The growing presence of Ludwik Fleck’s epistemology in science education research in Brazil

Abstract

This study centers on the reception of Ludwik Fleck’s epistemology by Science Education research in Brazil. Eighty-nine dissertations and theses from 1995 to 2015 have been analyzed, thirty-seven of which discuss Science Education. The data point to Fleck’s epistemology as the preferred theoretical reference for the most diverse fields of knowledge. The first studies came about in the 1990’s and there is a concentration of works on Science Education at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. A more specific investigation has been carried out on thirty-four works which discuss Science Education. These papers have been analyzed from six angles and the greater volume focuses on “the training of teachers” and “scientific fact emergence”. The significant contribution of the epistemological categories “thought style”, “thought collective”, “intracollective and intercollective circulation of ideas” are highlighted in the process of producing knowledge in the area of focus.