Academic research on biology teacher education in Brazil (1979-2010): Academic production in postgraduate programs

Abstract

When evaluating the area of teacher education and the academic production generated in this area in Brazil, one finds a vast literature that has pointed to the importance and the centrality of this theme in several spheres and levels of education. However, although there is a relative amount of state-of-the-art studies aimed at discussing teacher education in general, there were still a gap in the literature regarding the research and the academic production related to Biology teacher education in Brazil. Thus, the present paper is the result of a wider investigation which aimed at evaluating the context of academic production in Biology teacher education in Brazil, through the identification, description and analysis of 120 dissertations and theses produced between 1979 and 2010. The dissertations and theses were analyzed from the point of view of different descriptors, such as: postgraduate programs and institutions of origin; year of public defense of thesis or dissertation; geographic distribution; qualification of researchers; advisers and type of training processes. The results of the distribution of the documents in the different postgraduate programs, analyzed from a historical perspective, revealed noticeable differences in terms of production and distribution pattern of the documents over the three decades, both concerning institutions and regions, as well as trends of research in this particular area of teacher education.