Children’s Science Today magazine in the context of an STS approach

Abstract

The STSE approach has been discussed in science subjects in order to develop students’ critical awareness of the science and technology impact on society and environment. Following this perspective, the present research was conducted during the monitoring of a teaching proposal, which aimed to discuss scientific concepts about medicinal plants with primary students, by working on a medicinal garden and studying the Ciência Hoje das Crianças (CHC) magazine related to the subject. The goal of this study was to describe specific aspects of the educational proposal and, above all, to examine the CHC magazine articles that were used in this proposal by employing the STSE approach. Methodologically, the study focused on documentary and discourse analysis. From the studied samples, it was concluded that the CHC magazine, being a resource beyond the educational scope, does present itself as a valuable support material for studies using the STSE
approach.