This book is part of a broader work in the framework of the doctoral studies undertaken in
Didactics and Training at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. This work is divided into
Introduction, three chapters, conclusion and bibliographic references.
The introduction provides the context of the research and makes a brief reference to the
guidelines that underpin the reported research work. Along the introduction we present a
summary on the approach of Sciences through practical and experimental work, in a
perspective of the Science-Technology-Society (STS) view and also take into
consideration the need for in-service teaching training of kindergarten teachers.
In Chapter 1 we carry out a literature review we considered to be more relevant in the
context of this work. Thus, we analysed several concepts: (i) Kindergarten teacher’s
conceptions about STS; (ii) Education in science with STS guidance in contexts of
teaching/learning; and (iii) the sciences in the Pre-school and the STS perspective.
We dedicate chapter 2 to methodological issues, with emphasis on the cases studied, the
techniques and instruments used for the collection of data. There is also a review of the
description of the developed Training Programme with the professionals involved in the
study.
In Chapter III we show and discuss the data concerning the characterization of teachers’
STS conceptions before and after the Training Programme was implemented.
At the end we summarise the main conclusions of the study and show some of its
implications.
