O papel esquecido da radioatividade no ensino da estrutura atômica em escolas da rede estadual de ensino no Rio de Janeiro: Elaboração e aplicação de uma Sequência Didática

Abstract

The present dissertation made a critical analysis of the approach given to the theme of radioactivity in the study of atomic structure, researched changes in the chemistry curriculum of state schools in Rio de Janeiro in the last two decades and proposes a didactic sequence as a possibility for teaching radioactivity. The bibliographic review was carried out in the Google Scholar and SciELO databases using the keywords Radioactivity, Chemistry Teaching and Atomic Structure. Work published between 2000 and 2020 in Portuguese was prioritized. In the analysis of the curricula implemented by the State Department of Education of Rio de Janeiro, the curricula from 2000 to 2012 were considered, taking into account the changes made in this period to adapt to external evaluation systems. Despite attempts to improve the high school curriculum, including the chemistry curriculum, I have not been able to observe any significant improvement. I identified, in this bibliographic review, that there is indeed an effort by the chemistry teaching community to bring radioactivity closer to the study of the evolution of atomic models, but we still consider such initiatives timid. I also verified the search for alternatives in different states of the federation for the teaching of radioactivity, without, however, being able to conclude that there is an improvement in the acceptance/understanding of radioactivity with a positive impact on society. I developed and applied a didactic sequence (SD) based on the assumptions of the Nature of Science (NdC) and divided into three moments, namely, a form, the reading of a scientific article and a video, which associated with two conversation circles showed how it is possible to teach radioactivity concomitantly with the study of atomic structure and in this way the student can have an understanding of the social context and the historical moment in which the studied “scientific discovery” took place.