Questões objetivas sobre funções das provas de matemática do vestibular da UFRN dos anos de (2001 a 2008): um diagnóstico sobre os erros que os candidatos cometem

La dificultad que los alumnos encuentran en el aprendizaje de matemática viene siendo objeto de investigación por estudiosos en educación matemática, tanto en Brasil como en el exterior. El objetivo de este estudio consiste em investigar las dificuldades en el aprendizado sobre funciones matemáticas y la influencia de las concepciones alternativas a partir de los errores que los candidatos acerca de las cuestiones sobre funciones en la prueba objetiva de matemática del acceso a la universidad de los años de 2001 a 2008. Teniendo como cuestiones de estudio para alcanzar el objetivo propuesto: identificar la relevancia del tema funciones que son contemplados en las pruebas de acceso a la Universidad; asi como cuáles han sido los tipos de funciones más privilegiados y menos privilegiados; analizar si la contextualización de la pregunta y la presencia de elementos no textuales han influenciado en el aumento de tal dificultad; analizar si la representación semiótica agrega mayor exigencia a la pregunta; analizar respecto a la exigencia matemática de la pregunta; analizar lo que se refiere al desempeño de los candidatos para verificar cuál pregunta tuvo mejor desempeño y cuál el peor e identificar los errores más frecuentemente cometidos por los candidatos en esas pruebas. Las reflexiones de los estudiosos como: Radatz (1980), Cury (1994), Socas (1997), Borasi (1997), Franchi e Rincón (2004), Pochulu (2004) presentan las dificultades en el aprendizaje matemático, que aparecen a partir de los errores cometidos por los alumnos, quando estos errores reciben la influencia de las concepciones alternativas. El estudio que se presenta en esta disertación configura un análisis de los errores que los candidatos han cometido en las preguntas objetivas sobre el tema funciones de las pruebas de acceso a la Universidad de los años de 2001 a 2008, a partir de los relatorios de la Comissão Permanente do Vestibular COMPERVE/UFRN. Con la intención de alcanzar los objetivos propuestos para este estudio, fueran sido construidas categorías de análisis. Los resultados encontrados han sido: El tema funciones es el más frecuente entre los demás con (28,1%); el tipo de función priorizada durante esos años ha sido la función logarítmica con (24%); la contextualización de las preguntas exige una mayor comprensión por parte del candidato de lo que las situaciones directas; la caracterización semiótica posee elementos que estructuran esas preguntas que el educando debe saber asociar al texto; la exigencia matemática posibilitó analizar que el procedimiento medio ha sido el más requisitado; el desempeño de los candidatos ha sido en la mayoría bajo (50%); y los principales errores que ellos han cometido han sido de realizar traducciones incorrectas de las expresiones que aparecen en las situaciones-problema; utilizar todos los datos que aparezcan en el problema sin tomar en cuenta si el cálculo realizado responde a la pregunta solicitada; no interpretar coherentemente las informaciones del gráfico; decodificar incorrectamente los valores representados por literales en una recta numérica. Los resultados señalizan la necesidad de una revisión didáctico-metodológicas de la enseñanza de funciones a raíz de las cuales las dificultades en el aprendizaje se han presentado

Uma abordagem histórica para o ensino do princípio da inércia

Placed in the field of Didactic of Science, this paper proposes an approach to the introduction of the History of Science in science education, at high school level. It was designed and implemented a series of activities regarding the history of the Principle of Inertia. The aim of this approach was to give more meaning to scientific education, while opening new avenues for a better understanding of the processes of construction of scientific knowledge. The preparation of the activities involved a study of the historical development of the concept of motion, from the Aristotelian physics through physical movement concepts at medieval period, from Galileo, Gassendi, Descartes, until the first law of Newton. The strategy of teaching was applied to three classes of high school (night period) of a state public school at the city of Natal (RN). The results indicated the difficulty of overcoming alternative conceptions about movement by students. Nevertheless, we consider that the implementation of this strategy of teaching both represented gains for the learning of students, and contributed to the resizing of pedagogical practices of the teacher-researcher

