Análise e proposta de temas ambientais para o ensino de química no nível médio

Abstract

This research aimed at developing an educational resource for Chemistry teaching, including proposals for the teaching of environmental issues for the first year of high school. The choice of the specific environmental issues occurred after analysis of the three textbooks most used among 30 public schools in Curitiba and its metropolitan region. The environmental issues were analyzed and classified under the following categories: themes connected to the curriculum; topics not connected to the program content and themes that have connection with other disciplines. From this analysis, data was organized in four tables which summarize the environmental themes presented in the first volume of each author’s book, and relate them to the first year of high school curriculum, to the main issues (water, energy, air, waste and toxic materials, and lithosphere) associated with the presented topics and; in addition, we propose interdisciplinary didactic suggestions based on the topics presented. The choice of environmental themes used in this educational didactic resource was based on two aspects: environmental issues of great importance for humanity and/or themes that appeared less frequently in the textbooks which were analyzed. The selected topics addressed in the educational didactic resource are: drinking water treatment, radioactive contamination of soil, and energy sources. The suggested educational resource is based in the pillars of contextualization, generating themes and interdisciplinarity, in a proposal that encourages the students to seek for knowledge based on research and debate. The educational resource was distributed in schools that took part in this research, accompanied by a questionnaire to be answered by the first year of high school chemistry professor. This questionnaire aimed at verifying: the importance of applying environmental issues in teacher’s opinion, and how often teachers use these themes in their classes; the teacher's opinion in relation to environmental issues discussed in textbooks; and teacher’s opinion regarding both the educational resource developed in this work and its connection to the curriculum of high-school first year. We also sought to assess whether the developed themes are suitable for first-year students and if the interdisciplinary approach proposed was suitable for application in the classroom. After analyzing the replies to the questionnaire, it can be inferred that teachers agree with the importance of an environmental approach in chemistry class, yet they do not often follow this approach. With respect to the adequacy of the environmental topics contained in the textbooks with the syllabus of the course, teachers have mixed opinions. Nearly 90% of teachers responded positively to the implementation of the proposed educational resource, declaring that is consistent and connected to the curriculum of the first year of high school, and that it allows a broad interdisciplinary approach.