HUMANISTIC SCIENCE EDUCATION FROM PAULO FREIRE’S ‘EDUCATION AS THE PRACTICE OF FREEDOM’ PERSPECTIVE Wildson L. P. dos Santos (Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil, wildson@unb.br) Eduardo Fleury Mortimer (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, mortimer@dedalus.lcc.ufmg.br) Abstract The purpose of this article is to outline one perspective for humanistic science education taking into account the contributions of Paulo Freire. From the educational principles on literacy expressed in Paulo Freire’s writings and from the conceptions of scientific and technology literacy (STL) movement, arguments will be advanced for characterising a perspective on humanistic science education. The Humanistic Science Education is a slogan that tries to contribute to changing the context of the modern society through educational processes. The modern scientific and technological society is shaped by an ideological technology-system that imposes human exploitation and threatens life in a global scale. The way people select and use technological and scientific resources and information may influence the destiny of society. In this sense, Science Education has a potential to contribute for the transformation of modern society through helping make visible the pitfalls of the system and make people aware of their role as citizen and consumer in this society. Paulo Freire (1921-1997) is one of the most influential educational thinkers in the world. His classic text, ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, (1972) has been studied by intellectuals of different areas in many countries over the last three decades. His educational thought is based on human and ethical principles. This article explores the main features of Freire’s proposal aiming at constructing an overview of what could be a humanistic science education perspective. Studies on scientific literacy are another important source for advancing a humanistic science education perspective. Scientific literacy has been studied from different points of view and there is no consensus about its meaning (Laugksch, 2000). These different perspectives on scientific literacy will be compared with Freire’s view and taken into account in advancing the principles for a humanistic science education perspective. Conceptions on education for freedom are discussed in the last section and principles and implications for a humanistic science education in schools are examined in the conclusion. As in Freire’s thought, the humanistic science education proposal outlined here aims at making the students aware of their role on transforming modern society. The context of modern scientific and technological society The interactions between culture and technology have produced technological changes that engender a domination of social life by technical apparatus. There is an alignment between the internal cultural values of technology and the values of the wider society. The everyday experience of people is inevitably influenced by technological change. The technological systems have the power to shape wider cultural expressions and constructions of meaning. The introduction of new technologies implies the development of new productive practices that transform the rhythms of life, the patterns of traditional