CONCEPÇÕES DE PROFESSORES BRASILEIROS E PORTUGUESES SOBRE A APRENDIZAGEM DAS CIÊNCIAS POR CRIANÇAS DO MEIO RURAL E PROPOSTA DE FORMAÇÃO SENSÍVEL À DIVERSIDADE CULTURAL.

The purpose of this paper was to analyse the conceptions of science teachers from Brazil and Portugal about the importance of rural children learning science and, based on this, to propose a strategy for teacher training sensitive to cultural diversity in the classroom. The data were collected through questions containing problem situations, with subsequent content analysis. In light of our findings, we argue that the conceptions of Brazilian and Portuguese teachers converge in the sense that rural knowledge can be important facilitators for learning the school scientific knowledge, which is necessary to improve the quality of life of children in their communities. However, despite this, contradictions were found between teaching for conceptual change and conceptual profile change because teachers, while talking about dialogue, attributed supremacy to science for advances to happen in rural environments. Consequently, we propose a strategy for teacher training sensitive to cultural diversity, containing a set of activities whose central purpose is to promote intercultural dialogue in science teaching for rural children. These activities aim to motivate teachers to develop culturally inclusive didactics that give voice to students, increasing their participation and interest in their empowerment in decision-making in diverse cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]