As Ciências Espaciais, o saber e o fazer docente no ensino fundamental

This study aims to include topics related to Space Science in elementary education from an experiment that aims to rescue the science teachers in public schools of São Tomé, RN, a taste for experimentation and exploration of advanced technologies. During this research with teachers found that they knew enough about the subject, but this knowledge was restricted to the events disclosed by the media. Regarding scientific knowledge, that same surface, they had many conceptual difficulties which hindered the approach of these topics in their classes. To overcome this difficulty, a workshop was held where teachers had the opportunity to discuss the historical aspect of Space Science, some physical concepts related to it, and the conduct of experiments with PET bottle rockets that recover from the curiosity typical of how the science. The results were outlined in the form of Planning Didactic built by teachers and using themes related to space science, from there, discussing content already provided in the composition of the schools curriculum. Therefore, this work allowed the teachers a minimum training required for them to not only reproduce, but readjusted and build, from this, their own paths in the classroom at the fundamental level

Despertando responsabilidade social no ensino médio por meio de temáticas associadas à física nuclear

Many discussions about the role of the school are on the agenda, in an increasingly complex society. Sociologists, educators, anthropologists, researchers of different areas seek that role. The objective of this dissertation is to contribute what we can consider the central role for the physics teaching, citizenship training. We have elaborated a didactic proposal to increase the interest of high school students on issues of social relevance and, throughout it, to promote the formation of attitudes of social responsibility, enhancing the formation of a more politically and socially active citizen. For the preparation of the proposal, studies were made on education for citizenship and on attitudes change, using as its main theoretical foundation the researches on the Science, Technology and Society curricular emphasis. The teaching of Nuclear Physics was integrated to our proposal, due to its pedagogical potential for the discussion of social, political and economic subjects related to scientific concepts and associated technologies. The educational proposal we have produced was applied on a high school class of a private school at Natal-RN. It was composed from the controversial issue involving the installation of nuclear power plants in Brazilian northeast. The methodology of role playing, in which students assumed social roles and produced specific subsidies for a public hearing and a later referendum, both simulated. In the analysis of the implementation of the proposal, we highlighted the difficulties but also the possibilities and the relevance of exercising skills such as reasoning, finding information, and arguing about of social problems. The results of the research showed the possibility of meaningful learning on Nuclear Physics contents, through this social, political, economic, scientific and technological contextualization using a controversial and real issue together with mechanisms that trigger for greater popular participation, as public hearing. It has also been identified changes in attitude by some students about issues related to Nuclear Physics. We hope, through this dissertation, to contribute to the formation of future citizens as well as to the initiative of teachers-researchers with pedagogical aims similar to those in the present work

Atividades experimentais no ensino de biologia em escolas públicas do estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil: caracterização geral e concepção de professores

