SANTOS, Maria de Lurdes Machado dos; LIMA, Jorge Ávila de    GOMES, Carlos João. A Formação dos Educadores de Infância na Área das Ciências. []. , 6, 2, pp.63-78. ISSN 2182-1372.

In pre-school education, often the need that children feel to find explanations for everything around them is directly related to the Knowledge of the World area. Through an empirical study, we sought to characterize the initial training of early childhood educators in science, to analyze their perceptions and educational practices regarding the nature science-oriented activities and determine what training and supervision strategies can be used to address this area more consistently in this educational level. The empirical study, which involved a questionnaire survey and interviews, was conducted in the pre-school education network in the municipality of Ponta Delgada. The results show that most teachers did most of their studies in the humanities track and that the 9th grade was the last grade in which they were enrolled in physical, chemical and natural sciences classes. Respondents regarded their training in this area as insufficient. They recognized the importance and potential of conducting science activities with the children, but more than half said that they performed these activities only once a week. Almost all teachers admitted the need to improve their practices in this area. These results are discussed in light of changes needed at the level of initial and continuing teacher training in this area, as well as possible adjustments in supervision practices and strategies used with these professionals.

: preschool education; training; science; supervision.

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