1. INTRODUCTION

This paper introduces reflections constructed on inquiry-based approaches in Natural Sciences and Mathematics teacher education which have been publicized by the Brazilian scientific community. Therefore, we kept an interlocution with studies of different inquiry perspectives carried out in the field of Natural Sciences and Mathematics teacher education in Brazil.

The methodological structure of the study considered the main question: Which perspectives of inquiry-based approaches in teacher education processes emerge from the analysis of papers published by journals classified as A1 and A2 by Qualis Capes? In order to understand the main issue, we investigated 13 national journals in the area of Science and Mathematics teaching. We found 35 papers that problematize inquiry processes in Natural Sciences and Mathematics teacher education. Papers were analyzed in two steps. The first one was descriptive and enabled us to identify the number of papers per journal and the public they aimed at, regarding teacher education (either initial teacher education or continuing education). The second step consisted in the development of an interpretative analysis in the light of ^{Moraes and Galiazzi’s Discourse Textual Analysis (DTA) (2011}).

Three categories emerged in this bibliographical study after the corpus was selected: I) Inquiry into school as a space of teacher education; II) Conceptions of teaching permeating teachers’ inquiry practices; and III) Professional practice in teacher-researcher education. We have described the methodological path we have followed to reach the categories and our understanding of this bibliographical study in the metatext entitled “Inquiry into school, its conceptions and professional practice: teacher-researcher education”.

2. SELECTION OF DATA FOUND IN PAPERS PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL JOURNALS

The journals chosen to carry out the bibliographical study aim at the field of Science and Mathematics teaching in the area of Teaching in the database Journal Qualis¹ and in the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes), updated in 2014.The analysis of the papers included 13 national online journals classified as A1 and A2 (Table 1).

Based on the question that asks which inquiry-based approaches of teacher education processes emerge from the analysis of papers published by journals classified as A1 and A2 by Qualis Capes, we searched for papers which dealt exclusively with teacher education. Firstly, we used predefined descriptors in the search system which is available in the site of each journal or in the database in which they have been indexed (such as Scielo). In this process, we used the following terms: teacher education; teaching degree; PIBID (Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação Científica), a program for young researchers; fair (referring to Science fair); PET (Programa de Educação Tutorial), a tutoring program; new talents; and apprenticeship. The search included all papers published from the year they were created to September 2016. In this step of the study, we found 2,720 papers. Table 2 shows the number of papers found for each descriptor.

After having found the papers, we selected those that explicitly introduced in their titles, abstracts or key words, at least one of the following terms: teaching through inquiry, education through research, teacher-researcher, inquiry activities, teaching through projects, methodology through projects, pedagogy of projects and/or related terms. After this process, the number of papers decreased and we got 94. Figure 1 shows the diagram of the search for the papers that composed the analysis set.

Source: Guidotti and Heckler (2017)

Figure 1 Diagram of the steps of the process of search for papers 

In some cases, just reading the abstract did not enable us to identify the field of knowledge of the paper. Therefore, we read the whole text in order to identify researches that addressed teacher education in Natural Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Sciences) and Mathematics.As a result, we ended up selecting 35 papers.

In this step, we found papers in 6 journals: 14 papers in Ciência & Educação, 6 in Investigação em Ensino de Ciências (IENCI), 5 in Ensaio: Pesquisa em Educação em Ciências, 4 in Boletim de Educação Matemática (BOLEMA), 4 in Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Educação em Ciências (RBPEC) and 2 in Educar em Revista. We did not find studies of interest in the following journals: Centro de Estudos Educação e Sociedade (CEDES), Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Física (RBEF), Educação e Realidade, Educação em Revista, Avaliação: Revista de Avaliação da Educação Superior, Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos (RBEP) and Caderno de Pesquisa.

Table 3 shows the total numbers of papers selected in each journal and the references of the papers under analysis.

The graph of Figure 2 shows the total number of papers published per year.

