Ensino e aprendizagem de eletromagnetismo por meio da compreensão dos fenômenos físicos

Abstract

This paper aims to describe a teaching and learning strategy for Electromagnetism based on the exploration and understanding of physical phenomena, adequate to the construction of knowledge of concepts. The theoretical framework is the genetic epistemology of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and the strategy is based on the use of an automation system that reproduces the functioning of an intelligent traffic light, an electronic speed bump and a parking gate. This apparatus, which is controlled by a low-cost microcontroller, uses a coil carried by an electric current as a sensor. It is precisely the functioning of this sensor that establishes the student's contact with a manifestation of an electromagnetism phenomenon. The proposal is an investigative experimental didactic sequence by remote means using this technological apparatus of low-cost microcontrollers. The participants, 25 students from two Physics degree classes at a public university in Manaus, as a team, have planned and verified the functioning of the systems. Two instruments were used to assess the strategy, and consequently the participants' learning. The first was a conceptual test with 32 questions, applied before and after the activities, and the second was a content analysis with counting the frequency of categories and rubrics that denote the quality, in relation to the adequacy to the studied concepts, of the written texts and of the oral production of the participants during the application of the work. For the first instrument, there was an increase of 10.7% of correct answers in the last application in relation to the first one, which indicates low improvement and that the strategy had low impact, that is, little evolution in knowledge about the concepts. For the second instrument, the rubric named “adequate” increased significantly as activities progressed. This means that the texts were better suited to the concepts after each activity in the teaching sequence. As the two results are not convergent, the understanding is that the applied strategy needs improvement.