115 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
H. A. Yacoubian, L. Hansson (eds.), Nature of Science for Social Justice,
Science: Philosophy, History and Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47260-3_7
Chapter 7
A Discursive Analysis of Relationships
Between Nature of Science and Citizenship
Education: The Case of Brazilian Science
Textbook Evaluation Policies
Rita Vilanova and Isabel Martins
7.1 Introduction
In Brazil, textbooks represent an important element in the organization of school
knowledge and can be considered a structuring part of curricular dynamics and
pedagogical practice (Martins 2020). The production of textbooks also represents
an important part of the Brazilian publishing market. In the history of Brazilian
education, several policies have been implemented to regulate publication and dis-
tribution of books. Since the year 1985, the evaluation, purchase and distribution of
textbooks for public schools has been carried out by the Brazilian Textbook Program
(Programa Nacional do Livro Didático – PNLD).
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Throughout the years, Education
for Citizenship and an awareness of aspects related to the Nature of Science (NoS)
have become important educational goals, which materialize in evaluation criteria
for textbooks. In this paper, we seek to understand the ways through which text-
books policy texts address and relate these two goals. In order to do that, we con-
ducted a discursive analysis in the 2008 edition of the Brazilian Textbook Guide, the
frst textbook policy document to explicitly mention NoS. Using Critical Discourse
Analysis as our main theoretical and methodological framework, we analyse both
conjunctural and textual dimensions of the 2008 Brazilian Textbook Guide so as to
problematize both philosophical and educational bases of articulations between
NoS and Education for Citizenship. The text is organized in three parts: frst we
present a brief summary of NoS related discourses present in the literature and
explore possible relationships between NoS and Education for Citizenship. Then,
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http://www.fnde.gov.br/component/k2/item/518-histórico
R. Vilanova (*) · I. Martins
Instituto Nutes de Educação em Ciências e Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: vilanova.rita@gmail.com; isabelgrmartins@gmail.com