A cosmologia de Newton a Einstein: uma proposta para o ensino médio com recursos de hipermídia

Abstract

There is a necessity in searching for new alternatives to pedagogical praxis at each teaching level, since bringing the teaching-learning process closer to what is pertinent to the generation inserted in it is a way to turn the school into a dynamical and active space in its time. The use of new technologies in classroom, such as hypermedias, as tools to facilitate the building of the knowledge are resources that teachers must take as their own, since most of students like to “explore” the world they know. The secrets of the Cosmos and the knowledge of certain contemporary scientific terms presented to them in games or movies, increase their interest whenever the subject is discussed. However, most of the time, Cosmology in the classroom is only treated from the Newtonian point of view, leaving out Einstein's theories. Considering the aspects mentioned above, seeking to build a bridge between the physics in the classroom and Modern Cosmology, our main aims are to create situations for high-school students where they assimilate the qualitative difference between Newton's and Einstein's gravitational theories, as well as to evaluate the impact after hypermedia use in the classroom. For these purposes, we developed a hypermedia as a mediator digital resource to build and to teach gravitation, in such a way the students can explore, in a panoramic way, the necessary concepts about gravitation, which will be developed in both approaches. In addition, based on the Ausubel's social constructive proposal for a significant learning, we apply a hypermedia in a class of first highschool grades of a private school. A significant increase of knowledge about gravitation was observed in the students, supporting the confidence they had in the answers after the tests. Besides, all the students who have participated in the test have said that hypermedia favored the learning and they have suggested that it would be interesting to implement it in other courses. Thus, we hope this product will contribut e to a more meaningful learning through contextualization, illustration, trial and enrichments of Modern Cosmology contents in highschool classrooms.