Estudo da construção de conceitos básicos de eletricidade nos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental com uso de experimentação virtual

Abstract

In this work, we developed a qualitative research related to the implementation and analysis of a method for initiating the teaching process of concepts of electricity, electric energy, electric current, electrical insulator, electrical conductor, electrical circuit and electrical resistance to students of the 4th grade of elementary education (ages 9 to 11 years) at a public school situated on the suburb of the city of Uberlândia. In developing the lessons, we investigate: i) if the students can begin to build knowledge of Electricity, when one offers a virtual experiment as stimulus material, ii) what are the new knowledge and skills acquired by students; iii) if the virtual experimentation facilitates the begining of construction of these concepts and iv) what is the cognitive level of these students. In the analysis of the acquisition and development of these concepts by students, we use the ideas about the formation processes and conceptual assimilation of David Ausubel, complemented by the ideas of Herbert Klausmeier on levels of cognitive development of concepts. It was possible to identify, during the application of our methodology, a developmental progression of students in the formation of the concepts that were worked during the use of a virtual experimentation, especially on electrical circuit, electrical conductor, electrical insulation and electricity, through the active participation of the students in discussions using these labels and in the presentation of the conceptual ideas correlated, which were shown in progressively more complex and more consistent propositional aspect from the logical and scientific point of view. Students have demonstrated evidence of assimilation of these concepts in the formal level of cognitive development.