O professor de ciência e a atividade experimental

This paper describes science teachers' conceptions about experimental activities in science education. In order to identify these conceptions, science projects submitted by teachers were examined, focusing their objectives and rational. The results showed that teachers justify experimental activities to improve their own performance and also students' learning. They showed a great variety of reasons, ranging from psychological or pedagogical nature to those related to different and sometimes antagonistic epistemological visions about science.