O uso do termoscópio e da contextualização histórica na criação e aplicação de uma unidade didática para o ensino de termometria

Abstract

Over the last decades the area of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) has been considered as an important tool in the teaching of physics, as evidenced in specialized literature in Science Education area. Despite the increase in these publications, the direct relationship with basic education is still restricted, the "how to do it" still limits direct actions that may in fact influence the construction of knowledge in physics teaching. The present work was developed with the objective of constructing, applying and evaluating a didactic sequence based on historical elements and the use of the thermoscope. The theme chosen was the teaching of thermal physics, with the reproduction and the exploration of the thermoscope, a qualitative instrumentto measure heat, used by many scholars since the fifth century b.C. and which became important equipment in the process of constructing today's concepts of heat and temperature. The use of experiments with historical value can help to bring the student closer to physics, contributing both to the historical contextualization of knowledge and to the learning of concepts. This educational product uses the three pedagogical moments (initial questioning, organization of knowledge and application of knowledge) and is composed of three models of thermocoscopes, constructed with materials of easy access; three texts, two being produced by us and one adapted; one script for the teacher; and one attachment questionnaire for the student. The product was applied in the second level of high school of a public school in the city of Natal/RN. The results indicate that the use of the thermoscope and of the HPS was considered a positive approach and generated moments of investigation, confrontation of ideas, reflection and argumentation on the part of the students, allowing them to perceive that their knowledge can be restricted to a certain extent and that it is necessary to deepen or reorganize the knowledge, restructuring the thinking.