Princípios e aplicações das pinças ópticas: uma proposta didático-pedagógica para o ensino médio

Abstract

The capability of citizens to consciously participate in the world created by modern man and the possibility of changing the reality in which they are inserted is directly dependent on the understanding of this reality. Consequently, the teaching of Physics must be constantly update so not to create an abyss between what students learn in classroom and what they experience in their daily lives. Thus, approaching topics of Modern and Contemporary Physics becomes essential, because it creates a proximity between students and the reality of the contemporary world. In this context, it was developed a didactical-pedagogical proposal that approaches the working principle of optical tweezers, a technology that uses laser to manipulate small objects and gave the Nobel Prize to Arthur Ashkin in 2018. The proposal involves the use of a didactic material, made in a format of a didactical sequence of classes, coherent with David Ausubel’s theory of Meaningful Learning. The purpose of the material is to present the physical phenomena involved in optical trapping using physical concepts learned in high school. Thus, it is presented in two models: the Student’s Material, which contains lines and spaces for annotations; and the Teacher’s Manual, which contains the answers for the questions in the text and suggestions for its application, like videos and websites that can be used. The proposal was applied remotely and synchronously to two student groups of the third grade of high school from two different schools. To verify the students’ learning, two activities were performed: the elaboration of an explanatory text with the possibility of using hand-drawn figures and diagrams, and the construction of a concept map. From a qualitative analysis, signs of a meaningful learning were verified in most students in both activities.