A DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH ABOUT PERIHELION AND APHELION: A STUDY WITH UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN GEOGRAPHY

Abstract

The official documents of Brazilian education propose the teaching of astronomical concepts at all levels of basic education. However, the teaching of Astronomy in undergraduate courses in Brazil has little tradition and curricular experimentation. The precarious initial training of these teachers presents itself as one of the obstacles to the teaching of this area of knowledge. In the present work, we make a diagnosis of the conceptions presented by students from the Geography degree course, from a university located in a municipality in the central-west region of Paraná, about the positions of perihelion and aphelion to understand whether these concepts are seen as causes of the seasons of the year. The methodological procedures for analysis were carried out in a qualitative perspective, of a diagnostic nature, through a questionnaire composed of discursive questions. The formulation of the questions was analyzed through Textual Discursive Analysis. Our analysis shows that most students know the positions of aphelion and perihelion, however few explain them correctly and the speeches presented are in accordance with the alternative conceptions pointed out in Astronomical Education research. The absence of an Astronomy discipline in the curriculum may be one of the causes of the conceptual deficits that the investigated disciplines present.