Children and the interest in science: a search based on actions to promote meaningful learning

This article discusses the relevance of working on teaching methodologies that aim to awaken children 's interest in science. For that, a didactic practice was carried out with students of early childhood education and initial series of elementary education. The activities were divided into four distinct themes, according to the major scientific areas: chemistry, biology, physics and mathematics. It was observed that it was possible, even at the youngest school age, to work on the proposed scientific topics without major difficulties. Such success was possible, mainly due to the use of a contextualized, playful and meaningful approach. The curiosity and interest of the students made it evident that it is important for teachers at the initial levels of basic education to be able to didactic transposition to demystify the stigma that science is difficult and thus contribute to the advancement of the interest in this area of knowledge.