O princípio de Pascal no ensino superior em abordagem histórico-filosófica e conceitual

Abstract

Investigations on the teaching of Pascal's Principle in Basic and Higher Education reveal some situations in common: divergences regarding the validity of the Principle in didactic materials and gapswith regard to a historical-philosophical approach. When dealing with thiscontent, textbooks also bringhistorical distortions that can result in naive views aboutscienceand about the relationship between science and technology. Considering facing these difficulties as a focus issue, we proposed an Educational Product aimed at teacher training, which addresses Pascal's Principle from a historical-philosophical and conceptual approach. We bring teachers in training the possibility of knowing relevant aspects of Blaise Pascal's life and, more specifically, his contributions to Pascal's Principle. We resorted to the interpretation of original excerpts from Pascal, in order to highlight the author's contributionsto the Principle, as we currently understand it, as well as differences between Pascal's conception and the current statement. Thus, there is the perception that the Principleand its mathematization result from a collective historical construction. Additionally, based on analytical considerations aimed at this target audience, we consider the possibility of overcoming the differences regarding the validity of Pascal's Principle observed in textbooks.These aspects were covered in video classes aimed at teachers in initial and continuing education. In the context of application of this Educational Product, we investigated how thistarget audience positioned itself in relation to the historical-philosophical and conceptual elements addressed and reflected on possible consequences for the basic educational context.