Modos de uso e o processo de apropriação do conceito de elemento químico por estudantes do ensino fundamental

Abstract

This paper reports a research that investigates the use and appropriation of the concept of chemical element by junior high students. To do this we followed an 8th grade classroom in which the teacher develops a work committed to the construction of scientific concepts mediated by discursive interactions. As theoretical reference we adopted the works of Vygotsky on the construction process of scientific concepts in a historical cultural perspective of human development. We have investigated the discursive interaction established in the classroom as a way to investigate how students appropriate themselves of the typical language of the study in context, and, thus gradually internalize, at different levels, the concept of chemical element. We have also analyzed students written work aiming at contrasting their understanding of the concept under investigation in another form of representation, which is the written language. We have identified a discursive dynamics which contributes to the process of concept formation and also to developments not only in the use of the concept of chemical element, but also in the concepts of cycle of materials, atom, molecule, substance, mixture and chemical reaction, parts of the conceptual relations network established in the sequence of the analyzed learning process. On the other hand, we also verified problems which appeared in the process of concept formation and the continued indistinct use of some of these concepts. Aware that the concept of chemical element encompasses inherent difficulties to its abstract character, we have identified the contribution of the use of an approach which relates phenomenon, language and representation through particle models in the improvement of this concept understanding. We have also identified the importance of strengthening the incentive to write as an important tool for the creation of a coherent conceptual system.