Recent research has revealed that the majority of Biology teachers believe the practice of experimental activities as a didactical means would be the solution for the improvement of the Biology teaching-learning process. There are, however, studies which signal the lack of efficiency in such practice lessons as far as building scientific knowledge is concerned. It is also said that despite the enthusiasm on the teachers‟ part, such classes are rarely taught in high school. Several studies point pedagogical difficulties as well as nonexistence of a minimal infrastructure needed in laboratories as cause of low frequency in experimental activities. The poor teacher performance in terms of planning and development of classes; the large number of students per class; lack of financial stimulus for teachers are other reasons to be taken into account among others, in which can also be included difficulties of epistemological nature. That means an unfavorable eye of the teacher towards experimental activities. Our study aimed to clarify if such scenario is generalized in high schools throughout the state of Rio Grande do Norte Brazil. During our investigation a sample of twenty teaching institutions were used. They were divided in two groups: in the first group, five IFRN- Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte schools. Two of those in Natal, and the other three from the country side. The second group is represented by fifteen state schools belonging to the Natal metropolitan area. The objectives of the research were to label schools concerning laboratory facilities; to identify difficulties pointed by teachers when performing experiment classes, and to become familiar with the conceptions of the teachers in regarding biology experiment classes. To perform such task, a questionnaire was used as instrument of data collecting. It contained multiple choice, essay questions and a semi-structured interview with the assistance of a voice recorder. The data analysis and the in loco observation allowed the conclusion that the federal schools do present better facilities for the practice of experimental activities when compared to state schools. Another aspect pointed is the fact that teachers of federal schools have more time available for planning the experiments; they are also better paid and are given access a career development, which leads to better salaries. All those advantages however, do not show a significantly higher frequency regarding the development of experiments when compared to state school teachers. Both teachers of federal and state schools pointed infra-structure problems such as the availability of reactants, equipments and consumption supplies as main obstacle to the practice of experiments in biology classes. Such fact leads us to conclude that maybe there are other problems not covered by the questionnaire such as poor ability to plan and execute experimental activities. As far as conceptions about experimental activities, it was verified in the majority of the interviewees a inductive-empiric point of view of science possibly inherited during their academic formation and such point of view reflected on the way they plan and execute experiments with students

Construção e aplicação de uma sequência didática para o ensino de trigonometria usando software geogebra

The present study aims to analyze the potentialities and limitations of GeoGebra software on what concerns trigonometry s teaching and learning processes. Taking the present resources of public school from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, the research intends to answer the following question: Could we use the current conditions of public school and the Geogebra software to optimize the trigonometry s learning and teaching processes situation? . To make it a possible to answer the question above, a module of investigative activities was created and applied. The methodological intervention was made among second year High School students from a public school in Natal, RN. The theoretical reference of Mathematics Didactics was taken was a base, adopting the conceptions of Borba and Penteado (2001), Valente (1999) and Zulatto (2002, 2007) about the use of Information Technology (IT) on Mathematics classrooms. In order to create the investigative activities helped us to understand how the students make their constructions and their visual perception through the process of dragging images on the computer screen. Furthermore, the activities done with the GeoGebra software s resources facilitate the resolution of trigonometry situations

Uma investigação histórica sobre os logaritmos com sugestões didáticas para a sala de aula

This study was conducted from a preliminary research to identify the conceptual and didactic approach to the logarithms given in the main textbooks adopted by the Mathematics teachers in state schools in the School of Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte. I carried out an historical investigation of the logarithms in order to reorient the math teacher to improve its educational approach this subject in the classroom. Based on the research approach I adopted a model of the log based on three concepts: the arithmetic, the geometric and algebraic-functional. The main objective of this work is to redirect the teacher for a broad and significant understanding of the content in order to overcome their difficulties in the classroom and thus realize an education that can reach the students learning. The investigative study indicated the possibility of addressing the logarithms in the classroom so transversalizante and interdisciplinary. In this regard, I point to some practical applications of this matter are fundamental in the study of natural phenomena as earthquakes, population growth, among others. These practical applications are connected, approximately, Basic Problematization Units (BPUs) to be used in the classroom. In closing, I offer some activities that helped teachers to understand and clarify the meaningful study of this topic in their teaching practice

