ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on primary school science learning contexts and addresses one of the major research areas of the ESSA Group: the characteristics of pedagogic practices most favourable to the acquisition of scientific knowledge and competences by students of different social backgrounds. It is based on Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse and Vygotsky’s social constructivism and asks which modalities of pedagogic practice are more favourable to the acquisition of scientific knowledge and competences by all children. Our studies have shown that the effect of pedagogic practice can overcome the effect of children’s social background and suggest a mixed pedagogy for successful scientific, social and affective learning (Morais and Neves 2001) and indicated how teachers’ conceptual demand1 with respect to scientific knowledge and investigative competences is influenced by the social context of the school (Domingos 1989a; Miranda and Morais 1994).
