Abstract

CARDOSO, Oldimar  and  PENIN, Sonia Teresinha de Sousa. A sala de aula como campo de pesquisa: aproximações e a utilização de equipamentos digitais. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2009, vol.35, n.01, pp.113-128. ISSN 1517-9702.

This article offers considerations of a methodological order about classroom observation studies carried out in 2002 and 2005 in the city of São Paulo and in the 2006/2007 academic year in two French cities. Based on the methodology employed in these studies, and on a dialogue with the literature on fieldworks, including those from other areas, the authors analyze the difficulties faced within this context and propose the use of digital equipment in the field as a contribution to the rigor and validity of this kind of research. In the first part of the article, fundamental problems of the research involving classroom observation are discussed, such as the perplexity with the familiar, the conquest of the " solidarity" and " camaraderie" of the field agents, and the establishment of a difference between observation and interpretation. The second part of the text describes digital equipment used in the above-mentioned studies which do more than just speed up or facilitate the task of the researcher. The use of these equipments, guided by a methodology that gives them meaning, can help researchers in the classrooms to expand significantly the rigor and validity of their work by multiplying the possibilities of creating types of data sources. This part of the article discusses the use of palmtops, audio recorders and digital cameras, smartphones, wireless micro-cameras, notebooks, and audio and video editors in researches involving classroom observation.

Keywords : Classroom Observation Methodology; Interpretive Participative Observation; Representations.

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