STS EDUCATION IN THE TEACHING OF GEOMETRIC OPTICS FROM THE THEME VISION DEFECTS

Abstract

This work consists of a report of experience referring to the Science, Technology and Society (STS) approach in the teaching of Physics carried out in professional high school classes, in a full-time agricultural school of the federal and public network, in the state of Maranhao (Brazil). It aimed to analyze the teaching of Physics in the programmatic content geometric optics/light phenomena and their consequences on human health through the subject defects of vision. The didactic and pedagogical strategy developed was the dynamic of Three Pedagogical Moments (3MP), with data structured according to content analysis. The research has a qualitative character, supported by quantitative elements, when necessary. In this way, the subject ‘geometric optics/study of light’ was developed, through the theme ‘vision defects and their consequences on human health’. In the work with that theme, students carried out experiments with flat mirrors and simulation of visual impairment on a walk through the main school premises, as well as the work with the perception of pupil dilation, and the debate on those experiences. The analysis of the results suggests that, in fact, the teaching of optics through themes, in the context of the STS approach, enabled students to relate scientific knowledge and the problems experienced in everyday life by a visually impaired person, reflecting on real situations of the defects vision and the difficulties encountered by the visually impaired in everyday life, awakening them to citizenship.