Scientific photography and experimental activities: didactic books of chemistry

Abstract

Photography is a non-verbal language that contributes to the exposition of theoretical research, artistic-cultural manifestations and as an effective adjunct in numerous scientific-technological discoveries. In regular science teaching, especially in experiments, photography can be used as an effective means for observation and also for the recording of phenomena. This research aims to analyze images (photographs) and texts present in the experimental activities of Chemistry textbooks, approved by the National Program of Textbooks (PNLD) 2015. In particular, we want to investigate the way in which the photographs are presented and the validity of their use for the experimentation in Chemistry, when these are accompanying the texts referring to the conduction of the experiments. After selecting all the experiments present in all volumes of the four PNLD collections, we then proceeded to the analysis of texts and images, considering the definition of categories of analysis. These data were quantified and tabulated, for the analysis according to the categories. The results indicate that the authors do not prioritize the use of photography as a means of observing phenomena and analyzing stages of an experiment. We observed that photography is used only to illustrate a stage of the experiment, not being part of the more elaborate process of teaching and learning. In this way, we point out the need of textbook authors to consider scientific photography as a pedagogical resource, since they can contribute to the understanding of scientific knowledge.

Keywords

• Livros didáticos
• Fotografias
• Química
• Ensino de Química
• Experimentos.