Redes sociais e conhecimento químico: aprendizagem e posicionamento dos sujeitos

Abstract

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have show a great potential to be used in classrooms as interaction tools. The social networks intensify the interactions and allow the creation of a virtual space in which we are writers and readers at the same time. The purpose of this work was to prepare a product required to the obtainment of a professional master's degree. This product is a chapter in a book that focus on the usage of ICT in Chemistry classes. There are various suggestions on the application of the Facebook in class. We see the Facebook as an important tool to share chemical knowledge and we considered that it could contribute so this knowledge would make more sense for the students. We created a closed group on Facebook in which the members, students and teachers, could share activities, multimedia content (videos, simulations and animations) and other kinds of materials related to Chemistry. A total of 171 students of the first grade of a federal vocational school participated on the group. We counted and categorized 242 posts, with highlights to a total of 38 posts involving jokes. Based on the work of Mikhail M. Bakhtin, we analyzed the discursive movements that resulted from two jokes posted in the group. It showed us that the social network strengthened the interactions between teachers and students. The chemical knowledge was always present and, even after the laugh caused by the joke, students and teachers could always discuss the subject, in a very relaxed environment. The major part of the students considered the virtual space as an extension of the classroom. In the social network, they could recognize characteristic elements from the school. The Facebook became the most interesting choice as the social network once it was already used by the students.