O uso de atividades experimentais no ensino de ciências no nível fundamental

Abstract

This research deals on the use of experiments in science subject in middle school. The choice for this theme was established due to the great importance that investigative practical classes have for the effective development of learning and teaching process. Through them, several contents regarded as difficult to be understood by students would be more comprehensible. This research aims at drawing teachers’ attention to the importance of investigative practical classes, showing which is the real function of experimenting and in which ways it should be conducted, once experimenting is not only to prove theory in practice, but yet, instigate students’ reflection, the investigation of the studied phenomenon, the formulation of hypotheses and even the construction of their own scientific knowledge. However, it is important to highlight that for the experiments to act positively upon learning and teaching process, the teacher has to be the mediator of such knowledge and yet have full mastery of the content to be studied in order to mentor the students. Another relevant aspect of this research is to point out the major difficulties that teachers face when working with experiments. For the development of this study there was an option for the methodological procedure of a field research that was conducted with public school teachers working in different grades from several schools in the town of Ubiratã, Paraná state. The results of this work indicate that teachers perceive the importance of experimental activities for students’ learning. However, this is not a frequent practice in their classes due to several factors, such as limited teaching resources, lack of time, among others. In short this work is a way to educate teachers for the various environments that experimental activities can be worked and also the different materials that can be used in these activities, for example, materials that are present in our day-to-day or low cost. The teacher when working with this type of activity correctly behind numerous benefits for their classes and hence for their students.