PROMOTING A SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF ASTRONOMY

Abstract

This article reports research that involved the development of a Didactic Sequence (SD) on basic concepts of Astronomy for the 9th grade of elementary school. The objective was to develop a didactic-pedagogical material that supports Science teachers in the approach of Astronomy, contributing to the scientific literacy of students. The SD was based on six themes, organized according to the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC). The materials were selected from research carried out in articles, websites and videos, produced and taught by professionals in the area. After applying the SD, qualitative research was carried out based on the responses of ten students to a questionnaire with 24 questions, subdivided into six themes. The same questionnaire was applied before and after SD. The transcribed responses were fragmented and categorized into five levels, inspired by the work of Adadan et al. (2010). From the defined levels, we performed a quantitative analysis. The data showed that the ten students made progress in all subjects after the SD. However, theme 4, distances from the solar system, was the one with the lowest performance. This must have been difficult to handle with large numbers, which had to be written as powers of ten. These results indicate that the SD can be an important resource for teachers who wish to promote an adequate scientific understanding of Astronomy in Elementary School II and High School students.