A PMTU proposal for teaching density and pressure in high school

Abstract

This paper presents some results obtained from the development and application of an educational product under the Professional Graduate Program in Physics Teaching – PPGPF, the National Professional Master in Physics Teaching - MNPEF, Federal University of Sergipe – UFS. The product, which is a potentially meaningful teaching unit (PMTU), also called didactic sequence, has as its guiding axis the teaching of the concepts of density and pressure, seeking to be a teaching material accessible to the teacher, which values the innovative aspect of the teaching and learning process in contemporary times, and that has meaning for the learner. The research, qualitative in nature, is a case study of the development and application of PMTU in a class of 28 students in the first year of high school in a public high school, located in the city of Lagarto, in the state of Sergipe. From the analysis of the results, we can conclude that the PMTU provided students with a predisposition to learn and seek knowledge in an active way, because it was noticed in them a significant conceptual evolution about the concepts of density and pressure. Still, we evidenced in the application of this educational product students' difficulties in questions that required mathematical knowledge. We note that there is no such thing as a fully successful didactic sequence for teaching, but there are possibilities for materials that have the potential to be meaningful, aiming to promote teaching processes that lead to meaningful.