O desenvolvimento da argumentação no ensino de física por investigação

Abstract

The physics teaching faces a lot of dilemmas regarding the lack of interest from the students. Even with the vast applicability of the subjects, the students show much aversion to their learning process, and this is very clear looking through the results. After preliminary research in our proper action context, it was found that the main complaint is related to the traditional way of explaining, which is extremely mathematized. This way, we crave for methodological changes that can decrease the distance between who is teaching and who is learning, promoting active and conscious participation of both sides. Searching for didactic strategies that fill in our expectations, we elected the Teaching per Inquiry (TI), for being engaging and promoting critical autonomy. The TI provides the questioning of common-sense conceptions and its transposition to scientific knowledge. In this perspective, we assume that a dialogical relation takes on a privileged place, showing us the need for improving the students' argumentation. The ability to debate is an essential quality for the contemporary citizen's formation who needs to take place in so many different situations. It enables the students to question, to expose their ideas, to justify hypotheses, interact with classmates, teachers, and the whole world. Even being not much explored in the classroom context, it shows the big potential of physics teaching/learning process. Like this, we constitute our problem: what role does the argumentation plays in TI? In this qualitative research, we used research-action principles having as purpose a better teacher/student interaction in the Teaching per Inquiry environment, aiming to develop the argumentation in the physics'classes. There were applied didactic group activities where the students could choose with whose classmates they wanted to work with, and about what they wanted to investigate. From an initial topic each of the groups raised a research problem to direct its trajectory in TI. A survey was conducted on students’ previous knowledge in order for the teacher to grant adjusted help for the students. The investigation process included classroom and virtual monitoring by the teacher. Data were collected during the monitoring in the pedagogical practice diary and in the presentation of the seminars through audio recording. In the review of the material we integrate elements of the analysis of Toulmin’s argumentative pattern. We highlight the consolidation of the students’ protagonism and of the argumentative quality in this context on TI. We also propose a discussion/reflection on the meanings given to teaching practice and its articulation with initiatives to understand it and promote the improvement of learning in physics.