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The Contribution of Rómulo De Carvalho to Portuguese Science Education (1934-1974): a Humanistic Project?

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The Contribution of Rómulo De Carvalho to Portuguese Science Education (1934-1974): a Humanistic Project? The contribution of Rómulo de Carvalho to Portuguese science education (1934-1974): a humanistic project? Arthur Galamba Fernandes Abreu (Arthur Galamba) Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Education June 2013 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. When citing this PhD Thesis please use “Galamba, Arthur” The articles below are drawn on Chapter 3 and Chapter 7 of the thesis and were published before its completion. Galamba, A. (2013) Rómulo de Carvalho’s Humanistic Chemistry Syllabus in the 1948 Portuguese Liceal Reform. Science & Education, 22(6), pp. 1519-1536. Galamba, A. (2013) Rómulo de Carvalho’s Work on the Popularization of Science During Salazarism. Science & Education, 22(10), pp. 2659-2677. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. 2013 The University of Leeds and Arthur Galamba Fernandes Abreu The right of Arthur Galamba Fernandes Abreu to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 This thesis is dedicated to Marina. 3 Acknowledgements I am in debt to a number of people and institutions which provided me invaluable support during the time I worked on this thesis. They should know that this study was a life-changing experience for me and I very much appreciate their contribution to fulfil my dream. First and foremost, this study would be impossible without the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - FCT). The foundation’s initiative to support historical studies is highly commendable and I hope they will keep up providing their important support to other researchers in this area. In Lisbon, the support from my supervisor Palmira Fontes da Costa was invaluable. She believed in my research project and gave me all needed orientation to start my PhD. Without her I would have never get this far. I am also grateful for her constant attention with comments on my thesis and in particular whenever I travelled to Lisbon. I am thankful to the kindness of Prof. Vitor Teodoro and Filipa Silva who helped me by providing some primary sources and with their thoughts on Carvalho’s work. I can say the same to Prof. Frederico Carvalho and Cristina Carvalho, who were very thoughtful about my research and in particular because they gave me access to Rómulo de Carvalho’s personal documents at the BNP. I also would like to thank Prof. Alexandre Medeiros for his orientations on my readings in Brazil before moving to the UK. I cannot forget to mention the friendly and helpful staff members of the Historical Archive of the Ministry of Education as well as of the Portuguese National Library, both in Lisbon. And of course my cousins and friends Nuno, Nádia, Ana, Bruno, João, Marcella, Gil, Gustavo, Carlos e Zé Souza Dias, whose hospitality and support was just immense. In Leeds, my supervisors Jim Donnelly and Jim Ryder have also provided invaluable support. They played a very important role in guiding me on how to develop a lengthy and critical work. I am more than in debt to Donnelly, my first supervisor, 4 who dedicated much of his time to give constant and painstaking comments on the text. His commitment as a supervisor serves me as an example to be followed. I cannot forget to thank all staff from CSSME in Leeds for the opportunity to participate in such a nice academic environment. Our seminars and informal chats greatly contributed to my education as a researcher. I am grateful to the School of Education of the University of Leeds and the Departamento de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas of New University of Lisbon for accepting co-supervising me. Both Universities were very supportive in all aspects of this endeavour. I am grateful for the financial support from School of Education and Lovell funding for the attendance of my internship at UNESCO in Geneva. A special and heartily thank you to NHS and all my doctors and nurses from the Dept. of Clinical Haematology of the Saint James Hospital in Leeds under the leadership of Dr. David Bowen. They simply gave me a second chance to live. The support from my mother and Marina’s family was also immense. This thesis is also dedicated to them. Finally, Michael, Naseem, Katie, Mohamed, Magong’ho, Jackie, Shanna, and Ibrar. You made my experience in Leeds be so much better than it would be without your company. I will not forget you all. 5 Abstract This thesis examines the contribution of Rómulo de Carvalho to science education in Portugal during the period he taught in the secondary school ‘Liceu’ (1934-1974). In