Abstract

FERREIRA, Luciana Nobre de Abreu; IMASATO, Hidetake  and  QUEIROZ, Salete Linhares. Popular science texts in undergraduate chemistry teaching: application in a structural chemistry course. Educ. quím [online]. 2012, vol.23, n.1, pp.49-54. ISSN 0187-893X.

The use of popular science texts in formal education has been discussed by researchers in the field of chemistry education. Such discussions suggest that these texts can be an instrument of motivation in the classroom. In this paper, we describe some educational experiences on the use of popular science texts in chemistry education. Thus, a teaching proposal was implemented based on the book Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, by Oliver Sacks. The goal of this proposal was to investigate its understanding, acceptance, and contributions to undergraduate chemistry teaching. The study involved the production of questions by the students about some chapters of that book. Additionally, we present our own conclusions on the use of such methodology applied to a structural chemistry course offered to undergraduate chemistry students at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Keywords : chemistry education; popular science texts; questions formulation; undergraduate chemistry teaching.