Aspectos epistemológicos e historiográficos da derrubada da teoria do flogístico : o uso da metodologia de estudos de caso históricos na formação inicial de professores de química

Abstract

In this thesis, we shall investigate how adopting a contextual approach – the detailed study of historical episodes – in initial Chemistry teachers training contributes to build a "teacher epistemology". For that purpose we used the overthrow of the “Phlogiston Theory”, an episode which includes the disputed “discovery” of oxygen and sparked the "Chemical Revolution", to deal with epistemological and historiographical aspects such as multiple perspectives about the development of scientific knowledge and possible interpretations of the historical account, in order to provide future teachers with the necessary tools for a critical evaluation of their conceptions and pedagogical practices (principle of reflective action). Before the intervention process, we carryied a bibliographical survey out in four journals on Chemistry Teaching (Química Nova, Química Nova na Escola, Revista Educación Química e Revista Virtual de Química) to identify trends in approach between that field and the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), from which we have found a lack of practical proposals for inclusion of this historical-philosophical dimension into curricula of Chemistry at different levels of education. After the survey, we have put in place a proposal of intervention divided into three stages: preparatory classes, with a number of readings and debates about epistemology and historiography of Science and their importance for initial teachers training; the study on the overthrow of the Phlogiston Theory episode, distinguishing the aspects we had studied in the previous step; and seminars performed by the undergraduates following the model of the historical case study, also using elements of HPS. All activities were carried out in the chair of "History of Chemistry", offered by the Preservice Chemistry Teachers Education Course, in Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Serra Talhada campus. Data collection was done through the application of two questionnaires as pre and post-test at the beginning and at the end of the course; by conducting a semi-structured interview with 02 (two) out of the 14 (fourteen) undergraduates; from works elaborated and presented by the students; and from the notes taken by the researcher (and reviewed by comparison with video recordings). Because of the time spent and the engagement, research is classified as ethnographic. The data set, most of them written records, was analyzed according to the Textual Discourse Analysis (TDA), by Moraes and Galiazzi (2011). Based on the analysis of the results, we could conclude that adopting contextual approaches, such as the study of episodes of history of science in undergraduate teacher training, can give meaning to the teachers epistemology wich future teachers need to develop still in undergraduate studies and implement in the practice of teaching, as pointed out by Becker (2005) and Pais (2008), and since the epistemological and historiographical aspects are properly articulated. Practical proposals for inclusion of HPS in Science Teaching, like this one presented here, not often has appeared in literature, despite their potential for achieving the official curriculum policies established here in Brazil, an argument that, by itself, justify the relevance of this research.