Proposição de uma UEPS para o ensino de FMC: uma forma alternativa a desafios enfrentados por professores de física ao trabalhar com o tema em escolas estaduais de Uruguaiana-RS

Abstract

In this study, we propose and discuss the possibility of teaching Modern and Contemporary Physics (MCP) through a Potentially Meaningful Teaching Unit (PMTU), developed with the objective of aiding Physics teachers at state-level high schools in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul State, to overcome some of the difficulties and challenges they face in working with this subject matter in the classroom. This research is qualitative in nature with a focus on content analysis. It is theoretically grounded in the Meaningful Learning framework and in specific frames that regard MCP teaching at the high school level. This study contains three phases: a literature review, comprising journals and Teaching Physics and/or Science events; the elaboration of a research questionnaire and its administration to Physics teachers in the municipality; and the proposal of a PMTU. The objective of the literature review was to bring elements to support the elaboration of the questionnaire, the instrument chosen for collecting data for this research. Once the questionnaire had been administered, it was possible to map the difficulties and challenges brought by the teachers, as well as the themes of interest. Having cross-referenced the results from the questionnaire with those from the literature review, a PMTU proposal was structured for Radioactivity, the theme that presented the highest interest among the participating teachers. This didactic resource brings together elements that carry the potential for aiding teachers in working out this theme in the classroom. It presents a sequence of steps that are interdependent, interactive, and diversified from a methodological vantage point. Moreover, it was elaborated to attend to specific demands of the teachers who participated in this research, especially regarding: a lack of didactic resources for teaching topics in MCP; a deficiency in their initial training; and how to relate these topics to the day-to-day of the students. The value behind this study is anchored in the fact that it was thought out and structured in the local context of the research, which gives it originality and highlights a possible alternative for the teaching of MCP.