The conceptual demand in the pedagogical practice of two chemistry teachers who teach Chemistry and Physics

Abstract: This article presents research on the levels of conceptual demand of the pedagogical practice of two teachers who teach Chemistry and Physics in secondary schools. These teachers were trained in Chemistry, but also teach Physics, a common practice in Brazilian public schools related to the shortage of Science teachers. Our research is based on Basil Bernstein's theory of pedagogical discourse and on the notion of conceptual demand proposed by Ana Maria Morais and collaborators. The research was carried out in two urban schools in Jequié, Bahia, Brazil, and involved participant observation in the classroom. For the data collection we used audio recorders, field notebooks and semi-structured interviews. Our results point out that the pedagogical practices of these teachers show a low conceptual demand in the two subjects they teach, being influenced by their teacher training and the social economic background of the students are factors that contribute to this feature.