STIMULATION OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT THROUGH EXERCISES WITH STELLAR SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract

The central question was; How to stimulate the scientific thinking of a group of visitors to the astronomical observatory by taking advantage of a spectroscopy practice? The objective is to enrich the visit to an Observatory by applying some knowledge from the Didactics of Physics. The design of the process focuses on the use of the home-type and illustrative experiment around basic concepts of stellar spectroscopy and from a dimensional perspective of science education, considering fundamental the interaction enrichment between participants and the expositor in a learning and teaching process. The research was in action-research type from the perspective of intervention. Data collection occurred through reports from the researcher teacher and observation grids filled out by a non-participant observer, who identified questions and concerns that arose spontaneously. Results showed a way to stimulate scientific thinking around the phenomenon of spectroscopy in an informal learning environment. It stands out the fact that, through a short process designed contextually, the visitors could initiate the knowledge of concepts such as dispersion, diffraction, atom, electromagnetic spectrum, stellar classification, emission lines, and frequency, in addition, to being active subjects most of the time during the visit.