Abstract:
The relevance of promoting reflections about science in basic and higher education has been highlighted in research in the last decades, followed by proposals for teaching and incorporating them especially through History and Philosophy of Science, and Nature of Science. Thus, we aim to bring about reflections about science by exploring gravitational waves, thus seeking to contribute to science education regarding the debate on production/consumption of scientific knowledge. Driven by the motivation to overcome differences between philosophical and educational discussions, we will rely on the perspective of the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory to discuss aspects of the development of gravitational waves as an educational object. We highlight the contribution of this perspective to the problematization of the reification of objects in scientific and educational activity, and we will address a possibility for understanding gravitational waves (and their propagation) not as isolated events, but as related processes.
Keywords:
Basic education; Science education; Gravitational waves; Nature of science; Science knowledge