MENTAL MODELS ABOUT THE SKY OF Y AND Z GENERATIONS STUDENTS INFERRED FROM STUDIES IN THE AREA

Abstract

Since 1980, it has increased he exposure of the so-called Y and Z generations of students o digital technologies and multimedia communication in society and schools. To verify if exposure to a large number of informations was capable of modifying the mental models of the sky of these generations, Bisch's Doctoral thesis (1998) and Borges' Master's dissertation (2018) were chosen, who worked with these generations, each in their own time. Johnson-Laird's theory of mental models and Piaget's action schemes theory were used, which supported these consulted and studied works. The results showed that there were no expressive differences between the mental representations about the sky of generations Y and Z, and that Piaget's mental schemes of assimilation, accommodation and adaptation, help the understanding of the mental construction of knowledge of Astronomy topics, since it is conceived that the child has an evolutionary development that limits this construction. Johnson-Laird's theory is complementary, as it is efficient for the inference of mental models, which are constructed by the perception and imagination of predictable events, and can be also revised, as they are incomplete.