Percepções de professores de química do nível médio acerca do ensino por resolução de problemas por meio da divulgação científica de pesquisas desenvolvidas nesta direção

Abstract

This study reports a research developed along with high school chemistry teachers from public schools from Recife-PE, which had as objective to analyze their perception about the approach of teaching and learning by problem solving through the scientific dissemination of works done at this segment. The methodological procedure was done in four stages: the first one refers to the construction of a website on problem solving in chemistry to systematize the research developed in this area to promote scientific dissemination; the second one consists on the verification of the teachers’ initial ideas about the terms problem and exercise and their knowledge on problem solving and the use of this approach in the classroom; the third stage corresponds to the identification of the impressions of the teachers with respect to the theoretical and methodological aspects, difficulties and advantages of problem solving based on scientific dissemination researches developed at this direction systemized on a website, as well as the opinion of the teachers about the construction of a website regarding problem solving in Chemistry; and the last stage consists on the analysis of the data obtained on the previous stages. For the collection of data, a semi-structured interview was held, mediated by two questionnaires, one at the beginning and one at the end, containing discursive and multiple-choice questions. Twelve teachers participated in this research, with two of them disregarded in the analysis since they did not show willingness to contribute to study. Therefore, a total of twenty questionnaires were analyzed in the light of Content Analysis proposed by Bardin. The results of the analysis revealed that for the majority of teachers interviewed, problem solving is an innovative and still recent didactic strategy in the teaching of Chemistry. The subjects presented a simplistic view about the concept of a problem and confusion about its meaning, having an inconsistent perception regarding the distinction between the terms problem and exercise. In contrast, the perception expressed by most teachers about exercise corroborates with the ideas of the authors in the area of problem solving. The subjects could raise not only theoretical aspects of this didactic strategy but also some methodological aspects that are inherent this approach. The subjects also highlighted the lack of time as a difficulty to implement problem solving in the classroom. A good number of teachers presented a wider perception about the advantages of this strategy, not limited to contextualization and its motivational potentiality. In general, the teacher’s opinions about the website are quite relevant, pointing out some utilities for it. From the promotion of the scientific divulgation realized in this study, we were able to give the teachers the contact with a new approach of teaching. However, considering the obtained results, we consider it necessary to carry out continuous training activities focused on the problem-solving approach for the teaching of Chemistry, in order to enable these and other teachers to construct the theoretical and methodological knowledge on this didactic strategy.