta não é apropriada. No entanto, fazendo uso da teoria ator-rede e de sua concepção de aprendizagem, analisamos episódio no qual crianças de 4 e 5 anos estavam engajadas na exploração de pistas deixadas em um jardim de uma Unidade Municipal de Educação Infantil. Nossos achados indicam que as crianças participam ativamente de atividades investigativas e aprendem a ser afetadas pelos elementos constitutivos do espaço designado para a exploração. Além disso, as crianças foram capazes de transformar os objetos tecnológicos disponibilizados em instrumentos científicos. Nossa análise foi possível por romper com uma concepção de aprendizagem como apropriação conceitual. Nesse sentido, procuramos entender a aprendizagem como capacidade de ser afetado e, portanto, como construção de um corpo.

ABSTRACT: The link between Science Education and Early Childhood Education has been constituted in a timid way. This is because it is often thought that the way the young child investigates the world around him/her is wrong or not appropriate. However, using the actor-network theory and its conception of learning in this study, we analyze an episode in which children aged 4 and 5 years old were engaged in the exploration of clues left in the courtyard of a Municipal Unit of Early Childhood Education. Our findings indicate that children actively participate in investigative activities and learn to be affected by the constituent elements of the designated space for exploration. More over, children were able to turn technological objects available on scientific instruments. Through our analysis, we were able to break away from the concept of learning as conceptual appropriation. In that sense, we sought to understand learning as an ability to be affected and, therefore, as building a body.