Uma sequência de ensino por investigação para o ensino médio: leis de Newton

Abstract

In this research, we seek to list the contributions of an Inquiry Teaching Sequence (SEI) on Newton's Laws to promote Scientific Literacy among first-year high school students. During this research work, we developed and validated the educational product: “Investigation Teaching Sequence: investigative activities in teaching Newton's Laws for the first year of high school”, which is composed of five activities, four of which are investigation and a mock jury. Our objective was to analyze the process of building knowledge about Newton's Laws based on the investigative activities that constitute this SEI. The research was developed in a first grade high school class at Colégio Estadual Frederico Jayme in Rio Verde – Goiás, with the participation of 26 students, in a total of ten classes of fifty minutes each. For this, audio and video recordings, made during the development of the product, and written reports made by students at the end of each activity were used as a data collection instrument. These data were analyzed using the content analysis technique, based on the following categories: presentation of prior knowledge; raising hypotheses and/or testing them; elaboration of causal and scientific explanations; presentation of cognitive conflicts; understanding the phenomenon; and attitude. For the simulated jury, extra categories were created: use of the topic covered; “transitional speech” - articulation of speech between participants’ speeches in a coherent and consistent way; and consistency and coherence of the arguments observed. From the analysis of this data, it was possible to verify that the students learned Newton's Laws, and that the SEI was able to provide moments of reflection, problem solving and interaction with the teacher and among the students, in addition to providing the use of arguments by students.