A produção do conhecimento químico em salas de aula: o ensino de modelos atômicos

Abstract

Chemistry contributes significantly to Citizen development by ineans of a teaching that contemplates the epistemolic dimensions of this Science, organized contextually and structurally. This knowledge is considered in the classroom at the phenomenological, theoretical and representational leveis. To explanin the phenomenical situations, models, which are representations of reality, having their limitations and temporary nature, are utilized. The aim of this study is to analyze the formation of school knowledge, focalizing the atomic models, as these are the influencing characters in Chemical knowledge. Data was collected by attending the classes of two high school levei teachers, interviewing them right after their classes. A certain lack of preparation was verified on the part of the teachers in the use of models in the chemistry classes. These were treated by the teachers as if they were realities, disconsidering aspects related to limitations, temporariness and historicity of their explanations. The teachers approach chemistry emphasizing the symbologies of this Science which are far from the realities of the students. In this context, the formation of Chemical knowledge which is outlined in a traditional fashion, inadequate to the present needs of the scholar, is questionable. A revision of teaching practices and the initial and progressive formation of the teachers are necessary.