Source: Guidotti and Heckler (2017)

Figure 2 Number of papers published per year 

Figure 2 shows that, in the journals under analysis, there are studies of inquiry-based approaches in teacher education in Natural Sciences and Mathematics just from 2000 on. It is worth mentioning that after 2002 - except in 2004, 2005 and 2006 - there was increase in the number of studies of the theme.

We also observed that only 1.28% of papers, i. e., 35 out of 2,720 studies under analysis in 13 journals, problematize inquiry-based approaches in teacher education in Sciences and Mathematics. Thus, 14 out of 35 papers report studies of initial teacher education, whereas 18 describe in-service teacher education. Besides, 2 papers involve both and only 1 paper addresses general teacher education and teaching through inquiry theoretically.

All 35 papers selected in ^{September 2016} compose the data used in the analysis carried out in this bibliographical study. They challenged us to structure an analysis that could make us reflect on the theme under study. The next section describes the development of the qualitative analysis guided by the principles of the Discourse Textual Analysis (DTA).

3. CONSTITUTION OF ANALYSIS OF PAPERS BY DTA

This study, which comprises reading and analyzing data found in 35 selected texts, follows the principles of the Discourse Textual Analysis (DTA). It includes a metanalysis from the hermeneutical phenomenological perspective that enables researchers to reflect on different types of inquiry-based approaches in teacher education processes as the result of the analysis of papers published by journals classified as A1 and A2 by Qualis Capes. Based on ^{Moraes and Galiazzi (2011}), we understand this analysis process as the self-organizing construction of new perceptions of different inquiry-based approaches in teacher education.

In the analysis, we used a recursive sequence with three components, as proposed by ^{Moraes and Galiazzi (2011}): deconstruction of the texts that compose the corpus (unitarization); establishment of relations among unitary elements (categorization); and capture of new perceptions which are publicized and validated in the interlocution with the construction of arguments in a metatext.

In this study, data analysis starts with the unitarization of the objectives, activities and final remarks depicted in the papers under Inquiry. According to ^{Moraes and Galiazzi (2011}), in this step, the researcher examines the texts minutely and fragments them so as to get meaning units related to the phenomena under study. Table 4 is an excerpt from the table of data which was analyzed by this study.

The excerpt from 155 meaning units in Table 4 exemplifies how we systematized the analysis. Meaning units, which are shown in the second column in Table 4, result from the deconstruction of the texts under analysis. Every unit got a code, such as A10.1, to identify that this meaning unit was found in paper no. 10 and that it is the first unit from this text. Besides, the analysis process carried out by the DTA enables researchers to create their own meaning units. In order to identify the units whose author is the researcher, we used a letter, such as A26.C.H.3. This code means that this unit cannot be found directly in the text, but that it expresses implicit meanings, near unit A26.3, for instance. This movement of unit codification enabled us to find the origin of any unit, in any text, whenever necessary, throughout the study.

The third column lists key words that help us create the title of the meaning unit, which is shown in the fourth column in Table 4. Interpretation and understanding of the units depend on the researcher’s theoretical knowledge. Therefore, according to ^{Moraes and Galiazzi (2011}), a set of elements may lead to the construction of several meanings which originate from every researcher’s theoretical presuppositions.

After the unitarization process, categorization starts. This movement compares the titles that were attributed to every meaning unit and leads to the grouping of units that express similar elements. As a result, it originated 13 initial categories. Table 5 shows an excerpt of this organization.

Every category corresponds to a set of meaning units which express similar ideas. The DTA challenges researchers to constructcoalescent arguments throughout the whole analysis process. The arguments help to develop a quality and clear self-organized analysis. In this step of the study, the arguments coalesce into the ideas exposed by the meaning units which originated the category they belong to.

The 13 initial categories made us resume the processes of comparison and coalescence so as to construct three final categories: I) Inquiry into school as a space of teacher education; II) Conceptions of teaching permeating teachers’ inquiry practices; and III) Professional practice in teacher-researcher education.

