Interdisciplinaridade no currículo referência de Minas Gerais para as ciências da natureza no contexto da Base Nacional Comum Curricular e do novo ensino médio (2017)

Abstract

Since the enactment of the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) and the new High School model, the curricula of Brazilian states and municipalities, in both public and private schools, have been reformulated to comply with these regulations. Among the main changes for this final stage of schooling is the creation of two articulated blocks: General Basic Training and Formative Itineraries, which promise to flexibilize the curriculum to make it more attractive and aligned with students' interests and life projects, as well as attuned to the challenges of contemporary society. Aiming to contribute to studies on the meanings and possible effects of this reform, this work established as its objective: To examine the proposal for the Natural Sciences curriculum in the Minas Gerais Reference Curriculum for High School, produced in the context of the National Common Curricular Base and the New High School (2017), based on the concept of interdisciplinarity. To achieve this general objective, three specific objectives were outlined: (i) To characterize the official documents that specify the current curricular proposal of Minas Gerais for the High School stage regarding the field of Natural Sciences; (ii) To highlight the conceptions of interdisciplinarity present in the analyzed documents that guide the state's curricular organization in relation to the determinations set by the BNCC and the New High School; (iii) To discuss the possible implications of the current curricular arrangement based on the principle of interdisciplinarity for the redefinition of the identity and purposes of Science education in High School. Methodologically, documentary research was developed on the curricular documents guiding the implementation of the High School curriculum in 2024, which were submitted to Discursive Textual Analysis. As main results, it was observed that the implementation of the New High School in Minas Gerais produced a variety of curricular matrices for this stage, demanding continuous updates of Resolutions and Course Plans to ensure a different offer of formative paths each year. The reference to the term “interdisciplinarity” is frequently associated with the principle of curricular flexibility and the development of skills and abilities as the ultimate goal of schooling, opposing curricular organization based on disciplines, as the latter is perceived as a rigid curriculum inadequate for the demands of a complex and unpredictable world of work. The analysis undertaken in this study strengthens the critique of the curricular emptying that this reform has provoked, and considers that the polysemic notion of interdisciplinarity in curricular discourse contributes to legitimizing the argument that the appropriation of disciplinary knowledge, historically associated with the scientific and cultural formation of students, should be secondary to the preparation of flexible, adaptable subjects, who are functionally and emotionally adjusted to the requirements of the productive world. In this context, the dilution and reduction of the workload in the Natural Sciences area throughout High School—especially for those who do not “choose” it as part of their school path—besides revealing the restrictive nature of this formative project, authenticates the exclusively pragmatic value still attributed to scientific and technological knowledge in the school curriculum.