Analysis of the insertion of the Astronomy content into the Brazilian High School National Exam (1998-2018)

Abstract

This article covers a documental analysis of the questions with Astronomy contents in Brazil’s High School National Exam 1998-2018. Questions that addressed astronomical topics of the exams from 1998 until 2018 have been analyzed. Their distribution on the knowledge areas evaluated by the ENEM was also included in the analysis. The compiled questions have been classified according to the Astronomy's topics. The classification is based on the Brazil's official high school documents (PCN+), as well as on the approach proposed by Bretones (1999). It has been also carried out a qualitative analysis about the questions' subjects and the way through which their solutions are requested/evaluated. During the first 21 years of ENEM, 58 questions were found, 2.33% of the total, which contain Astronomy topics. In addition, the expected contents of the PCN+ are approached although the recurrence of these questions is small and quite variable in each edition of ENEM.