LINKS BETWEEN THEORY AND PRAXIS AS A FOUNDATION FOR TEACHING THE NATURAL SCIENCES

Abstract

The teaching of natural sciences constitutes an educational process that requires establishing permanent links between the theoretical foundations of scientific knowledge and the practical experiences that allow for an understanding of phenomena present in reality. From this perspective, the relationship between theory and praxis represents an essential pedagogical principle for moving beyond traditional teaching models, which focus exclusively on the transmission and memorization of conceptual content. Indeed, learning in the natural sciences becomes more meaningful when students have the opportunity to connect scientific explanations with concrete situations within their natural, social, and cultural environments. Consequently, this essay is grounded in a qualitative, interpretive, and hermeneutic perspective, with the general objective of interpreting the links between theory and praxis in the teaching of natural sciences. The findings indicate that theory provides the conceptual frameworks necessary for understanding natural phenomena, while praxis enables the examination, application, and critical questioning of such knowledge within specific contexts. Therefore, both dimensions should be understood through a dialectical relationship, in which practical experience contributes to the construction and revision of theoretical explanations.