MENTAL MODELS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON THE DAY AND NIGHT FROM DIFFERENT REFERENCES

Abstract

This article aims to identify clues for the development of proposals related to the teaching of the day/night theme, based on the mental models of students when they explain this phenomenon according to a referential based on the surface of the Earth and outside it. 18 students of the 5th year of a state school in the municipality of Uberlândia (MG) participated in this research. The data sources used were: oral, graphic and imagery, which were analyzed according to 4 categories. 4 mental models were raised by the students denominated as: introductory; intermediary; integrated and inconsistent. The results show that the greatest number of mental models raised by students belongs to the intermediate class. Most of the participating students do not switch between the different references adopted when they discourse about the subject. Finally, we list proposals for work in the classroom, guided by a teaching articulated with activities of observation of the sky.