A construção análise de redes históricas para o ensino de física: máquinas a vapor

Abstract

This dissertation consists of the proposition and evaluation of an educational product aimed at assisting the development of students' skills related to the understanding of aspects of the Nature of Science. Our historical focus was established in the advent of steam engines in the 18th and 19th centuries. For this purpose, we explored the methodology of constructing and analyzing historical networks. This dissertation presents a methodological path that places the student as the protagonist of the research and network construction process, obtained through research groups, in which the teacher acts as a moderator of the process. The necessity to address aspects of scientific development is foreseen in the regulatory documents of Physics Education in secondary education in Brazil, which direct the teaching towards the understanding of science as a human endeavor, related to socio-historical and cultural development. In this dissertation, we gather arguments that reinforce the importance of exploring aspects of the Nature of Science in secondary education and highlight the historiography of science as a promising resource for this purpose. To form the necessary foundation and assist the teacher in applying this product, the dissertation addresses the concept of social networks, their elements, and potentialities, which, in this case, consist of establishing relations within a complex system involving a historical episode. Furthermore, the dissertation presents a historical text on the advent of steam engines, treating knowledge as a network in order to highlight the relations between relevant human and non-human actors in this historical context, thus exploring various aspects of the Nature of Science. Finally, this dissertation exposes the methodology used, the application of the product, and the obtained results.