Ferramentas tecnológicas no ensino de física experimental: a implementação do Arduino em Unidades de Ensino Potencialmente Significativas (UEPS)

Abstract

The discipline of physics, despite its complexity and inherent challenges, is an area of study that can be more attractive. The theory of meaningful learning, proposed by David Ausubel, highlights the importance of the connection between the student's prior knowledge and the new knowledge that will be acquired. This theory forms the basis for the practical approach adopted in this research. The research is of a descriptive qualitative nature, which means it prioritizes focusing on the understanding and interpretation of students' experiences and perceptions in using the Potentially Significant Teaching Unit. The objective of this research is to investigate a PSUT on the concepts of modern physics of energy quantization (Planck's Constant) combined with the use of the Arduino microcontroller as a more accessible, tangible, and contextualized instrument for students in higher education. The participants in the research were students from the electrical engineering undergraduate course at the Federal Technological University of Paraná, Ponta Grossa campus. Initially, a survey of the students' prior knowledge was conducted through a semi-structured questionnaire. Then, the PSUT was worked on, which guided all the experimentation, helping in the mediation and understanding of the concepts involved. After the application of the PSUT, a second semi-structured questionnaire was applied, which, along with the first, guided the analysis of the results. Therefore, this study had four stages: the verification of students' prior knowledge; validation analysis of the PSUT by physics teaching specialists; analysis of the responses given by students about the idea of subsumers; and analysis of the questionnaires after the implementation of the PSUT in the classroom. To validate the proposed didactic sequence - PSUT, evaluation questionnaires were applied to a group of 9 specialist teachers. These teachers evaluated the PSUT model through 12 questions, with the majority With the majority of responses indicating excellent ratings, which reinforces the reliability and robustness of the model even before its practical application. During the implementation of the UEPS, it was identified that, although most respondents had some prior understanding of the concepts, they still faced difficulties in using technological tools, such as Arduino, for real-time data collection in the context of physics teaching. However, after the practical application of the UEPS, an advancement in the understanding of the concepts and in handling the Arduino was observed. The results indicate that this process not only enriched the classes, making the content more attractive and relevant for the students, but also demonstrated the effectiveness of applying Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning. Therefore, the research concludes that the proposed UEPS was able to promote a deeper and more contextualized learning of Physics, which is fundamental for the academic formation of higher education students.