Science Documentaries in Teacher Training Courses: Contributions to the Critical Reading on Global Warming
Aldo Aoyagui Gomes Pereira, Federal institute of education, science, and technology of são paulo (IFSP) (Brazil)
Jan Alexis Nielsen, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Abstract
Every day students are overwhelmed with scientific information from several materializations of the media: news, websites, novels, documentaries, television shows, films, and music. Most of the scientific content conveyed by these media may influence our daily lives; for this reason, we believe that it demands our understanding, evaluation, and effective response to the representations of science conveyed by it. What skills should science teachers provide to students in order to fulfill the scientific literacy education parameters? These skills encompass the ability to choose, understand, evaluate, and respond effectively to the representations of science across diverse media genres. In this presentation, we will present the results of an activity with pre-service physics teachers of a federal institution in Brazil. We used two science documentaries as a starting point to discuss the referent global warming. These documentaries present a contrasting view about the causes of global warming. Both of them use rhetorical strategies, as scientist testimonials, graphics, simulations, images, etc. to argue in favor of 1) Anthropogenic causes and 2) Natural causes. The following questions guided our analysis: Did the rhetorical strategies used in these documentaries contribute to the positioning of pre-service teachers in relation to the causes of global warming? If so, in which way? What can we learn from this teaching episode? To which extent may this contribute to the development of media scientific literacy activities in teacher training? The analysis was carried out with the theoretical support of French Discourse Analysis as well as the scholarly of Science Communication. To sum up we analyze the possible consequences of produced audiovisual discourse that has been circulated in our society.
Keywords: Science Documentaries. Teacher Training. Global Warming. Discourse Analysis;