his home country, Carvalho is a well-known educator, historian and poet, a voracious writer who left a great number of works in these three areas. The scope of Carvalho’s activities in pedagogy is wide. He contributed to curriculum development, wrote textbooks, books on popularization of science, and trained teachers. The thesis seeks to pull these activities together and provides an account on the characteristics and impact of Carvalho’s contribution to science education within a professional and political context. The main argument of the thesis is that Carvalho’s work on science education can be described as ‘humanistic’, since he worked for the change of the nature and quality of science education in Portugal in a distinctively ‘humanistic’ way. Carvalho contributed to the democratization of scientific knowledge in a fascist regime, and gave particular attention to the adequate content and methods of teaching according to pupils’ age, interests, and learning condition. The thesis sets out the political and educational context in which Carvalho’s work took place and examines the rationale and impact of some of his key pedagogical activities. An account on Carvalho’s contribution to the 1947/1948 liceal reform is provided. The thesis then examines the characteristic and the professional context in which his textbooks were produced. It moves on to scrutinize Carvalho’s views on the pedagogy of laboratory classes with a particular concern with his preferred teaching method. Afterwards, accounts on Carvalho’s work as a teacher trainer, on his broader support in the practice of teaching, and his own performance in the classroom are provided. In the final part, the thesis examines Carvalho’s work on the popularization of science, providing an account of his aims and writing style as well as the significance of this work within the Salazarist regime. 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Abstract 6 Table of Contents 7 Lists of Tables and Illustrative Material 10 Abbreviations 11 Chapter 1 Object and Arguments of the Thesis 12 1. A Portrait of a Kaleidoscopic Man 14 2. The scope of Carvalho’s pedagogical work 25 3. The aim and argument of the Thesis 30 4. A note on sources and methodology 38 Chapter 2 Aspects of the political and educational context before 1948 42 1. Introduction 42 2. An overview of the political context 45 3. The pedagogical discourse during Salazarism 48 4. The historical role of the Portuguese Liceu 50 5. The role of the Liceu during Salazarism 55 6. Chemistry teaching content and methodology before 1948 58 7. Laboratory classes 61 8. Heurism in the liceal science teaching 63 9. IPW in the General Course 1936-1947 67 10. Conclusion 73 Chapter 3 Carvalho’s 1948 Chemistry Programme 75 1. Introduction 75 2. Carvalho’s nomination as the author of the chemistry programme 78 3. The Innovations in Carvalho’s Chemistry Programme to the General Course 81 4. Context and Meaningfulness in Carvalho’s Rationale for the General Course Chemistry Programme 86 5. Carvalho’s Chemistry Programme for the 3rd cycle (Complementary Course) 97 6. Reactions and Effectiveness of Carvalho’s Chemistry Programme 104 7. The Changes in the chemistry programme in 1954 111 8. Conclusion 114 Chapter 4 A “compendium” writer in a changing political environment 117 1. Introduction 117 2. The Sole Book contest 119 7 3. Carvalho’s 2nd and 3rd cycles chemistry compendia in the Sole Book contest 125 4. Carvalho’s Sciences of Nature for the Preparatory Cycle: humanistic science education realized? 138 5. Conclusion 147 Chapter 5 Carvalho and the pedagogy of laboratory classes 150 1. Introduction 150 2. Carvalho’s view on the “behavioural adjustments” of IPW classes 154 3. The relationship between the “heuristic method”, the “inductive process”, and the “inductive method” 156 4. Carvalho’s use of the Socratic method in the beginning of his career 162 5. A rationale for the use of the Socratic method? 164 6. A shift from the Socratic method to “discovery learning”? 170 7. Conclusion 174 Chapter 6 Carvalho and the training of teachers 178 1. Introduction 178 2. The context: Portuguese teacher training during Salazarism 181 3. Involvement with the journals Gazeta de Física and Palestra 184 4. Carvalho’s articles on the use of experiments 189 5. Carvalho’s views on the qualities and preparation of a science teacher 193 6. Carvalho as a teacher 202 7. Taking teaching training seriously: Carvalho as a Metodólogo Teacher 206 8. The end of an era in Portuguese science teacher training? 211 9. Conclusion 216 Chapter 7 Carvalho and the popularization of science 220 1. Introduction 220 2. Bento de Jesus Caraça: Liberal education for the people 223 3. Forgotten works: Carvalho’s Journal and Magazine articles.
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