CURRICULUM THEORIES AND SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION: CONCEPTUAL MAPPING FROM BIBLIOMETRY

Abstract

The present work aims to present the results of a mapping of academic research on the curriculum and its theoretical conceptualizations. It seeks to identify how curricular integration emerges from these discussions. This is descriptive research, in which bibliometric analyzes were performed using the Bibliometrix package of the R software, extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database, taking the period from 2002 to 2022 as a time frame. The descriptors “theory” and “curriculum” were used to carry out the analysis, and 115 works were found. In order to carry out the present study, the following information was processed: co-citation networks, most relevant authors, network of co-occurrence of the most used terms, evolution of publications, thematic map and thematic evolution. Based on the results, it was possible to map the main axes of discussions on the subject, the authorship networks, in addition to describing the main concepts addressed. It was found that academic productions related to the theoretical field of curriculum are quite shy and need to be better explored considering their relevance in the educational field. It was also verified that the productions related to curriculum theories are emerging and have a close connection with themes related to knowledge and curriculum policies. As for curricular integration, productions in the area are still treated peripherally in relation to the theoretical field of the curriculum.