Análise do conteúdo de isomeria nos livros didáticos de química aprovados no PNLD 2018

Abstract

The textbook is one of the most used pedagogical resources in the classroom. Based on this assumption in this work, a qualitative bibliographic research was carried out to investigate how the six Chemistry textbooks approved by the 2018 National Textbook Program address the content of isomerism. The program is responsible for evaluating and making available the didactic works that serve as references and materials to support educational practices for teachers and students in public basic education schools. The content of isomerism was chosen because it is pointed out in the literature as difficult for students to understand, as it involves the understanding of other concepts, such as chemical bonds, recognition of organic functions and representation of structural formulas, in addition to being a very abstract content, because it involves the use of models. Therefore, the following question is presented as a question that guides this research: is the way in which the content of isomerism is approached in the volumes of Organic Chemistry for high school sufficient to understand the concepts involved? Thus, the analysis of the six textbooks was carried out, verifying the approach to the historical context, the definitions, the approach to the physical properties of the isomers, the models, the analogies, the exercises, and the experiments proposed in each work. Based on these analyses, the differences between textbooks in the presentation of the concepts involved with the content of isomerism are observed, some are presented with more details about the content, addressing relationships with everyday life and presenting different models for the teacher's work, aiming the student's understanding. There was little experimental approach in the chapters – which, despite proposing the use of easily accessible materials, are limited to proposals for building models and not to the study of the properties and characteristics of compounds. There was also little availability of ENEM questions related to the isomerism content in the chapters, prioritizing questions elaborated by the authors or by other selective processes. The analysis of the chapters showed that there are several possibilities for teachers to address the concepts related to isomerism, however, it appears that there are weaknesses in all works, hence the importance of teachers having access to different works during planning teaching activities.