We should point out that the final categories result from the researchers’ intense movement of immersion in the corpus of the analysis. In this process, we let phenomena take place so that categories can emerge from the array of data found in the papers under Inquiry. Tables 4, 5 and 6 show that we started from 155 meaning units which represent specific and restricted categories that get increasingly broader and whose number decreases.

Based on the three final categories, we started to structure the metatext in which we describe the reflections that emerged about the theme under study. In the following section, the metatext entitled “Inquiry into school, its conceptions and professional practice: teacher-researcher education” is introduced. It develops interlocution with the texts we have selected so as to enable us to express different views.

4. METATEXT: INQUIRY INTO SCHOOL, ITS CONCEPTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: TEACHER-RESEARCHER EDUCATION

4.2. CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING PERMEATING TEACHERS’ INQUIRY PRACTICES

In this category, the argument under development encompasses teachers’ conceptions of teaching methodologies and their influence on inquiry practices, both in schools and in the field of teacher education. The analysis of the texts made us identify different inquiry perspectives, such as scientific method, research activity and problem solving, used by teachers. These conceptions instigate the education of teacher-researchers by means of reflection on their professional practices, regarding teaching and the specific content they teach.

Throughout the analysis process, we noticed that research is an important pedagogical tool for the problematization, intervention, transformation and re-signification of teaching practices. However, teachers’ traditional inertia, dialogue restriction and lack of interest in the search for knowledge of theoretical issues of teaching, learning and evaluating processes have been pointed out by ^{Galiazzi, Moraes and Ramos (2003}) as factors of resistance against inquiry practices in Science teaching.

Thus, teaching methodologies which focus on the principles of inquiry face obstacles in teachers’ conceptions of teaching. As a result, research is considered a teaching methodology in Sciences in class and an educational principle in teacher education. Therefore, the following different methodologies used in teacher education have emerged in the text: inquiry connected to the scientific method, problem solving, introduction to research as a syllabus activity, teaching through projects and inquiry based on writing and reading through dialogues and collaboration in virtual learning environments.

It is worth mentioning that inquiry practices, as a teaching methodology in class, also take into account perspectives of the scientific method (SM). With regard to it, ^{Silva and Cunha (2012}) studied Science teachers’ social representations of the scientific method as a teaching approach. They observed that inquiry practices are tightly connected to the use of laboratories, the need to define steps, emphasis on observation and validation of scientific theories. The main representations that were identified by these authors are:

Experience of the “SM” takes place in the lab. The “SM” is constituted by steps. Practical classes certify what the theory says. The “SM” is related to research. The “SM” involves observation. Working with the “SM” is an attempt to solve a problem. The “SM” leads to knowledge in the end. The “SM” “proves” theories. The “SM” is a train of thought. The “SM” is a kind of organized work. Through the “SM”, students learn how to think, criticize, create hypotheses. The “SM” associates with norms and rules. The “SM” would be a manual. The “SM” may or may not include experimentation. The “SM” supposes practical activities (^{SILVA; CUNHA, 2012}, p. 51).

Likewise, ^{Munford and Lima (2007}) address different teaching approaches which focus on inquiry and show three mistaken conceptions that are usually used for referring to inquiry practices in Science teaching:

- To believe that teaching through inquiry always involves practical and experimental activities or is restricted to them;

- Science teaching through inquiry always involves “open” activities in which students have total autonomy to choose issues, determine procedures of inquiry and decide how to analyze its results;

- To believe that all content may be taught by means of an inquiry- based approach (^{MUNFORD; LIMA, 2007}, p.7).

These different conceptions enable us to think about inquiry processes in distinct ways. Therefore, Sá, Lima and Aguiar (2011) believe that teaching through inquiry may encompass any activity (either experimental or non-experimental). The authors point out that these activities must be student-centered, i. e., they must develop students’ autonomy, decision-making capacity, problem evaluation and problem solving with the appropriation of Natural Sciences concepts. Activities may be organized to provide teaching based on debate, argumentation, writing and dissemination of results and constructed knowledge.

