Uso de textos de divulgação científica em aulas de química: sentidos e significados constituídos pelo professor

Abstract

USE OF POPULAR SCIENCE TEXT IN CHEMISTRY CLASSES: SENSE AND MEANINGS CONSTITUTED BY THE TEACHER. Current research recommends the use of popular science texts (PST) in chemistry teaching in view of their potential to develop important skills for student education, such as reading and argumentation. In contrast, there are few studies dedicated to investigating the perspective of teachers in face of such practice. In this context, the present work aims to understand what are the senses and meanings that Chemistry teachers who participated in a training course on the functioning of PST in teaching environments constitute for the challenges faced with its use and how they affect its form to think, feel and act. To accompany the process of meaning construction, interviews were conducted with four chemistry teachers and investigated the planning of didactic units produced by them in the referred course. The data were analyzed from the theoretical-methodological perspective of the Meaning Core of Aguiar and Ozella and the investigation took place by the case study method. The results show that the main difficulties faced by teachers are the lack of basic knowledge, the students’ lack of interest and lack of motivation, as well as the educational system, which makes it difficult to use innovative and motivating teaching strategies, because the curriculum is extensive, there is a lack material and financial resources and little time for classes. Added to this are social, cultural and economic issues in which students are inserted and reflected in their attitudes within the classroom. Despite the difficulties, the teachers consider that this course contributed to the improvement of the quality of their classes and allowed them to see new ways of teaching, thinking about the learning process, planning and building the didactic strategies, and also some of the aspects of teaching. The use of PST were incorporated into the classroom routine, such as working on the nature of science with its students, argumentation, approaching the discipline's own concepts (Chemistry) and encouraging reading. Therefore, we conclude, that working with PST presents some challenges that must be overcome and that the knowledge acquired for its use contributed to the improvement of the quality of the classes, since the teachers, even those who had not made use of PST, incorporated aspects that allowed them to rethink teaching and learning, build and / or adapt strategies that fit their scenario.