Entre o currículo e o preconceito: uma sequência investigativa sobre gênero e sexualidade em aulas de ciências da natureza

Abstract

This study investigates how Inquiry-Based Science Education can foster the deconstruction of prejudices related to gender, sexuality, and sexual diversity, thereby promoting a safer and more inclusive school environment. Framed as qualitative research through an experience report approach with a participant researcher, the study narrates and analyzes the implementation of an investigative sequence in a late Elementary School class at a private institution, developed within the curricular context of the human reproductive system and sexuality. The sequence was organized into three pedagogical moments: the screening of the film Close (2022) as the triggering situation; individual reflective writing followed by random peer exchange and a discussion circle as devices for collective problematization; and the screening of the music video The Village (Wrabel) as an opening for students' lived experiences. The theoretical framework articulates gender and sexuality studies by Butler (2019), Louro (2018), and Wittig (2022) with the foundations of Inquiry-Based Teaching by Carvalho (2018), the Project-Based Learning approach of Hernández and Ventura (1998), and the humanistic and cognitivist psychology contributions of Rogers (1972) and Bruner (1996). Data analysis, guided by Carvalho's (2018) model of degrees of intellectual freedom, revealed a spontaneous progression in intellectual freedom, advancing from the proposed Level 3 to the observed Level 4 in three of the five dimensions analyzed. The results demonstrate that audiovisual narratives, combined with dialogic devices and the teacher's active listening posture, constitute effective strategies for emotionally engaging students and creating conditions for genuine questioning of heterocisnormative norms without resorting to doctrinal imposition. The study further highlights the pedagogical necessity of distinguishing gender identity from sexual orientation as specific analytical categories and proposes replicable guidelines for science teachers seeking to develop similar approaches.