Um hipermídia sobre fases da lua para o ensino de astronomia a distância

The interdisciplinary nature of Astronomy makes it a field of great potential to explore various scientific concepts. However, studies show a great lack of understanding of fundamental subjects, including models that explain phenomena that mark everyday life, like the phases of the moon. Particularly in the context of distance education, learning of such models can be favored by the use of technologies of information and communication. Among other possibilities, we highlight the importance of digital materials that motivate and expand the forms of representation available about phenomena and models. It is also important, however, that these materials promote the explicitation of student's conceptions, as well as interaction with the most central aspects of the astronomical model for the phenomenon. In this dissertation we present a hypermedia module aimed at learning about the phases of the moon, drawn from an investigation on the difficulties with the subject during an Astronomy course for teaching training at undergraduate level at UFRN. The tests of three semesters of course were analyzed, taking into account also the alternative conceptions reported in the literature in astronomy education. The product makes use of small texts, questions, images and interactive animations. Emphasizes questions about the illumination of the Moon and other bodies, and their relationship to the sun, the perception from different angles of objects illuminated by a single source, the cause of the alternation between day and night, the identification of Moon's orbit around the Earth and the occurrence of the phases as a result of the position of observing it, and the perception of time involved in the phenomenon. The module incorporated considerations obtained from interviews with students in two poles where its given presential support for students of the course, and subjects from different pedagogical contexts. The final form of the material was used in a real situation of learning, as supplementary material for the final test of the discipline. The material was analyzed by 7 students and 4 tutors, among 56 users, in the period in question. Most students considered that the so called "Lunar Module" made a difference in their learning, the animations were considered the most prominent aspect, the images were indicated as stimulating and enlightening, and the text informative and enjoyable. The analysis of learning of these students, observing their responses to issues raised at the last evaluation, suggested gains in key aspects relating to the understanding of the phases, but also indicates more persistent difficulties. The work leads us to conclude that it is important to seek contributions for the training of science teachers making use of new technologies, with attention to the treatment of computer as a complementary resource. The interviews that preceded the use of the module, and the way student has sought the module if with questions and/or previous conflicts - established great difference in the effective contribution of the material, indicating that it should be used with the mediation of teacher or tutor, or via strategies that cause interactions between students. It is desirable that these interactions are associated with the recovery of memories of the subjects about previous observations and models, as well as the stimulus to new observations of phenomena

O uso da abordagem CTSA para o ensino de energia tendo o desenvolvimento sustentável como eixo temático

In recent decades, humanity has become increasingly concerned with environmental problems. Proofs of this are increasing initiatives in civil society organizations, private institutions and government actions, either local, state or national actions to promote environmental protection. The goal of this research is to contribute to the formation of citizens more aware of their responsibilities to sustainable development issues, simultaneously to their learning of physics in the secondary school. Thus, we have designed a research project that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the adoption of the concept of sustainable development as a central theme in physics classes in high school. From this goal, we designed, implemented and evaluate lesson plans that aim not only to construct and apply the concept of energy, but also to understand their transformations and conservation law, as well as their processes of production, distribution and consume in the context of physical laws in which it is involved. Then, it was deliberately provided to students, during classes, to read, interpret and produce texts, by this way being able to think and start to have a critical view of the world around him, as well as absorb the energy concept and understand his occurrence in phenomena of nature and in technologies. The approach used for this was that constraining science, technology, society and environment - STSE. This teaching methodology has been applied in the IFRN Ipanguaçu campus, for students of two classes of first year of high school integrated course in agroecology and in technical computing. The survey results show the effectiveness of both methods with respect to the viewpoints of students in relation to the guidelines of sustainable development and the learning of physics content proposed. It is hoped with this dissertation to contribute to the formation of future men and women as citizens environmentally friendly, but also as a source of inspiration for teachers who wish to foster in its students such a critical position about civic education, from their classes

Dificuldades de aprendizagem sobre conceitos de genética no ensino fundamental

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Fontes primárias da história do vácuo e da pressão atmosférica na sala de aula: cartas e jornais históricos em articulação com o livro-texto do ensino médio

