An Experience of Instruction University Teachers in the Paradigms of Science

Abstract

Teacher instruction promotes debates on the paradigms that underpin the pedagogical practices of university teachers. This article presents part of a research whose general objective was to analyze the constructs and knowledge necessary for teacher instruction to subsidize teaching in the view of paradigm of complexity. We chose to investigate the problem: how to contribute to the change of the pedagogical practice of university teachers, experiencing research activities on the constructs and knowledge that welcome the paradigm of complexity in innovative teaching action. With this vision, action research was developed through a qualitative approach, which included nine doctoral students/participants, from the Educational Paradigms and Pedagogical Instruction group (PEFOP), from the Theory and Pedagogical Practice in Teacher Instruction series, from the Stricto Sensu Post Graduation in Education of a large university in the state of Paraná. The theorists who supported the study were: Morin (2001 ), Moraes (2012), Behrens (2007, 2011, 2014) , Garcia (1999), Zabala (2002), Torres et al. (2012) , among others. In face-to-face meetings, theoretical and practical reflections on the pertinence of innovative methodologies were provided from the perspective of the complexity paradigm, the construction of abstracts on the subject, the construction of conceptual maps, and the portfolio as an evaluation and sharing tool of the group’s activities. As a result, the participants elaborated articles as a means of producing knowledge among the peers explaining and defending why they chose to teach in a vision of complexity as the advancement of their profession. By constructing the knowledge, we find in research the vision of totality with a view to involving the student as a subject in the construction of his own knowledge, making him autonomous, critical and reflective and provoking him to seek the transformation of society and global reality. These constructs instigated teachers to rethink their pedagogical practice.