We understand that, if these conceptions of teaching are not culturally constructed by and with teachers, they become mere insertion of inquiry practices in educational processes. Thus, the challenge in teacher education is the principle of research based on reflection on the teacher’s work. Studies carried out by ^{Teixeira (2003}), ^{Galiazzi, Moraes and Ramos (2003}), ^{Souza and Campos (2011}), ^{Sangiogo et al. (2011}), ^{Machado and Queiroz (2012}), ^{Massi and Giordan (2014}) and ^{Lima and Amaral (2013}) show possibilities of breaking away from traditional teaching models by including inquiry moments in teacher education.

^{Sangiogo et al. (2011}) states that inquiry moments in teacher education processes may be included when research is introduced as a syllabus activity in teaching degree courses. In this study, the authors highlight that the focus of research made students identify “[...] the chemical understanding that college and high school students have about everyday phenomena which involve transformations in matter and energetic phenomena” (^{SANGIOGO et al; 2011}, p. 524). According to the authors, this inquiry activity enabled teachers-to-be to learn about the reality of school learning, cultural tools and re-signification of specific knowledge of the education area.

Focus on studies of academic-professional education is also mentioned in the study carried out by ^{Souza and Campos (2011}) who investigate how the experience with work through projects may contribute to Mathematics teacher education. They highlight that:

[...] students started to develop knowledge about teaching with research, collaborative work, use of computational resources, methodology of projects and inquiry in statistical methods (^{SOUZA; CAMPOS, 2011}, p. 428).

From this perspective, insertion of inquiry practices in teacher education enabled teachers’ professional development, besides the improvement of their knowledge of specific contents and methodologies of teaching with research. Likewise, studies carried out by Bejarano and Hohenfeld (2013) and ^{Goi and Santos (2014}) show the importance of the fact that teacher education must be based on problem-solving strategies. The texts under analysis lead to the understanding that this methodological approach, which involves problematization, intervention and reflection on teaching, enables teachers-to-be to re-signify different kinds of knowledge.

Regarding teacher education, ^{Galiazzi, Moraes and Ramos (2003}) emphasize that inquiry processes demand data collection, synthesis elaboration and meaning re-elaboration, while teachers construct their professional knowledge. The same journey is described by ^{Machado and Queiroz (2012}); they show that, when teachers-to-be are stimulated to define their research problems in search for pedagogical solutions, they are more willing to exercise critical reflection. Thus, they get closer to research activities. Such movement has been acknowledged as a possibility of professional and personal growth.

The movement which encompasses inquiry processes in teacher education may also be achieved through reading, analysis and dissemination of papers and presentations in congresses whose focus is research that originates in teachers’ professional practice. ^{Massi and Giordan (2014}) report results of a proposal of teacher education for research which encompasses construction, application and analysis of didactic sequences in a specialization course in online education (OLE). Based on the analysis of the interaction that occurred in virtual learning environments (VLE) during reading sessions, diary writing and dialogues between teachers and their tutors, the authors found evidence of the fact that they created a space that intertwined teaching and inquiry into one’s own activity.

Therefore, we understand that creation, discussion and reflection processes of teaching approaches may be offered in VLE. ^{Lima and Amaral (2013}) believe that experiences undergone by teachers-to-be in activities which aim at developing dialogical interaction in VLE may contribute to break models that follow traditional conceptions of teaching. We think that this environment in the internet potentializes the education of teachers who research and reflect on their professional practice, since it enables them to share and record new knowledge they yield in teaching. Thus, this context makes an inquiry perspective emerge from writing and reading in a dialogical and collaborative way.

