Project Pedagogy; Autonomy; Scientific initiation in basic education.
The present study, with a qualitative approach, takes a look at the training of young students of basic education and had as its general objective to analyze the contributions of the pedagogy of scientific projects in the construction of the autonomy of elementary municipal public school students of Recife. Pedagogical practices, to the detriment of today's social demands, are still based on standardizations established by teaching by transmission and the rigidity of the disciplinary and specialized model that, almost always, are organized around the objectivity of a teaching based on fragmented and decontextualized knowledge. In this scenario, schools and classrooms remain inert to social metamorphoses and reproduce an unwelcoming ambience, maintaining the distancing of people with their desks lined up and a pedagogical practice that escapes the educational evolution marked by openness to dialogue and collaborative work, thus denouncing the many challenges to be faced and overcome. Intertwined with the official curricula and with a proposal for innovation, this work is intensified with the pedagogy of projects and scientific initiation projects, which are opposed to disciplinary disarticulation and outdated models of teaching by transmission and learning by memorization, which no longer correspond to a society in profound transformation. In this research we use the focus group technique, considering the speeches of young adolescents, data of fundamental importance for the understanding of the phenomenon related to the construction of their autonomies as participants in these projects. In the context in which everyone, especially adolescents, are subjected to a multiplicity of experiences and information of all kinds, the development of autonomy and critical sense in the processes of their learning have become even more significant elements. The results revealed that for the adolescents involved in these projects, the most important was the process nurtured by the pleasure and satisfaction with walking, welcoming and parental care and teachers, not only the concrete results of the experiences, but in the interpersonal relationships that were established. For them, participating in the projects was important to acquire new knowledge, but also to perceive themselves as important people, protagonists and researchers, denoting that science is not far from reality, but linked to it. The autonomy created by participation in scientific initiation projects, although linked to the circumstances of the environment, awakened in them and in their high self-esteem, recognizing themselves capable and safe in decision-making in the face of their own future, nourished by the confidence of feeling empowered and empowered.