O interesse de estudantes do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública por atividades de ensino de ciências: um estudo transversal e longitudinal

Abstract

The thesis focuses on a study of interest to students of 6th to 9th grades of elementary school for science activities. The activities are comprised of a theme and a subtheme curriculum embedded in a context determined by the basic innate psychological needs of competence, autonomy, relationships and the type of activity, whether theoretical or practical. The students, between boys and girls, from a state school in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, are aged between 10 and 15 years of age and responded to seven instruments built with the methodological rigor to that kind research is intended. The methodology of quantitative nature, collected data on an instrument constructed for this purpose, through the stages of building an array of items, pilot study, the study of pre-testing and study end, taking the content and context of activities validated by judges . The data collection happened in the space of two years of age, ie, for three consecutive semesters. The cross-sectional study collected data from n = 272 students from 6 to 9 years of elementary school in one semester and the longitudinal study (n = 70, 58 and 33) students from two classes of 6th grade, in three consecutive semesters. The survey results indicate that the model of ontogenetic development of interest applies to the study sample and conceptualizes the interest towards integrated as situational and personal. The interest can be explained by basic psychological need of competence and is correlated with gender, age and duration of student learning. In our study sample cross interests are differentiated by the activities between boys and girls, since the longitudinal study, females had a markedly diminished interest throughout the study, whereas the boys have maintained or increased interest in some activities proposed sciences. The subjects studied Biology (subdivided into subthemes of General Biology, Ecology and Health), Chemistry, Physics and Geosciences, those who matter most to girls are the physics and ecology, while the boys are interested in Chemistry, Physics and Biology General and the Health sub-theme The type of education investigated showed that the most interesting practical activities, students, than the theoretical activities. However, the lack of interest seems to be higher than the hands-on activities by the theoretical over time of longitudinal study. There was also that the activities held under the control of the teacher are still those that matter most to students.