The use of experimentation to understanding everyday phenomena: students ' conceptions about the combustion

Abstract

This paper discusses alternative concepts of students on everyday phenomena, specifically about combustion, by conducting experiments, as well as a possible alternative to the minimisation of these conceptions through mediation based on three teaching moments of Delizoicov & Angotti (1989) and the debates between groups of students with different placements cm in order to answer the questions submitted by the professors/researcher. The research conducted with students of the third year of high school in the university town of Sergipe was qualitative character, since the data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires and audio recordings by consent of the participants. It can be observed with the results that the alternative conceptions of these students were the result of a memorístico education and therefore, without a meaningful learning of key concepts for the understanding of chemistry. However, the use of experiments, mediated by questions that cover the prior knowledge of these conceptions, allowed these students engage with both the phenomenon discussed as in defending their ideas and in the elaboration of a common consensus closer.