Física e História: experimento de Torricelli

Abstract

In the last decades, there has been a consolidation of the defense of the didactic insertion of History and Philosophy of Science. Following this trend, textbooks have included in their scope some historical elements related to scientific content. Despite the intention to meet the demands of educational legislation in terms of historical contextualization, the lack of criteria and attention to the historiography of science ends up giving way to an inadequate insertion of historical-philosophical elements. These misconceptions translate, for example, into the formation of simplistic views about science. In this sense, the analysis of the content related to Torricelli's experiment in textbooks revealed several flaws and distortions. Based on the inadequacies observed, and on the other hand, based on reliable historiographic texts, three historical-philosophical narratives were developed for use in Basic Education. These narratives, which focus on the historical development of the concept of atmospheric pressure and, in particular, the Torricelli experiment, are part of a didactic sequence elaborated in order to collaborate with the teaching of the mentioned scientific subjects. The educational product was applied in regular high school classes in Natal public school, where it was satisfactory in relation to the desired teaching objectives.