Ciência e Religião na Prática Docente Relacionada à Morte
Resumo
Para melhor entender como professores em sistemas educacionais secularizados lidam com conteúdos que se estendem além do campo epistemológico científico, este estudo examinou as práticas pedagógicas de professores em escolas americanas ao considerarem atividades instrucionais sobre o tema da morte e do morrer. Como parte de um método de pesquisa contextualizado, casos de sala de aula foram usados para elicitar as práticas dos professores relacionadas à morte. Os professores participantes foram questinados sobre quatro cenários pedagógicos: (1) uma excursão a um cemitério, (2) uma visita a um museu contendo uma exposição de múmias egípcias seguida de uma discussão sobre embalsamamento, (3) um projeto ecológico envolvendo coleta e análise de dados de animais atropelados e (4) uma aula involvemendo o cozimento de uma lagosta viva. Observou-se que, ao invés de abordarem essas atividades sobre a morte da mesma maneira, a prática docente foi altamente variada dependendo da identidade do falecido (se humano ou não) e da recência da morte (quão recente foi a morte). Os professores recorreram à evasão ao lidar com a aula de cozimento da lagosta e a excursão ao cemitério. Reflexo das representações sociais prevalentes da ciência e da religião como empreendimentos separados e em conflito, esta evasão promoveu separação epistemológica por meio da preclusão da exposição dos alunos a formas não científicas de se entender a morte. Em contraste, professores favoreceram a neutralidade e experiência indireta com relação a discussão das múmias e a investigação de animais atropelados. Consistente com as representações sociais da ciência e da religião como empreendimentos dialógicos e interativos, essas práticas mostraram potencial para criar espaços educacionais holísticos para a exposição dos alunos a formas epistemicamente diversas que entendem a morte além da ciência.
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