SCHOOL RESEARCH IN THE CLASSROOM

concepts, attitudes and procedures

Abstract

This work aims to understand school research activities through a view based on information literacy. Seven primary school early years teachers from two elementary schools in Rio Grande, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, participated in this study. They all take part in Programa ObservatOrio Nacional da Educacao - CAPES (Education National Observatory Program - funded by CAPES, in free translation). The theoretical framework had an investigation-action approach using focus group, cooperative planning, observation and content analysis techniques. Findings show that the research conducted by the teachers with their students focuses on usual daily themes and the dissemination of research results occurs frequently. The main difficulty faced by teachers and students is the school culture of reproduction of ready-made models. Data analysis points that students perform searches, not exactly research. Thus, although teachers' intentions are consistent with constructivism, this approach is not present in their educational practices.