Conceptions of Argumentation in Science Textbooks from the PNLD: An Analysis of the Integrative Projects (2021)
Integrated Projects. PNLD 2021. Science Education. Scientific Argumentation.
This qualitative and documentary study investigates how argumentation skills are configured in Science Education, analyzing the ruptures, continuities, and contradictions promoted by recent changes in Brazilian educational policies, with emphasis on the New High School (NEM), the National Common Curriculum Base (BNCC), and the National Textbook and Didactic Material Program (PNLD). Starting from classic references that defend argumentation as an indispensable epistemic practice for the construction and evaluation of scientific knowledge, the research articulates multiple investigative fronts. Initially, the documentary analysis of the public policies guiding Brazilian education reveals that, although argumentation is a relevant normative requirement, it is integrated in a bureaucratic manner and, at times, disconnected from coherent theoretical support. In parallel, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) — with a time frame delimited between 2006 and 2026 — demonstrates that analyses of argumentation in textbooks focus on logical-structural aspects (with emphasis on Toulmin's pattern) and rhetorical aspects, revealing a theoretical-methodological gap in the detailed guidance for teaching practice. Given this scenario of conceptual emptying and the introduction of a new typology of textbooks — the Integrative Projects (PNLD 2021) — this research proposes to structure a methodological tool through the creation of an analytical matrix of indicators, seeking to evaluate the epistemic level of argumentative activities present in these materials, aiming to address the literature gap and support teaching practice in order to confront the weaknesses induced by current public educational policies.