As estratégias dos estudantes para o cálculo da gravidade em atividades tradicionais e investigativas realizadas em ambiente material e virtual

Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation about the strategies used by students to solve an experimental practice on formal content (Simple Pendulum), when presented in a traditional (tasks) and investigative (challenges) nature in two distinct environments: material and virtual. The analysis method used was fundamentally mixed, based on exploratory analysis, statistical tests, as well as the classification of strategies from a categorical system of skills and SOLO Taxonomy. We had the participation of about 341 students from 12 integrated high school classes of a federal public school, on two campi. The thesis is in multipaper format and contains four articles. The first article aims to investigate which strategies were used by students when performing the experimental practice, when presented in a traditional and investigative nature. The results showed that skills of two natures were mobilized by the students at the time of task/challenge resolution: procedural and interpretative. For the procedural ability we identified five specific types of categories, inferred from the students' answers: ability to execute measures (EXM); ability to do average calculation (FCM); ability to solve mathematical equations (EQM); ability to apply mathematical rules (ARM) and the category of investigative activity: ability to propose a solution to the problem (PSP). For the interpretive, we identified the category ability to verify (examine) the validity of the answer found (VRE). The results indicate that the procedural ability, for the general sample of respondents, is significantly different from the interpretive ability, however, the last one is more considered. When we performed the analysis according to the nature of the activity answered, we identified that the traditional activity required procedural and interpretive skills in a balanced way. On the other hand, the investigative activity required more the mobilization of the procedural skills EQM and EXM, and the interpretive ability VRE. Statistical tests showed that there are significant differences between the skills mobilized by traditional activity and investigative activity. The second article aimed to investigate which strategies the students used when performing the experimental practice, when presented in a traditional and investigative nature in two different environments: material/virtual. Thus, we made the general comparison in relation to the environment in which the activity was carried out. Statistical tests showed that the material environment mobilized more skills associated with the moment when the student puts his knowledge into action to perform the procedural part, and the virtual environment mobilized more the skill of interpretive nature. When we analyzed whether the environmental factor (material/virtual) acted differently at the time when traditional and investigative activities were applied, we found that: both the material and virtual environments promoted the mobilization of specific skills differently when the investigative activity was applied; when the traditional activity was applied only the material environment promoted the mobilization of specific skills. The third article investigated the degree of depths in which procedural and interpretative skills were inferred in the responses to the task/challenge. We have built a methodological tool to investigate aspects of the use of different skills, in its different levels of complexity in experimental activities, but with distinct characteristics, both in terms of approach and in terms of application environment. We verified that, when applying traditional and investigative activities in material and virtual, teaching environments there was the explicitness of planning, execution and evaluation skills for both environments in different degrees of depth depending on their nature. When we took into account the environmental aspect and nature of the activity used, we verified that the procedural ability associated with the use of the mathematical tool was the one with the highest level of complexity. The fourth article aimed to investigate the existence of possible predictors of learning that can influence the moment when students use learning strategies to solve traditional/investigative activity in the material/virtual teaching environment. Through an exploratory analysis we verified that three predictors acted: gender, course and institution. When we considered the nature of the activity and the type of teaching environment in which the experimental practice was performed, we verified that the influence of the predictors occurred on specific skills depending on the nature of the activity solved and the type of intervention applied.