O que se entende por energia e as contribuições de uma Ueps para alunos do 8º ano

Abstract

The objective of this study is to seek to understand what students understand about the Energy curricular content, especially its main aspects, such as the scientific concepts of energy and energy as a quantity, that is, the numerical value of energy in joules involved in various everyday processes. To this end, we started from Moreira's assumptions for the production of a Potentially Significant Teaching Unit (UEPS), in which content related to the theme of Energy was worked on with students in the 8th year of the Elementary School Science subject Final Years. The research was carried out mainly through data collection via questionnaires and work with mental maps, with the help of notes in the researcher's diary and unstructured interviews. The results obtained demonstrated that students have little understanding of the proposed topic, having only superficial knowledge, that involved in everyday life, presenting difficulties in understanding energy as an issue that involves numerical quantities. In order to remedy this situation, work with UEPS was proposed, a pedagogical tool that provided an improvement in student learning, as it managed to relate students' previous knowledge with new knowledge (didactic content) allowing the construction of new knowledge, contributing so that learning would become meaningful for students.