In this category, papers refer to conceptions of teaching in which the main discussion is the insertion of teaching practices that trigger inquiry. As a result, we compiled different practices in teacher education which aim at overcoming conceptions of teaching that have been traditionally experienced over the years. The following category shows the constitution of a syllabus that questions professional practices in teacher education

4.3. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN TEACHER-RESEARCHER EDUCATION

The third category shows that the development of teacher-researchers takes place in a syllabus that questions their professional practice. We observe that this process can take place when teachers commit to post-graduate programs and school projects, such as Science fairs. Teachers’ academic and professional transformation - and their classes - may result from the educational principle of education through research.

Education through research enables the education of teacher-researchers. It is a process that has been emphasized in the literature as an educational principle that enables teachers-to-be and teachers to experience different teaching and learning processes which go beyond traditional models characterized by knowledge reproduction. ^{Galiazzi and Moraes (2002}) introduce theoretical and practical arguments in favor of education through research as a way, time and space of qualification in initial teacher education. In short, the authors defend that teacher education through research establishes:

[...] very productive relations between inquiry and teacher education. Technical rationality is overcome by transforming all persons involved in the activity into participants in the research process. Teachers-to-be become subjects, rather than objects, of their own educational process and deepen their pedagogical views. Theory gets closer to practice and academic knowledge gets closer to practical knowledge; integration of knowledge that was fragmented throughout different disciplines occurs (^{GALIAZZI; MORAES, 2002}, p.251).

Therefore, we highlight the importance of promoting research as a resource of professional development in teacher education courses. ^{Silva et al. (2014}) state that the insertion of research in initial teacher education enables teacher-to-be to acquire knowledge about their professional practice in class. In this process, due to the contact with the school environment, the debate/study of teachers’ roles and their methodological strategies takes place. According to ^{Galiazzi and Moraes (2002}), research in teaching practices in initial teacher education makes professional learning more significant, since it enables teachers-to-be to get data and be able to record, analyze, reflect and transform their class.

In this context, teaching through research is defined as:

[...] a dialectical and recursive cycle which begins with a question and follows with attempts to re-construct knowledge and practices by organizing and defending new arguments. They are publicized and submitted to a critical community, so as to be gradually evaluated and improved (^{GALIAZZI; MORAES, 2002}, p. 242).

We understand that this concept of research in initial teacher education may be differently organized, provided that it enables teachers-to-be to reflect on teaching. Studies carried out by Machado and Queiroz (2002) and ^{Barcelos et al. (2010}) show that this movement may take place when teachers get involved in projects related to the planning of Science fairs in schools. We see it as collective work among school teachers, professors and teachers-to-be with planning, recording, systematization and dissemination of results.

However, collective activities are not common in teacher education processes. ^{Lima et al. (2015}) point out factors that limit the development of a syllabus which focus on the inquiry into teaching practices: the gap between higher institutions and elementary education, as well as the education process experienced by some professors. This scenario may be changed by the insertion of permanent processes in teacher education intertwined with experiences with the methodology of projects in schools.

^{Cattai and Penteado (2009}) investigated how in-service teacher education takes place in the case of Mathematics teachers who work with projects in their schools. The authors point out that development occurs when teachers take part in continuing teacher education courses which promote experiences with projects in their professional practice.

We acknowledge that teaching strategies based on research benefit continuing teacher education. In regard to it, ^{Galvão and Praia (2009}) worked with Science teachers in the first grades and found positive impact on their education, since they used research as a teaching strategy in their classes. Their results show that insertion of research as a teaching methodology enables teachers to overcome their learning difficulties in professional education processes. Thus, teaching practices that include inquiry strategies may lead teachers to promote educational activities in teaching, based on problems found in their classes (^{AZEVEDO; ABIB, 2013}).

Educational activities in teaching are important to trigger partnerships between schools and higher education institutions. These partnerships should aim at contributing to the professional development of teachers-to-be, teachers and professors. The movement that aims at approximating schools and higher education institutions also takes place in activities proposed by post-graduate programs. ^{Souza (2014)} states that knowledge yielded in Master’s programs may be considered intentional, since teachers study and plan activities that aim at interfering in their teaching practices. We acknowledge it as research that teachers carry out in/on their classes.

