Science Teaching for the Deaf: a bibliographic review from scientific journals

Abstract

Science Teaching, in which students take an active part in solving problems, promotes the development of skills and an understanding of science. Taking deaf students into account, Science Teaching should be based on an approach that considers the linguistic and cultural aspects of this group. In view of the possibilities and challenges regarding the theme “Science Teaching for the Deaf”, this study aims to map academic publications in scientific journals in the timespan from 2012 to 2022, based on a state-of-the-art type bibliographical research. The collection by works with the theme was carried out in six national journals relevant to the area of Science Teaching and after using defined exclusion and inclusion criteria, resulted in 30 articles selected for analysis. The collected data were categorized based on the theoretical assumptions of Bardin's content analysis. From the analysis of the productions, it is recognized that Teaching Science for the Deaf is a relevant research topic in national journals and of growing interest by researchers in the area. However, the research points to issues for reflection, such as: the need to expand research in the area; gaps in the initial and continuing education of professionals who work in inclusive education, from understanding of approaches that enhance the learning of the Deaf to their lack of fluency in Libras; and the absence of an adequate structure in educational institutions to promote the inclusion and permanence of the Deaf in these environments.