A problematização das atividades experimentais na educação superior em química: uma pesquisa com produções textuais docentes

Through the analysis of articles with proposals for experimental activities and with current pedagogical, epistemological and environmental discussion on experimentation by Chemistry professors, this paper investigates ways of highlighting relevant methodological characteristics that can be incorporated in experiments. Based on analysis of the suggestions for experiments it appears that of particular importance are: a concern for students' physical welfare and for the effects of residues; the need to confront an impoverished infrastructure that hinders experimentation; and the valorisation of clarifying student knowledge. It argues in favour of the need to set out the problems of experimentation in educators' professional development.

Vinte anos de química verde: conquistas e desafios

The year 2011 has been chosen as the International Year of Chemistry and it will focus on the importance of sustainability in the field of chemistry. The program "Alternative Synthetic Routes for the Prevention of Pollution", implemented 20 years ago in the USA marked the official start of Green Chemistry. Currently, many lines of research in chemistry observe and comply with the concepts of green chemistry contributing significantly to the advancement of science. Hence, the objective of this paper is to present an overview of published papers on Green Chemistry in national and international journals from the "CAPES Portal Database", from 1997 to May 2010.

O instituto de coimbra e a análise química de águas minerais em portugal na segunda metade do Século XIX

O Instituto, journal published by the Institute of Coimbra (IC), an academic society founded in this city in 1852, contains many articles on hydrology and chemical analysis of water for human consumption, written by well-known Portuguese chemists and physicians. Based on these papers, we analyse the evolution of hydrology in Portugal throughout the second half of the 19th century, with emphasis on the chemical studies of mineral waters by the physicians Augusto da Costa Simões, Francisco Alves and José Epifânio Marques, and by the chemists Joaquim dos Santos e Silva, António Ferreira da Silva and Charles Lepierre, all of them members of the IC.

Efeito da temperatura do ar de secagem sobre o teor e a composição química do óleo essencial de Pectis brevipedunculata

Leaves and flower heads of P. brevipedunculata were submitted to four drying-air temperatures (room temperature, 40, 50 and 60 ºC). Room temperature (approximately 30 ºC) and higher temperature drying (50 and 60 ºC) had a deleterious effect on the essential oil content. The recommended drying-air temperature for the species is 40 ºC for it results in the same amount of essential oil observed in fresh cut plants. Overall, 13 components accounting for more than 92% of the total composition were identified. Citral was the major component, followed by α-pinene and limonene. The essential oil showed high toxicity against Artemia salina larvae.

Aprendizagem baseada em problemas: uma experiência no ensino de química toxicológica

This article describes a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) experience that taught organophosphorus pesticides chemistry, its human health effects and acetylcholinesterase assay to secondary students. The teaching process was based on a real intoxication case and ended with students' activities report presentation. The apparent lack of teacher reference and inexistence of a curriculum based on a strict textbook in which PBL is based on leads inexperienced students to insecurity and the idea that teachers are not doing there jobs. One way to minimize this situation is to use real cases in other to interest students as stakeholders of central problem solution.

Atividade discursiva na formação de professores de química: a construção do diálogo coletivo

This research was conducted in a research network in teaching science/chemistry, as an alternative for initial and continuing teacher formation. The network is composed by teachers in initial formation, teacher trainers and teachers of basic education of the various areas of science. Assuming the socio-historical perspective, the discourse coming from the social interaction between the collective of teachers, was the object of study. We present an analysis of the interactions of the speech and reflections about the appropriation of scientific/chemical as a social practice mediated by language supplement our results.

Importância da logística da via de síntese em Química Verde

The role of the logistics in the design of synthetic pathways aimed at greenish is discussed. The influence on costs (of reagents, solvents and total), as well as on atomic productivity green metrics (atomic economy and E factor), of the position along the pathway of a step with low yield, or involving high dilution of the reagents or expensive reagents, has been evaluated by calculations on a linear pathway model. The results show the economic importance of Green Chemistry and provide useful information for pathway design or improvement.

Tratamento de resíduos de corante por eletrofloculação: um experimento para cursos de graduação em química

This paper describes the use of a simple experiment of electroflocculation for classroom in Chemistry. Parameters such as electrode material, current density and temperature direct influence the process efficiency. Due to the process low cost and efficient color removal, the methodology proposed has shown good potential for use in wastewater treatment. In addition, the proposed experiment allows discussion about environmental electrochemistry, introduction to concepts of water contamination by industry and university, and also about different alternatives in wastewater treatment used nowadays. Finally, the very easy operation make possible to easy adapt this experiment for high school and elementary school.

Concepções sobre currículo de formadores de professores: o curso de licenciatura em Química do Instituto de Química da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

In this paper, we discussed the conceptions of curriculum of teachers' trainers from de course of Chemistry from de Chemistry Institute and from the Education School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. We understand that the curriculum results from a social construction, so, we intent to comprehend how happen the constitution of the course's curriculum, based on documents and interviews with the subjects of the research. The study showed that there were competitions for status, resources and territories between the Chemistry Institute and the Education School when the course was created, as well as there were internal competitions in the creation of the disciplines depending on the department of origin of the teachers.

Determinação da constante de dissociação (Ka) do captopril e da nimesulida: experimentos de química analítica para o curso de farmácia

This paper presents the determination of the dissociation constant (Ka) of captopril and nimesulide as contextualized experiments to teach chemical concepts to students of Pharmacy. Captopril is an antihypertensive drug, which presents high water-solubility and weak acid properties. The pKa of carboxylic acid group of captopril is 3.7. Nimesulide is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug sparingly soluble in water. It is weakly acidic (pKa ≈ 6.5) because of its methanesulfonamide functional group. The pKa of captopril was determined by potentiometric titration with NaOH 2.0 x 10-2 moL L ¹. The pKa of nimesulide was determined by using spectrophotometry and photometric titration. The experimental values of pKa of both drugs are in very good agreement with those from literature

A formação dos docentes de química: uma perspectiva multivariada aplicada à rede pública de ensino médio de Goiás

This paper presents a multivariate statistical analysis as a valuable tool for educational management applied to public high school chemistry teacher formation. From 2003 to 2007, a decrease of 10% in the number of public high schools was seen, as well as a reduction of 7% in the number of teachers. Contrarily, there was an increase in the number of university graduate teachers. Principal Component Analyses reveal that in 2003, most chemistry teachers were not university graduates. In 2007, eight Regional Offices of Education reported teachers holding academic degrees, qualifying them as chemistry teacher in the school system

Actitudes hacia la química de estudiantes de diferentes carreras universitarias en Colombia

This work reports a study on the attitudes of Colombian students towards Chemistry in different undergraduate programs. The research was performed on 769 students belonging to several Chemistry courses, by applying an adaptation of Salta and Tzougraki's test and using Likert's scale. The results revealed that Chemistry is being considered as difficult and little useful, but very interesting. Thus, the difficulty to learn Chemistry may be associated with its language and abstract conceptual nature. In addition, more attention should be given to the class contents and methodologies provided to the students, in order to engage them with those interest aspects and meaningful topics of each program