Metacognição e atividades experimentais em ciências: cenários da produção em periódicos estrangeiros

Abstract

Researchers have indicated the possibility of reorientation of didactic actions from the perspective of students’ recognition of their own knowledge and the subsequent executive and self-regulate control of actions, presented by Flavell (1976) as “metacognition”. Although promising studies are making this association with the field of Sciences, particularly concerning experimental activities, we have identified few articles in Brazilian literature concerned with discussing this approach and verifying in real classroom situations their possibilities and contributions to qualify the learning process. Facing this frame, we elaborate the following research question: What are the characteristics identified in foreign research that links metacognition with experimental activities in Science teaching? From it, it is established as the objective of this study to analyze the association between experimental activities and metacognition in the production of the area published by foreign journals. Therefore, a “state of the knowledge” research was developed, in which was identified in ERIC database, from previously selected descriptors, a set of 19 articles published in English. The general and metacognitive characteristics of the researches were pointed out. The articles were presented by year, periodical magazine, geographic distribution, level of education, the field of knowledge and the methodologic approach used in the investigations. Among the metacognition characteristics, was pointed out the place of metacognition, learning environment related to metacognition, didactic-methodological organization of experimental activities and understanding of metacognition. The results show that research on this topic continues to grow and has been published mainly in five journals, namely: International Journal of Science Education, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, Journal of Chemical Education, Journal of Technology and Science Education and The Science Teacher. They are being carried out, more frequently, in the United States focusing on the teaching of Chemistry in College from a qualitative perspective. The didactic-methodological organization present in most articles was the inquiry experimental activity in real laboratories, carried out in groups of students and under the guidance of a teacher. Regarding the metacognitive characteristics, we highlight that metacognition played a central role in modified practices. The predominant concept of metacognition in the analysis of the results of these investigations was the regulatory actions of thought (self-regulation) used to plan, monitor and evaluate students’ thinking and learning.