The practice of research in primary and secondary education

Educational documents from the 1990s onwards have provided guidance for the practice of research in the final years of primary and secondary school, based on the principle that it is necessary to break with the traditional model of teaching, with the role of the teacher as a 'transmitter' of knowledge. Accumulating knowledge does not prepare students for the rapid changes that society is undergoing. What matters is teaching students to learn how to learn. Thus, research is now valued as a practice for students to build their own knowledge, to be the protagonists of their learning; the teacher is a facilitator during the investigative process. The purpose of this book is to present academic productions from stricto sensu postgraduate programs in Brazil, from 2004 to 2011, and specifically to identify and analyze teachers' conceptions in these works, as well as to learn about and analyze the approach given to the practice of research at these levels of education.