VISUAL TOOLS IN TEACHING LEARNING SEQUENCES FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION

The accelerated development of information and communication technologies followed by several studies in the cognitive theory area, have promoted the use and the construction of many visual tools (3D concrete models, statics or dynamics virtual 2D and 3D images, simulations, animations, interactive software, etc) that have been available to educators. With this research it was aimed to investigate how in- service teachers (n=14) enrolled in a teachers' training course of 40h, understand the nature and the role of visualizations in science teaching as well as the impact of this training. It was also discussed the nature and role of models in science. During the training teachers were invited to build in group teaching learning sequences (TLS) about some science content using visualizations. At the beginning a questionnaire to identify some previous conceptions on this issue have been applied and analyzed. On a later stage it was analyzed the TLS made by them and the audiovisual record of their oral communications to the class. It was also analyzed the final semi- structured interview with these teachers' groups. As main results we highlight a development of the knowledge about these tools, especially on the impact of the visual language on apprenticeship and on the notion of scientific model. We could also observe a change on the reasons and criteria to use these tools. According to the findings it can be said that this training has expanded the teachers' initial notion of models and the theoretical background that support the use of this visual resources which was reflected on theirs TLS.