Leite, I. S.; Lourenço, A. B; Hernandes, A. C.
Description:
The purposes of this work were to elaborate a teaching sequence on the theme “electric currents” and employ concept maps (CMs) to assess the variation in cognitive complexity of four students from a secondary public school, who participated in the Pre-Undergraduate Research Program (PIC – Pré-Iniciação Científica) of the University of São Paulo Research Pro-Rectory. For the period of five months, these students took part in activities conducted at the college facilities, such as bibliographical research, elaboration of seminars on the theme and they also attended fifteen theoretical lectures and five experimental classes on electricity. Analysis of the results revealed that, following the teaching sequence, the students were able to formulate meaningful propositions based on the concepts approached in class and through the maps; it was possible to verify a significant improvement in the students’ knowledge of the theme “electric current”.