Refletindo dificuldades de aprendizagem de alunos do ensino médio no estudo do equilíbrio químico

Abstract

This research intends to identify the main conceptual mistakes committed by High School students when studying Chemical Equilibrium and also how the didactic books can influence in their formation. For the data - collecting we applied 150 questionnaires with 11 open questions e 4 restricted ones. Students from three different private schools in Natal-RN were used in this survey. The questionary about the book analysis tried to understand how the subject has been boarded, making it easier or not for the knowledge building. The books were chosen by being usually the most used ones at the chemistry classes in the schools in town. On the didactic book analysis we evaluated 12 items that tried to identify the clarity with which the books would bring up the subjects, the contextualization of the exercises, the analogies used, the amount and the quality of exercises, the connections between the subjects, and the retaken of important concepts. The questionary given to the students tried to get their knowledge about the concepts related to Chemical Equilibrium. The main mistakes found were: the definition of the state of equilibrium in a chemical reaction, the constant, the double headed arrow, confusions between mass and concentration, the representation of a microscopic reaction in equilibrium, partial pressure and total pressure, and the function of the catalyser. The results demonstrated a lot of insecurity or lack of knowledge about the subject when it was realized that there was a big number of blank questions and a considerable percentage of questions with conceptual errors. We concluded that those errors could be eased or even avoided if the didactic books and the teachers boarded the contents in a more conceptual form with the application of a largest number of good quality exercices, watching the building of definitions by the students, avoiding this way the formation of wrong concepts