A importância da simulação computacional como material potencialmente significativo para o ensino da Física

Abstract

This work presents a didactic proposal on the use of computer simulations in the Teaching of Physics focusing on the development of a more meaningful learning, having as target the PIBID formation of teachers and students in 9th grade of elementary school at Military Police School of Pernambuco. This dissertation presented applied computer simulation activities with the educational software Interactive Physics. The relevant educational theory applied in this work is the theory of David Ausubel Meaningful Learning, because it is a theory that takes into account the learner's cognitive structure related to their prior knowledge. The Educational Product developed in this work and which accompanies this dissertation was developed in order to make it a material potentially significant and consists of an educational booklet often scripts of computational experiments that were held with the Interactive Physics software on the mechanics content, with the aim of facilitating teaching and learning in physics. Didactic workshops were conducted with two different student groups, the first group was formed with students of Physics Degree at Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), who are part of the Institutional Program of Teaching Initiation (PIBID) in UFRPE. The other group of students consists of students of Basic Education at Military Police School of Pernambuco. Both groups of students presented common motivations and different interests during the implementation of the workshops. A preliminary evaluation of the students’ knowledge was accomplished by applying a questionnaire before achieving the simulation. A practical activity with the use of the educational software was carried out on the study of falling bodies with application of computer simulation. Finally, a questionnaire was applied after the computer simulations for investigating and verifying the learning result. In this work we tried to show the motivation of each public according to the activities which were carried out with the simulation and its results. The work is still useful to show the importance of using computational and information technology tools, increasingly present in schools and classrooms in the state of Pernambuco.