(1193)SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE OF BOTANY IN TEXTBOOKS OF NATURALSCIENCES IN PORTUGAL. ANALYSIS OF ITS CURRICULARSTATUTE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION (1900-2000)

摘要

This research paper has as its main aim the understanding of the place that Botany wasgiven in textbooks of Natural Sciences used in Primary School Education in the lastcentury in Portugal. In an attempt to interpret the shifts in the content approach forBotany, didactical books of the chosen educational level have been studied according toeleven principles: Form, Kingdoms, Classification, Organs, Roots, Stem, Leaf, Flower,Fruit, Reproduction and Dimensions. This study, based on a qualitative methodologicalapproach, is supported by a content analysis and the establishment of a posterioricategories, as well as a cluster analysis through the construction of dendograms. Theselatter constructions were intended to promote the comparison of first hand sources –textbooks – in which content, pedagogical and didactical orientations, as well aseducational and curricular policy recommendations are concerned and educational andscientific values suggested.Textbooks are of great importance to schools and teaching especially in relation to theirstructural arrangement of the forms and content of pedagogical knowledge, includingaspects related to the sequencing and rhythm of the transmission of knowledge through,for instance, activities that promote and evaluate the forms of knowledge acquired and inthis way develop important pedagogical functions. Textbooks, therefore, can allow accessto knowledge about the pedagogical ideology on which they are based, to the way theteaching and learning process that happens in the classroom is understood and to theroles that are developed by pupils and teachers.Data analysis shows that changes have occurred in the naming of the teaching of NaturalSciences and in the contents approached, which have assumed different relevancethrough time. Therefore, one may find the de-complexification, the dichotomisation, thede-conceptualisation and the conservation of various botanical contents distributedthroughout different botanic dimensions;namely, the notional dimension, themorphological dimension, the functional dimension and the ecological dimension.