The use of the History and the Philosophy of Science (HPS) for the teaching of science and scientific subjects has been advocated in recent decades. It has been pointed out that the History of Science could make for a deeper learning of scientific concepts, since it would promote a contact with the problems which that knowledge has set out to solve. Furthermore, historical episodes would serve to put the discussions about the nature of scientific knowledge into context. With a view to explore those potentialities, the literature in the field has sought to identify the challenges and obstacles for the didactic transposition of subjects from the History of Science. Amongst many aspects, the deficiencies in the training of teachers, so that they can work with the insertion of HPS in the classroom have been highlighted. Another aspect that has been mentioned to be a challenge has to do with the didactic transposition of the Primary Sources, that is, of the original texts on the History of Science. The Primary Sources have significant potentialities: making a connection possible between scientists and concepts, showing the difficulties faced during scientific endeavors, perceiving the role of mistakes as obstacles to be surpassed, not as defeat, etc. On the other hand, there has been little exploration of these concepts in an educational context, due to their own peculiarities. The original texts are often hard to understand and their interpretation demands knowledge of the historical and scientific context in which they were written, as well as skills pertaining to the conduction of research in the field of the History of Science. With this scenario in mind, the research towards this Professional MSc degree starts from the challenge of elaborating and discussing proposals which could enable the didactical transposition of the Primary Sources. We have worked specifically with Primary Sources on the History of the Vacuum and of the Atmospheric Pressure, because of the insertion of these subjects in the Brazilian High School curriculum, in connection with the didactical textbooks. "Historic Journals" were made up from clippings of the original historical texts, as was a Didactical Unit, which takes the usual textbooks as a basis and contemplates using the Journals and the entire Primary Sources in High School. At last, we have elaborated and implemented a course designed for the preparation of teachers and for being an opportunity for the discussion of the feasibility of putting these kinds of proposal into practice

Do dizer teórico às transposições didáticas: por um exercício da contrapalavra no ensino de língua escrita no PROJOVEM

This present work is going to show some results developed in the Master Degree research and the Post Graduation project in Language studies (PPgEL) at UFRN, under the orientation of Professor Maria da Penha Casado Alves. This research has questions showed by the Programa Nacional de Inclusão de Jovens PROJOVEM. Concerned to methodology, the research is based on Applied Linguistics and it is qualitative and documental. The corpus of the research are the Manual de Orientações Gerais and the Guias de Estudo. The documents that were used for the research were Guide for general orientation and the Study Guides.The Manual de Orientações Gerais was chosen because is focused on the teacher and the Guias de Estudo was chosen because are focused on the students. The discussions and analysis were based on Bakhtin (1997; 2003), for his studies about the language in a dialogical point of view, Faraco (2001 and 2008) and Suassuna (2006) for their discussions about the Portuguese Language and Geraldi (1997; 2005 and 2006) and Antunes (2003) for their orientation and discussions about the teaching process of the written language. The analysis made in the Reference Topics point that however the program proposes a kind of rupture with the traditional way of teaching, it could not take this change to the Study Guides (Guias de Estudo). The result is a didactic material that reproduces activities based on a conception of a descriptive and prescriptive teaching. What is concerned about the proposals for the textual production, it is shown that it is given in an artificial way, without any expression and with no link to any communicative context and sometimes, with no relation to the topic it was supposed to be related to

Autoria e escrita: uma reflexão acerca do autorar em memórias de leituras de alunos de 9º ano do ensino fundamental

This paper presents results concerning studies conducted during the master's research in the area of Applied Linguistics of the Graduate Program in Language Studies - PPgEL, linked to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. We approached this study the question of authorship, which has gained ground increasingly important in academic research, because the act of authoring, in view of the amount of circulating discourses socially, becomes increasingly questionable. We understand authorship as related to a positioning of the subject than to take responsibility, in the Bakhtinian sense, by its text, it makes their views, ideologies, beliefs and values, from ownership and restructuring of the speech of others. This research is methodologically inserted in a qualitative, interpretive in nature and has a corpus analysis of the ten productions written memoir genre of readings produced by students in 9th grade in elementary school. Research aimed to analyze the students' written productions held in the school environment, to identify these texts marks or evidence of authorship and investigate how the restructuring of ownership and voices of others in the process of authoring. We adopt a concept of language from bakhitinianas concepts and understand the text in a vision Geraldiana. The analyzes in this study showed that in most texts there is the strong presence of voices of others, either implicitly and/or explicit. That is, students, to build their sayings, if embraced the voices of others in various formats, in particular styles, namely, by what Bakhtin names as linear style and pictorial style. Some proved his statement highlighting their positions through direct quotes from authors of books, family, teachers, showing us that their voices are filled with voices of others with whom they approve, deny, analyze, think and reflect. We therefore conclude that students were constituted as subjects of their texts, authors, since they leave marked the voices of others so presentified and restructured voices of others who do not actually sounded like voices of others, but as present voices from a discursive restructuring producer

