‘PET-FÍSICA GOES TO SCHOOL’ – A NEW METHODOLOGY TO INCREASE INTEREST IN THE STUDY OF SCIENCE AMONG BASIC EDUCATION STUDENTS

Abstract

During the years 2011 and 2013, the Physics Education Tutorial Program (PET-Física) implemented the project “PET-Física Goes to School” at 11 public schools in the city of Juiz de Fora, MG. The main aim of the project was to increase interest in scientific knowledge among basic education students, by means of an attractive approach using presentations related to the Natural Sciences and Physics. The strategy was to perform the presentations of these themes using easily accessed technology, showing their relations to day-to-day life and promoting interaction of the students by means of didactic displays that aided explanation of the subjects presented. It was anticipated that implementation of the project would improve the quality of the teaching-learning process, encouraging the teachers to present course contents to their students in more dynamic and attractive ways. This paper presents qualitative and quantitative data for the pedagogical activities undertaken during the project, together with considerations about the effect of the activities on the school communities and the members of the research group who participated in the work. At each school visited, the group members presented talks about themes concerning aspects of the Natural Sciences and/or Physics to the teachers and students. The audience included students from the 5 th year of primary education up to those in the last year of high school. After each talk, under the supervision of the research group members, the students were invited to interact with the didactic displays. The data collected suggested that the more dynamic and interactive approach sharpened the curiosity and interest of the students, and stimulated the teachers to prepare their classes using approaches that were more attractive to the students.