A inserção da química escolar no currículo de escolas públicas estaduais maranhenses (1890-1914): um olhar a partir da história das disciplinas escolares.

Abstract

This work presents a constitution of Chemistry as a school subject in Maranhenses State Public Schools from 1890 to 1914. The objective was to understand how the inclusion of School Chemistry in the curriculum of these schools took place and how experimentation permeated this curriculum. The methodology used was a historical research, based on the studies proposed by Le Goff (1990). The sources analyzed are official documents, collections of Laws and Decrees from the Province of Maranhão and later from the State of Maranhão, Government Reports, Public Instruction Regulations and Teaching Programs. The theoretical foundation on which this research was structured based on the assumptions of the field of research in History of School Disciplines (HDE), based on the studies of Chervel (1990) and Ivor Goodson (2005). Specifically, the studies by Ivor Goodson (2005) guided the notion of curriculum adopted in this investigation. As a result, we identified that School Chemistry was included in the curriculum of the Liceu Maranhense and the Escola Normal do Maranhão in 1890, together with the disciplines of Physics and Mineralogy, thus forming a single discipline. At the time of its insertion, Maranhão was experiencing a moment in which republican ideals propelled the establishment of reforms in public education and the study of Sciences proved to be fundamental for the education of the new society that was emerging. By inserting the study of Chemistry and other scientific subjects in the curriculum of secondary and normal education in Maranhão, offered respectively at the Liceu Maranhense and the Escola Normal, the legal documents point to the constitution of chemistry laboratories and physics offices, to carry out practical activities of this knowledge. Allied to this, the testimony of the first professor of the discipline of Physics, Chemistry and Mineralogy at the Escola Normal was identified, which attributed to the year 1891 the execution of the first practical classes held in Maranhão. With regard to the offer of experimental activities, it was identified that, in general, they were demonstrative, with the participation of a professional responsible for maintaining the spaces provided for practical-scientific classes.