Ciência e arte na sala de aula: mediações possíveis entre arte urbana, Joseph Wright e o ensino de óptica geométrica

Abstract

A summary of the stages of a qualitative research on Education, developed at UTFPR, Brazil, is presented. The purpose of this work is to rethink Education on some topics of Optics, on the basis of the relationship between Science and Art, which are understood here as inseparable human expressions and representations of the world. Based on this relationship, an alternative didactic unit was developed, aiming the transposition of concepts on Geometrical Optics in high school. The intervention was based on the dialogical and problem-posing approach due to Paulo Freire, and it was applied to six classes at three State high schools in Curitiba. The generative theme was Street Art, ubiquitous in the universe of students. The generated discussion involved the concept of Science and questioning was made using the painting “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump”, by Joseph Wright of Derby (1766). The research strategy was participant observation, and data were processed by constant comparative method. The data were obtained from the cooperative style and the general category set for analysis was that of “Perspectives taken by subject”, since this is consonant with the Freirian conception for education centered on the involved subjects and their experiences. The research made it possible to conclude that the possibilities are promising to increase the teaching of Physics in an approach that aims to reflect on the role of science in building collective and historic knowledge, enriched by their relationships with art; both in pedagogical and academic research.