Atividades experimentais no ensino de química: um estudo das práticas epistêmicas e possibilidades discursivas a partir de livros didáticos

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the presence of discursive interactions and epistemic practices in the experimental activities of Chemistry Textbooks (TBs), approved in the 2018 National Book and Teaching Material Program, and Natural Sciences TBs and their Technologies, approved in the 2021 National Book and Teaching Material Program. To achieve this study objective, we counted the number of experimental activities present in each chapter of the TBs collections. After this count, we identified that the electrochemical theme presents the largest number of activities in most of the collections analyzed. Therefore, we selected for analysis the chapters that deal with this topic from two TBs, one approved in the National Book and Teaching Material Program of 2018 and the other approved in the National Book and Teaching Material Program of 2021. The decision to select the chapters with the largest number of experimental activities is justified because we believe that these chapters are representative and can provide an in-depth analysis of the activities on this topic. Furthermore, the two collections selected for analysis are written by authors who participated in both the 2018 National Book and Teaching Material Program and 2021 selection, contributing to understanding whether such activities were modified in the two notices. To analyze the experimental activities, we used Discursive Textual Analysis as a methodology. From the analysis we identified the following epistemic practices: Constructing data, Problematizing, Elaborating hypotheses, Concluding, Considering different representations to explain data, Describing, Classifying, Using representational language, Explaining and Evaluating the consistency of the data. These practices were detected in the introductory texts, experimental procedures and in the questions present at the end of the activities, being mobilized together in the same orientation/question or individually. There are no significant differences in the epistemic practices addressed in the TBs approved in the National Book and Teaching Material Program of 2018 and in the TBs approved in the National Book and Teaching Material Program of 2021. In the analysis of the experiments, we identified that the experimental activities present in the collection approved in the National Book and Teaching Material Program of 2018 allow the teacher to adopt a more Interactive stance and Dialogic with students, as they present a greater number of guidelines/questions that require explanation, description of a phenomenon or the raising of hypotheses. Now, the experimental activities present in the collection approved in the National Book and Teaching Material Program 2021 present a significant number of guidelines/questions that involve classification or the use of representational language, which can lead the teacher to adopt an Authority and Noninteractive approach, as they are questions that present scientific knowledge as the only explanation. We believe that this work contributes to research that analyzes epistemic practices and discursive interactions. Furthermore, it helps current and future Basic Education teachers understand how these concepts can be mobilized in the classroom using Textbooks, a tool widely used by teachers.