Agrotóxicos no contexto químico e social

Abstract

Through this work, it was investigated facilitative actions for the teaching and learning process in Chemistry in order to promote the knowledge of basic concepts and of the social implications of the Chemistry and the student's formation as citizen. From this, workshops were developed approaching the thematic pesticides in a school of Candelária-RS. The pesticides are chemical products used in the agriculture to control pests and plant diseases, and consequently, they are the responsible for the increase of the agricultural production. However, they can cause diseases and poisoning if they be used without the necessary cares, as the individual protection equipments. The thematic pesticides were chosen considering that these compositions are related directly to the daily lives of students whose families have their incomes based on the agriculture, some of the characteristics of the researched school. Before the development of the workshops, text books of Chemistry of the High School were analyzed and investigated the students' conceptions regarding the theme. It is observed that in the analyzed text books, the importance of the equipments of individual protection is not approached. Through the questionnaire, it was verified that the participant students of this research have difficulties in relating contents of Chemistry with their daily lives. Considering those results, five thematic workshops were elaborated, that sought to relate topics of the Chemistry with the pesticides, being investigated as these methodological propositions can contribute to the learning of Chemistry and for the student's formation as citizen. Through the questionnaires, textual productions and interviews with the students and of the research diary, it can be noticed that the thematic workshops contributed to the valorization of the learning of Chemistry, because they associate chemical concepts with daily lives of students and it motivates them by the experimentation. What might also have stimulated the learning and the exercise of the citizenship on the part of the students was the educator's posture and the importance of the social theme, pesticides. The students were stimulated to think through the problematization, becoming participant and conscious citizens, through the workshops. As the workshops thematic, several methodological propositions have been investigated. However, the great challenges to be overcome is the gap between the research and the Science teaching.