ABOUT NuPIC
The Center for Research on Curricular Innovation (NuPIC) is a research group focused on science education coordinated by Professor Maurício Pietrocola of the School of Education at the University of São Paulo. Composed of graduate students, scholarship recipients, and elementary and secondary school teachers, with active collaborations in countries across Europe and Latin America, NuPIC’s main activities include applied academic research, the development of classroom materials, and teacher training. As its name suggests, NuPIC’s primary focus is identifying innovative and relevant topics that are currently absent from the science curriculum. The research focuses on both the reasons for this absence and the pathways for their integration, taking into account the school ecosystem and its stakeholders as a significant force field that directly influences the curriculum—ensuring the inclusion and persistence of certain topics while resisting others, even when these topics have strong social or scientific relevance and demonstrate high educational potential. Once the elements of interest have been identified, the group focuses on applied research, strongly grounded in a convergent theoretical framework to guide the process of integrating these topics into the classroom.
THE ORIGINS OF NuPIC
In 2003, Maurício Pietrocola joined USP, bringing with him a tradition of teacher training and theoretical research involving models and modeling in science education, didactic transposition, and the application of epistemology and the history of science to teaching. With the support of renowned researchers already there (such as Anna Maria Pessoa de Carvalho), he took over the coordination of a team of elementary and secondary school teachers who had previously been involved in research conducted by LAPEF (Laboratory for Research in Physics Education) and redirected their work to investigate the integration of modern physics into the high school curriculum. Even at that time, there was an established debate within the academic community about why the subject should be introduced in schools, but few empirical studies offered practical alternatives on how to do so. In 2004, with financial support from FAPESP, the project began that marked the origin and defined the DNA of the research group that continues to this day.
2004–2012: THE AGE OF MODERN PHYSICS
For nine years, the group made significant contributions to theoretical and applied academic research on the integration of innovative topics into the high school curriculum in Brazil. Among the topics addressed in the work from that period, many are related to modern physics, such as wave-particle duality, particle physics, and radiation. At the same time, other issues that emerged in research during that period were also addressed, such as the influence of national contexts on scientific output and the use of the history of science in teaching.
After three years of positive results, a thematic project funded by FAPESP helped to definitively structure the team and expand the scope of the work. The proposal had two objectives: 1. to consolidate the results obtained from the research conducted up to that point, which was achieved by developing educational materials made available on the website; 2. to expand the integration of modern physics into schools. To this end, courses ranging from 120 to 180 hours were held, certified by the School of Education, with the participation of groups of 40 to 50 teachers from across the state of São Paulo. In addition to promoting learning about the topic under discussion, the events served as a training opportunity for the NuPIC teams themselves. One example is the teachers who had been involved in the process from the beginning and had even contributed to the production of teaching materials. They became facilitators of the workshops that made up the sessions, thereby helping to train their own colleagues. This positive dynamic explains why most of these teachers went on to pursue academic careers.
It was during this period that the need arose for a name and a logo to identify the activities carried out and the materials produced by the team. The first version adopted was “Center for Research on Curricular Innovation in the Sciences,” which generated the acronym NuPIC2. Over time (and due to the difficulty of inserting symbols on the digital platforms of research funding agencies), the second “C” was dropped, giving rise to NuPIC. For the logo, the Möbius strip was chosen as the motif; it was stylized and complemented with keywords representative of the group’s research. The motif has stood the test of time, although the current version features a visually lighter design adapted to the demands and uses across various digital media.
A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK IN EVOLUTION
Among the elements that have remained stable throughout NuPIC’s history, the most significant is its partnership with public schools. The center does not merely conduct theoretical research on curriculum innovation, but rather carries out an in-depth, empirical study of the real possibilities for bringing innovative topics into the classroom.
At the same time, the theoretical framework adopted has evolved to keep pace with both research interests and the demands arising from the topics under investigation. These, in turn, have transformed alongside the sciences, society, and schools. In the center’s early years, DIDACTIC TRANSPOSITION shaped the research produced and the teaching materials that emerged from it. This choice reflects a careful approach to the process of bringing external elements into the school, recognizing that it is not merely a matter of insertion but of building genuine bridges between two worlds. Even today, this reference remains as a less explicit dimension—a shared assumption—linked to the belief that nothing that happens in society can be brought into the school without proper adaptation.
The interaction with Ken Tobin of City University of New York brings the concept of THEORETICAL BRICOLAGE to NuPIC. It is this concept that paves the way for the diversification of the theoretical framework by lending legitimacy to the necessary exercise of diversifying the set of references that underpin a single research project. For the author, it is the researcher’s role to organize the combination of different theories, weaving them together so that they form a single, coherent, and cohesive theoretical body. This paves the way for a discussion on the role of EMOTIONS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION, which now become part of the set of relevant frameworks underpinning the group’s research.
At the intersection of the aforementioned themes lies a concern with a specific context: the emotions that permeate the process of accepting or rejecting innovative topics in teaching practice. What motivates—or fails to motivate—a teacher to stray from traditional methods and embrace curricular innovation? An in-depth exploration of this topic, conducted by the NuPIC coordinator during a year-long stint as a visiting professor at City University of New York, introduced the group to a new area of interest: DIDACTIC RISK. A fascinating theoretical concept, closely tied to the discussion of trust, its most significant role in NuPIC’s history was to redefine the direction of the research, serving as a gateway to key authors in the studies currently being conducted. The first to be explored was sociologist Anthony Giddens, who offers a precise, sophisticated, and powerful definition: ontological security. Along with this comes the concept of the RISK SOCIETY, defined by the German sociologist Ulrich Beck. Together, they represent the current phase of NuPIC, formalized through publications and projects developed and implemented by the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP (IEA/USP).
CURRICULUM INNOVATIONS TODAY
The pandemic has ushered in a period unlike anything the world—and Brazil in particular—has ever experienced. This transformed reality directly impacts science education, requiring the school curriculum to incorporate new topics that are as innovative as they are indispensable. Today, the major challenges of our time can no longer be viewed as problems that can be solved through products derived from science and technology. Similarly, we cannot expect scientists to provide solutions to the problems we face. Nor can these problems be seen as evils to be combated; rather, they are the result or direct consequence of actions taken within the very framework of social development itself.
Thus, the process that enabled the existence of what might be called “progress” has also brought about the problems that threaten human existence itself. For example: the intensive use of fossil fuels has made transportation and energy use more affordable, enabling the automation of all kinds of processes, as well as many of the social advancements that are widely recognized and valued. At the same time, it has also generated a large quantity of gases present in the atmosphere, contributing to changes in the planet’s climate system and threatening the system as a whole. This effect was not—and could not have been—identified at the beginning of the industrialization process, even though it is a consequence of it. Thus, while there is a need to understand global warming from the perspective of disciplinary knowledge (such as atmospheric thermodynamics or its chemical composition, for example), it is now understood that neither this knowledge nor the sum of conclusions drawn from isolated approaches would allow for an adequate understanding of what is happening in the world. Yes, specialized knowledge is necessary, but it is also essential to integrate this knowledge so that we can discuss how to manage the situations we face and, when possible, find the best solutions to the problems. This analysis demonstrates that it is not only science education that needs to be revised, but the entire chain of educational processes, as well as the existence and role of specialists.
Currently, the research conducted by NuPIC focuses on risk, uncertainty, and the future—an inseparable triad that places pressure on schools and the curriculum. The center has international partnerships, the most important of which is with researcher Olivia Levrini of the University of Bologna.