Mapas conceituais como estratégia de ensino para pilhas eletroquímicas: um estudo com alunos do ensino médio

Abstract

The research work of this professional master is related to the following research question: “how and to what extent concept maps related to electrochemistry concepts are constructed by second-year students of the Chemistry Technical Level?” Its goals are: to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the concept maps constructed by the students; to analyze concept maps related to three topics of electrochemistry (1 – electrical conductivity; 2 – Daniell cell; 3 – standard electrode), constructed by the students as from experimental activites. The development of the whole work, carried out with 31 students of a state school in the city of São José do Rio Pardo – SP, is based on Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning, which includes the principles of progressive differentiation and integrative reconciliation. Initially, a minicourse was given, involving basic chemistry concepts related to electrochemistry and preceded by an advance organizer (a film about batteries). Afterwards, the familiarization of the students with concept maps was carried out. Then, the students constructed the three concept maps, with each construction preceded by an instructional text and a practice. The maps constructed by the students were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, based on the following cathegories of analysis: hierarchy, concepts, valid relationships, cross-links and invalid relationships. For the first three cathegories of analysis, for each of the concept maps, a comparative analysis of the score attributed to each constructed map was carried out, attributing 100% to the average of the three highest scores. With regard to the three concept maps, for the absolute majority of the constructed maps (22 out of 30, 22 out of 31 and 25 out of 31, respectively), the scores attributed to the three analyzed parameters were at comparative levels ≥ 50% of the reference average. However, higher scores were attributed to maps 3, and for 20 of them the scores attributed to the three analyzed parameters were at comparative levels ≥ 60% of the reference average; in the case of maps 1 and 2 this occurred for 16 and 11 maps, respectively. This indicates that greater difficulties were encountered by students in the construction of the map 2. For the three concept maps, there was a very low incidence of cross-links, due to their complexity in the students' learning process and because they require a degree of creativity associated with integrative reconciliation. As for the occurrence of invalid relationships, a significant decrease was found on map 3, which may be an indication that students began to better understand the nature of the relationships between concepts, commonly associated with the process of progressive differentiation. In general, the obtained results demonstrate that concept maps as a teaching strategy in the area of Chemistry can be rich tools in the teaching-learning process.