Modelo de ensino para mudancas conceituais: desenvolvendo o conceito de centro de gravidade

Abstract

The objective of this work is to propose, organize and discuss a didactic sequence composed of a set of activities, at increasing levels of complexity, allowing the progressive development of the concept of the Center of Gravity, based on the cognitive model of Piaget and Garcia for conceptual changes. For this, the successive stages of the construction of causal knowledge, composed by the dialectical triads, namely, the intra, inter and trans-object stages were considered. This model of teaching allowed us to lead the students' possibilities of understanding at higher levels than we imagined, materialized in moments of instabilities, fluctuations and the subsequent encounter of balancing ideas. In this process of ruptures and transformations, the student is the active subject capable of amplifying, transforming and constructing the concept of Center of Gravity. The didactic sequence was applied in two classes of the second year of high school in a private school in a city in the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro. During the application, the evolution of the concept of break-even point was examined in detail as an indicator capable of pointing out the students' understanding forms throughout the activities. The actions developed also allowed the reflection on the importance of the teacher intervention in the construction and application of the didactic sequence, as a teaching instrument capable of promoting learning. The results reveal that the uncertainty shared among students, and between them and the teacher, is a fundamental element in the process of balancing and unbalancing ideas, allowing the occurrence of conceptual change and the appropriation of the object of knowledge by the student in a more meaningful way, contributing to face the challenges of physics teaching in contemporary society.