A INVESTIGAÇÃO COMO RECURSO DIDÁTICO NO ENSINO DE QUÍMICA: UM ESTUDO COM ALUNOS DO 3º ANO DO ENSINO MÉDIO

Abstract

The chemistry teaching should not only be based on the instructions transmitted by the teacher, but also directed towards the construction of knowledge through the established relationships between student and teacher aiming to improve new and cognitive abilities. Therefore, research activities should be used as a guidance to help students to research social, economic, environmental and technological problems, developing the capacity to understand concepts related to cultural values, as well as troubleshooting. Based on that, the objective of this work was to evaluate the research as didactic resource in the teaching of chemistry in a class of the 3rd year of High School. The present study is characterized as an explanatory research carried out in the form of an action-research with a focus on investigation. The qualitative-quantitative approach was used. This research was developed in a public school in the city of Areia - PB with a target audience composed of 18 students from the 3rd year of high school. The instruments used for data collection were two questionnaires and observation during the development of the intervention. The teaching proposal was executed during 2 lessons of 45 minutes each being divided into the following moments: 1st moment: presentation of the problem situation and survey of previous knowledge of the students; 2nd moment: an expository and dialogic class on the theme of the proposal and request to the students to investigate on the determination of the alcohol content in a sample of commercial gasoline; 3rd moment: discussion of the suggestions and presentation by the students regarding the methodology to determine the alcohol content in a sample of commercial gasoline; 4th moment: application of a questionnaire aiming to evaluate the perception of the students on the applied resource. The results obtained indicate that the use of research as didactic resource in the teaching of chemistry proved to be efficient, probably due to the use of a real problem present in the daily life of the students and to their resolution, where these students participated actively from the planning, analysis, discussion and research until reach the solution. Still based on the results, it can be affirmed that the students were satisfied with the methodology used, and that this activity was able to make the chemistry class more interesting, to help the teaching and learning process, increasing the interest of the students on the given theme and facilitate the association of it with their daily lives. Thus, it is noticed that in the teaching by investigation the student acquires autonomy in the process of problem solving. This fact contributes to the construction of the knowledge and development of the cognitive abilities necessary for the formation of critical individuals with attitude and demanded by a society in constant transformation.