The article discusses the valorization of the knowledge of farmers and family
farmers in the conception of differentiated approaches in science teaching in schools in
the countryside. For this, we studied the equipment used by farmers in the production of
cassava flour as the levers and identified the mechanisms of the presses. Participant
observation and semi-structured and open interviews were conducted with three families
in the municipality of Senador José Porfírio, Pará. From the ethnophysics approach, it
was found that they construct the presses manually, adapt and improve the operation of
the levers, according to the progress of their activities. This traditional knowledge is
passed down from generation to generation, via orality, observations and lived
experiences. Farmers explain the mechanisms in such a way that they relate the objective to be achieved and the effort to be spared by choosing the dimensions, shape
and types of materials for the construction of the press, without having theoretical
knowledge of physics. This knowledge can be used in science classes, from observation
and interviews to parents or community, made by the students themselves, making the
detection of the lever mechanism in various equipment, tools or movements of daily
life, identifying the forces involved and how it could improve them.
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