Abstract

TENREIRO-VIEIRA, Celina  and  MARQUES VIEIRA, Rui. Science And Math Education With A STS Orientation: Promoting Critical Thinking. Rev. iberoam. cienc. tecnol. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.11, n.33, pp.143-159. ISSN 1850-0013.

Modern societies, particularly western ones, are deeply marked by advances in science and technology and their impact in all areas of life. Science education with a STS orientation, aimed at promoting students’ critical thinking and the establishment of connections with other areas such as mathematics, is fundamental to help individuals to make informed decisions and improve their well-being, and their society's well-being as well. In this context, this paper aims to develop science learning activities with a STS orientation, enhancing the promotion of critical thinking and the establishment of connections between science and mathematics. It follows an action- research plan that was considered to be the most viable and coherent one to focus on curriculum issues in action, which in this paper were configured as central to the design, production, implementation and evaluation of learning activities. During their implementation, the data was collected through different techniques and the use of various tools; it was also subjected to a process of content analysis. The results obtained suggest that the activities that were carried out contributed to the mobilization of students’ critical thinking abilities. The theoretical framework that was used seemed to be a significant help to support and explicitly develop learning activities in order to support science teaching practices and improve students’ critical thinking.

Keywords : STS orientation; Critical thinking; Scientific literacy; Connections between science and mathematics.