The Schooling of Science Teaching in Primary Education in Paraná: Between Disenchantment of the World and Utilitarianism, Nuances of a Moral Education

Abstract

This text analyzes the schooling process as to what was called “scientific teaching” in primary education in the state of Paraná (Brazil), over the first three decades of the XX century. From the perspective of the curriculum history, it analyzes interactions between arguments in favor of its introduction and the emergence of the subject Physical and Natural Sciences in the study programs. As sources, it mobilizes educational reform projects, the pedagogical press, as well as normative documents, official reports and teaching programs. The analysis allows identifying two moments in the path of the respective school subject. The first, as of the first decade of the XX century, when the array of the contents to be taught receives less attention than the assimilation of a mental and behavioral discipline. The second, around the 1920s, when the utility of the contents in relation to labor and hygiene habits is highlighted.