História e Filosofia da Ciência e modelos mentais em Teoria Atômica: uma perspectiva de análise através de histórias em quadrinhos

Abstract

In this work, it is seen that Science Teaching presents a process based on approaches which focus on reproductions of textbooks that distort the image of science and the discoveries or inventions known by the scientific community. Through observing the way of teaching Chemistry and the view that students have about atoms, it is discussed about the teaching approach of atomic theories, in which it is understood by current teaching methodologies, as simple models that barely reach the historical and philosophical issues. Based on this idea, in this study, the use of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) is investigated as a teaching tool, which indicates it as an alternative to change the fragmented and erroneous view that many students obtain about atomic theories in schools. This way, the study of mental models is focused, which is a prevailing factor in human perception, because it is about how we see the world around us and how we understand the basic concepts. By using the qualitative research called phenomenology, it was tried to understand the experiences and conceptions that students of elementary education have about the atom, and how this process can be changed by inferring new experiences through History and Philosophy of Science (HPS). Thereby, the representations of sixteen research participants, who were students of the second year of technical high school integrated in computer science, about atoms and science through drawings and languages presented by them through recorded semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, both individually, and the development of comic books carried out in groups. Therefore, in this work it is answered: How to analyze the representations of the Mental Models of basic education students from the History and Philosophy of Science intrinsic to the study of Atomic Theories through phenomenology? Phenomenology helped to capture the consistent mental models in students before and after the development of this analysis. Ultimately, the results obtained were organized into sixteen themes, based on the interpretations made of the concepts and drawings provided by the students, concluding with the discussion about the challenges and achievements achieved in this research by the researcher and the students, focusing on the objectives proposed to this work, which were discussed based on theorists Thomas Kuhn, referring to HFC, and Johnson-Laird, to mental models.