Concepções espontâneas sobre o conceito de movimento entre estudantes de física (mecânica) da UFFS - Campus Laranjeiras do Sul

Abstract

The teaching of Physics in basic education has been facing serious problems. A teaching based on the mechanical repetition of the content, in which the students end up not reaching a satisfactory result in relation to the approval and the learning of the contents. Urgently, this style of teaching needs to be rethought. According to Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning, for this to occur, it is necessary to start from the already existing knowledge in the student's mind (cognitive structure). At the Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul (UFFS), Campus Laranjeiras do Sul, one of the problems is the high repetition rate in the physics classes. This problem present at the University is the result of the previous years of a lagged teaching. In order to better understand this situation, conceptual tests were applied whose objective was to identify the spontaneous concepts of the movement, in Mechanics, of these students. The conceptual tests were composed of objective questions that describe everyday situations in which the student is expected to choose the alternative that represents what he understands will happen in those conditions. The tests should be applied in two moments: pre and post-test. The pre-test was applied before the classes on the content to be taught. After these classes, the post-test was applied, of the same nature and purpose, then we can evaluate whether or not there was a change from the spontaneous concepts to a scientific concept of the movement phenomenon (Newtonian conception). The analysis of the tests can contribute to a better planning of the classes, since starting from previous concepts of the students one can opt for more contextualized approaches of the contents. It will also be possible to use the methodology of this study to verify if the teaching methods and approaches used have contributed to a more meaningful learning.