A importância da experimentação no ensino de química e os desafios presentes durante o ensino remoto emergencial

Abstract

The health crisis resulting from the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has had significant consequences in numerous sectors of society, including the educational field. These impacts reflected at all levels of basic education, especially in secondary educatio n, mainly affecting the learning of disciplines that are part of the group of exact sciences, such as chemistry. By carrying the stereotype of an abstract science, the teaching of chemistry requires the support of experimentation in the understanding of many contents. However, due to the pandemic and the implementation of the ERE, practical activities became unfeasible and digital tools, hitherto little used, gained notoriety. In this sense, this work aimed to analyze how the ERE affected experimental chemistry classes during high school in a public school in the city of João Pessoa-PB. The research has a qualiquantitative approach and the data collection instrument was a semi-structured questionnaire, applied with the students of the 2nd and 3rd year of high school. With regard to the analysis of the results, both classes agree that they were harmed by the transition from face-to-face to remote teaching, resulting in significant difficulties in learning. In the students' conception, experimentation is configured as a fundamental resource for the effective understanding of the subjects addressed in class and, given this absence, the practices were accompanied, for the most part, by videos selected from YouTube. However, despite the existence and benefits of simulators, such as virtual laboratories, this method was not used during the ERE in any of the classes, even with a significant portion of students having access to the internet, computer and/or cell phone. In this context, this research enabled a reflection on the importance of experimentation and its challenges during the pandemic, in addition to the need for investments in teacher training, regarding the use of Digital Information and Communication Technologies (TDIC).