A mudança de perfil conceitual acerca dos conceitos da teoria da relatividade durante o Curso de Licenciatura em física da Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná - UTFPR

Abstract

The teaching of Modern Physics has been an object of concern in the formation of Physics Teachers of Basic Education since the publication of the National Curricular Parameters + (PCN+). This research presents a study about the understanding that students of Physics Teaching from the Federal Technological University of Paraná have regarding concepts of the Special and General Theories of Relativity. The base theory used to evaluate this understanding was the Conceptual Profile Change proposed by Mortimer (1996). To achieve that, a questionnaire was applied to ninetynine students and former students of the Physics course. The data analysis was made using Bardin’s Content Analysis (2011). A relation between the student’s answers and the number of specifics subjects that have on its syllabus contents related to the Theory of Relativity they have coursed was stablished and it was evaluated using the Likert scale (VIEIRA, 2009), in which certain weights were attributed to the participant’s answers, generating an Accurate Percentage for each question. After an individual analysis of the questions, it was observed that students present indications of Conceptual Profile Change (evolutionarily) regarding the subjects of interest during the course.