Confecção de lentes esféricas por intermédio de uma cortadora CNC laser: uma aplicação de metodologia ativa para o estudo da óptica geométrica no Ensino Médio

Abstract

This research arose from the need we felt, over more than two decades of acting in the front line of education, teaching Physics classes to students of different age groups, of different cognitive and social levels, to have a more experimental character in the realization of these classes. Hence, the objective of this educational product is to offer a tool to teachers in the area of Physics, so that they can take advantage of the technological advances that are increasingly inserted within the educational community. This educational product brings a didactic sequence that, anchored in the thoughts of David Ausubel, values the previous knowledge that students have and provides the teacher with elements that can favor the advancement of this knowledge, thus consolidating a more significant learning. In this didactic sequence, it is up to the students to elaborate and make spherical lenses through a computer program called RD WORKS, a CNC laser cutter and an acrylic plate. With the lenses made, experiments, measurements and calculations of focal length and refractive index of the lens material are performed. Based on responses by students to pre and post-tests, we observed that there has been significant progress in terms of knowledge of spherical lenses, in addition to noting that there has been greater interest in classes and a sharpening of the critical and investigative sense, which we believe is of paramount importance for the study of science.