TEACHING GASES IN CHEMISTRY WITH THE PHET SIMULATION TOOL: EXPERIENCE IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL IN CAETITÉ-BA

Abstract

Notably, one of the greatest challenges for Chemistry teachers has been to awaken students' interest, given the abstraction of the subject's contents and teaching centered on expository classes and memorization of formulas. Based on the premise that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are present in students' daily lives, it is necessary to use them as an ally in the teaching and learning process. From this perspective, simulators are an important tool that allows teachers to improve their teaching method and students better conditions to build their knowledge. Therefore, this research aims to use the PHET computer simulator as a methodological tool to assist in the teaching and learning process of Gases. The investigation took place around a 2nd year high school class. To assess students' prior knowledge, a questionnaire with multiple-choice questions on the topic was used. Next, there was interaction with the software, with the “property of gases” simulation. Subsequently, the same questionnaire was reapplied in order to observe the influence of this methodology. This dynamic teaching method, when used as an innovative teaching resource that allows student visualization and interaction, emerges as an alternative that can provide teaching diversification and enable better student understanding.