Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: NATAN CAVALCANTE BRANDAO

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : NATAN CAVALCANTE BRANDAO
DATE: 24/07/2024
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Sala 51 (PPgECM/CCET/UFRN)
TITLE:

The Sci-Fi and Pop Culture in the Formation of Social Representations about the Planet Mars: Implications for Physics Education

KEY WORDS:

Planet Mars; Social representations; Teacher Training; Physics Education.

PAGES: 95
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Educação
SUBÁREA: Ensino-Aprendizagem
SUMMARY:

During the first two decades of the 21st century to the present moment, the Planet Mars has emerged in different media and entertainment, mainly in the spheres of science fiction (Sci-Fi) and popular culture (Pop), awakening the curiosity and imagination of the general public. Sci-Fi and Pop cultures not only inspire imaginations and visions of the future, but they can also shape the way people perceive and interpret scientific information related to the planet Mars. Additionally, there is also a kind of new space race, this time strongly managed by private initiative. In this context, multi-million dollar business disputes and works such as “The War of the Worlds” and “Lost on Mars” have the potential to influence, directly or indirectly, the formation of Social Representations (RS) on the Red Planet. Thus, we aimed to investigate which RSs of physics teachers in the initial training on the Planet Mars, as well as to understand how these RSs could impact science teaching, considering, for example, notions about the nature of science and space exploration. For this purpose, students regularly enrolled in the Bachelor of Physics course of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) were interviewed, focusing on the subgroups of students of the year 2024 and participants of the PIBID and RP teaching programs, totaling a total of 72 graduates participating in the research. For the theoretical-methodological basis, we resort to Moscovici's Theory of Social Representations, combined with Abric's Structural Approach (Central Core Theory). We use the Word-Free Association Technique (TALP) and Hierarchization to collect data through questionnaires. The analysis of the data carried out based on the prototype analysis revealed that the terms "life", "exploration", "universe", "astronomy" and "water" emerged as possible constituent elements of the central core of the Social representations of Mars by the licensed. These results suggest that, although physics graduates show interest in matters relating to astronomy and space exploration, the RS on Mars reflects a common sense perspective evidenced through the mass media, as being a planet that draws attention from the aerospace context, with the possibility of colonizing it and with evidence of extraterrestrial life, which indicates the significant potential of influence of popular culture in the public perception of these issues, thus interfering with the formation of RS and the teaching of physics. Finally, it is hoped to give continuity to the research of the RS, through the application of semi-structured interviews for the same group investigated, with the same investigated group, with a focus on analyzing the possible influences on the training of teachers.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 2195626 - MILTON THIAGO SCHIVANI ALVES
Externa ao Programa - 4197701 - ERIKA DOS REIS GUSMAO ANDRADE - UFRNExterno ao Programa - 348011 - GILVAN LUIZ BORBA - UFRN