"A gente não é diferente dos outros alunos": reflexões quanto ao ensino de química em conversas com alunos com deficiência visual, ledoras e professora

Abstract

The teaching of chemistry still occurs in a strictly visual way, through representative models such as drawings, computer programs, chemical symbols, and the study of chemical phenomena in the classroom. Therefore, this study aimed to reflect on the teaching of chemistry in conversations with visually impaired students, readers, and a teacher. This research presents a qualitative approach. Regarding the objective, we defined it as descriptive, and with regard to the technical procedure, it was characterized as a field study. The participants were three visually impaired students, three readers, and a teacher from the Federal Institute of Paraíba (IFPB), campus Campina Grande. In order to preserve the identity of the participants and organize the responses, the students, readers, and teacher were identified by pseudonyms, which corresponded to the names of one of the researchers' relatives: José, Antônio, Francisco, Patrícia, Sandra, Sofia, and Lourdes. The construction of the data occurred from a conversation circle with the three students, followed by three readers, and finally with the teacher, in an effort to reflect on the construction of chemical knowledge and learning of the chemistry content. The results obtained were analyzed according to the principles of Bardin's Content Analysis. From these, it was possible to identify through the visually impaired students that all have significant experiences in the classroom through adapted and produced materials by the teacher, with the help of the readers. The readers assert that the students present the same difficulties as any other normally sighted student. For the teacher, the students are dedicated, highly intelligent, and reinforce the importance of the readers while emphasizing the importance of inclusion and adaptations in their classroom. We can conclude that visually impaired students had good experiences in the chemistry discipline due to the adapted and produced materials by the teacher, with the help of the readers, with the latter having a fundamental role in the construction of chemical knowledge for these students. In addition, we conclude that the teacher is sensitive to the issue of inclusion and that there were many pedagogical paths used by this teacher to include students with disabilities during their teaching practice.