Olimpíadas científicas e a formação de professores: percepções de participantes das oficinas pedagógicas online da Olimpíada Brasileira De Saúde e Meio Ambiente

Abstract

This work aims to discuss and problematize the actions of the Scientific Olympiads, with an emphasis on teacher training and the impact of social isolation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic in this context. The focus is to investigate the perception of teachers participating in the Pedagogical Workshops of the Brazilian Health and Environment Olympiad (OBSMA) at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation during the pandemic period. The study presents documentary research that includes a historical overview of scientific Olympiads in Brazil and around the world and raises a discussion about the nature of the initiatives, drawing a comparison between their formats and the logic of competitiveness, which prioritizes effort and individual performance. In this context, OBSMA stands out for placing the teacher in the role of protagonist and for being focused on the development of projects that address issues about health and the environment, developed in the classroom by students from Elementary or High School levels, including Young People and Adults (EJA). As the object of this study, 212 evaluation questionnaires answered by teachers from all over Brazil participating in the 11 Workshops held in 2020, during the 10th edition of the Olympics were analyzed – with a method based on Bardin (2011) and problematized from a Freireanperspective and the theory of teacher’s knowledge constitution by Maurice Tardif. Themeetings were planned and executed to meet the challenges posed by the social isolation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and innovated to maintain and improve the workshops, which until then were carried out in a face-to-face format since 2012. One of the results of this work shows that online workshops, according to the perception of the teachers themselves, became learning spaces with a unique characteristic, as they offer tools for the insertion of transversal themes into pedagogical practice, with health and the environment as the guiding threads of this construction, considering the two as interdisciplinary areas and that permeate other areas.