Resolução de problemas de cinemática unidimensional tendo a matemática como estruturante do pensamento físico

Abstract

Resolving exercises and problems is an integral part of physics classes. It is believed that these activities require students to apply the concepts acquired in lectures and appropriate the knowledge developed. However, at this stage of teaching and learning, teachers do not perceive the desired results, often claiming that failure in physics teaching is due to students' lack of mathematical skills. We enquire about the problem indicated considering two questions: How much of the mathematical skills needed to teach physics are being considered only as technical skills, leaving aside the structuring skills of physical thinking? Are students, in fact, learning to solve problems? Based on these questions, our work presents a sequence of tasks that contemplate the teaching of fundamental concepts of kinematics and uniform rectilinear movement from the perspective of solving everyday problems, which consider the students' previous knowledge and in which the use of mathematics is required to find solutions. Along with the tasks, students are asked to produce reports that present the reasoning used in solving the problem and the considerations on the proposed tasks, aiming to identify the use of mathematics as the structuring of physical thinking. Basing on the problem-solving strategy, the proposal aims to favor the construction of knowledge on the concepts of kinematics and functions, while developing skills related to procedural content inherent to these concepts. The work was developed with a first-year high school class, in a public school of the state school system in a municipality of southern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The students performed eight tasks, all developed in groups, over eight mathematics classes, favoring the debate between its components, socializing the results with the entire class, and formalizing the concepts discussed with the teacher. We reported the experience lived by the researcher using the field diary, audio recordings, and reports made by the students, in which we identify the appropriation of the concepts acquired by the students and the presence of mathematics as the structuring of physical knowledge, having problem-solving as a skill acquired during the process.