A aula de português no ensino médio: o ensino que se deseja, o ensino que se faz

Settled within the realm of a problematization towards teaching and learning the Portuguese language, this study aims to investigate the way how the Portuguese Language discipline is dealt with in Secondary School. We propose specifically to analyze the orientations of the official documents concerning the educator practice, examining the way the PCNEM proposal is approached in the didactic book, identifying the treatment given to language questions, analyzing the way the teacher uses the didactic book and verifying the relations between the official approach and the pedagogical practice. The analysis takes into account the several discourses concerning school literacy, considering the various political-educational instances which institutionalize the teaching of the mother tongue - where we locate the teaching that is wanted . In what teachers and students say in their activities and concerning them - the realm of the teaching that is performed - we presuppose that there are signs of the principles - or conceptions - that orientate what they understand by language, teaching and learning. Such evidences are considered within the interrelation of the enunciative places where this literacy is promoted: the public policies concerning education - focusing the language questions - the academic researches about those questions, the educator formation and capacitation and the very school practices in the complexity of their discoursive inter-subjectivity. The principles - or conceptions - are pursued in what is said (or not) about what is done (or not) in the classroom when dealing with the Portuguese Language. The corpus is made up of oral and written texts produced in Portuguese classes in the Secondary School at a public school in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Situated in the realm of Applied Linguistics, the research is conducted in a qualitative and interpretative perspective, following the ethnography of communication procedures and the contributions of the Functional Linguistics. In the observations, language conceptions were discerned, among others, besides beliefs and representations where the theoretical and practical aspects, professional roles, expectations and uncertainties were diluted.

Ambiente de textualização no ensino a distância: o caso do fórum educacional

This research deals with textualization issues present in educational forums in distance learning environment. The research aims to analyze textualization regarding communication practices between tutors and distance learning students. Specifically the research aims to verify if the educational forum is considered pertinent for knowledge construction as well as identify subject´s behavior in e-Proinfo environment. The research also aims to understand the dynamics of the teaching and learning techniques related to the forum´s printed material. This is done in order to acknowledge discourse on behalf of subjects through the presented educational assignments. In order to address the issue, the work dealt with the relations present in distance learning forums, the forms in which the assignments are made, the way social actors interact and how this debate happens in the virtual environment. The research emphasized an educational forum used in a higher education institution at Rio Grande do Norte/Brazil. Thus the research corpus is composed by messages that were posted in the forum in the module called computer material . This module is one of the last in a set of six modules that are part of The Basic Cycle for Media Training promoted by the Center for Distance Learning in a public university at Rio Grande do Norte/Brazil. The research deals with a qualitative type approach in the perspectives of Merriam (1988), Cresswell (1994) and Minayo (1996). In order to achieve this analysis, the research dealt with theoretical landmarks related to distance learning present in (Silva, 2008; Brait, 1993; Sperbe and Wilson, 1986; Marquesi and Elias 2008 as well as Xavier, 2005, amongst others. As for aspects related to media and technological perspectives present in the forum, the research dealt with (Baranov, 1989; Neuner, 1981; Kearsley and Moore, 1996). Textualization was dealt according to (Marcuschi, 2008; Costa Val, 2004) and the conceptions and functions regarding tutors was seen according to (Salgado, 2002). In the conclusion and recommendations it was seen that these discussions present relevant contributions to distance learning and go beyond the practical universe present in electronical interaction. In the final considerations it is pointed out that this research is relevant for areas such as applied linguistics and presents guidelines for those involved in continuous education and aim meaningful knowledge that is coherent with distance learning education