From this perspective, the term teacher’s research is defined as “[...] research which is different from ‘scientific research’, another kind of research, in which the author’s professional life has its place, research that originates from practice and proposes something to practice”(^{CARNEIRO, 2008}, p. 2017).Based on this study, we understand theimportant roles of higher educations institutions and professors in the qualify cation of inquiry carried out by school teachers in order to construct their theoretical and methodological ways.

Professional post-graduate programs, mainly professional Master’s programs, have been the quality space-time for inquiry conducted by school teachers. They aim at developing products and analyzing their implementation in class to enable teachers to re-think their own professional practices. ^{Pires and Igliori (2013}) highlight that teacher education in professional Master’s programs is a process that involves different knowledge domains. They believe that teachers themselves should expose their needs regarding their professional activities.

In an attempt to involve school teachers in post-graduate programs, studies carried out by Sá et al. (2011) and ^{Munford and Lima (2007}) focus on teaching through inquiry in schools. They show researches conducted by the specialization course in Science Teaching through Inquiry (STI), which was offered by the Centro de Ensino de Ciências e Matemática (CECIMIG) at the Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais (UFMG) from 2005 to 2008.According to Munford and Lima (2007), the course has two presuppositions:

1) Scientific explanations arise and develop in guided inquiry spaces;

2) There is need for permanent reflection, an inquiry space and exchange of experiences among teachers regarding the implementation of this methodology in their work so as to support and maintain changes in the schools where they teach (^{MUNFORD; LIMA, 2017}. p.3).

These activities, which are announced by the course, enable teachers to analyze, plan and change their classes. Besides, both teachers and professors can evaluate together transformations that derive from teaching strategies based on inquiry in Science students’ learning. Thus, we understand that this educational movement encompasses the study of contents of Science, its teaching methodologies and activities that involve professional practices.

This category also encompasses teachers’ involvement in research groups, as a space where teacher-researchers can develop. According to ^{Goi and Santos (2014}) and ^{Teixeira et al. (2015}), research groups enable teachers-to-be to broaden their theoretical and practical knowledge. As a result, they improve their way of investigating and teaching Science.

This category showed different spaces which are potentially significant for teacher-researcher education, both in initial and continuing education. We believe that the insertion of research - based on reflection and knowledge systematization - in teachers’ professional practice leads to professional transformations which affect the way a teacher thinks about teaching and learning Science.

5. FINAL REMARKS: A SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDY

In short, Table 11 synthesizes our final remarks. Their construction was based on the analysis of papers that composed the corpus of this study. In agreement with ^{Moraes and Galiazzi (2011}), we adopted the coalescent argument of a text as a theoretical statement of ideas that must be publicized since they show what researchers think about their object of study.

Every category constructed with its argument represents one or several aspects collected from the papers under analysis. In a reconstruction movement, from the final categories, initial categories and meaning units, the researchers disseminate different views in the recursive writing of the metatext which is in section 4.0.

Therefore, the set of arguments shown in Table 7 leads to the main argument of this study, which records the researchers’ views of inquiry-based approaches in teacher education, based on the analysis of 35 papers published in 6 journals. We believe that the insertion of inquiry practices in class is permeated by teachers’ different conceptions of teaching. Thus, it challenges teachers’ professional development both in initial and continuing education, since it demands collaborative activities regarding planning and reflection on their professional practices, besides theoretical studies of teaching issues and specific contents. We believe that teacher-researcher education takes place when the syllabus problematizes teaching practices. Thus, this process may take place when schools and higher education institutions establish partnerships in projects that aim at contributing to both initial and continuing teacher education.

The analysis described by this paper enabled us to broaden views of inquiry-based approaches in teacher education. We showed the methodological path which enabled us to analyze the insertion of inquiry-based approaches in teachers’ professional practices, based on collective, collaborative and reflective activities that deepen theoretical knowledge and systematization and dissemination of new knowledge. As a result, it helps teachers transform their ways of teaching and learning Science.