Um estudo de práticas formativas entre física e química na formação de produtores de alimentos no Brasil e na Alemanha

Abstract

Articulating basic scientific knowledge with knowledge of professional practice is a fundamental to a satisfactory academic performance. In the case of professionals in the area of food production, it is understandable the importance of developing scientific competencies and skills because of the daily contact with physical and chemical processes that extend from planting to the final production of food. Bearing in mind that the quality of the food is the result of a highly qualified professional, it is in the educational background that scientific competencies and skills should be encouraged. Therefore, intending to evaluate the contributions that a Physics and Chemistry teaching strategy, referenced in Explicit Teaching and articulated to the context of the food producer, has to offer for the formation of scientific competencies and skills of students of the Food Technology Course at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), this work started. For the elaboration of the proposal, I made a study in documents from the Food Technology Course and a survey of articles, in the leading journals of the teaching area, about Science Teaching in food production and, also, about scientific competencies and skills and Explicit Teaching. Having the Learning Management PIC model as the basis of the didactic strategy, some experimental activities were developed and used as a motivation and study tool. For that, nineteen experimental activities were developed that have resulted in five didactic notebooks. The progress and the effects of the didactic proposal on the students' performance were assessed through pre-tests (questionnaires about previous conceptions and students' attitudes) and post-tests (feedback questionnaire, experimental reports and bimonthly assessment), using Content Analysis and Bloom's Taxonomy for data analysis. The results have demonstrated, in general, a positive acceptance of the study by the students. Therefore, it was a didactic strategy that has brought clarity to the study. The strategy used made it possible to expand the scientific knowledge, guaranteeing relations between theoretical and practical knowledge, in the same way, which has enabled a high connection between new and previous scientific knowledge. The performance of the class has extended to the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor spheres. It was possible to observe a satisfactory performance of several competencies and skills, such as: handling experimental equipment, recognizing and articulating the Sciences in the professional daily life of the food producer, expressing and communicating the scientific nature in the oral, written and graphic form, evaluating the experimental results, working as a team, as well, arguing and making more conscious decisions regarding the scientific practices in the professional context. However, the observations of the teaching and learning process on Food Physics, carried out in person at an Educational Institution in Germany, was the most differential of the research. It has brought a new perspective to the proposal. Despite having been completed at the end of the doctoral research, the experience in the Germany has brought a more critical look at teaching practice and a more active and competent method for the learning process.