ANALYSIS OF CONTEXTUAL, MACRO AND SUBMICROSCOPIC ASPECTS OF “CHEMICAL KINETICS” TEXTS IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY BOOKS USED IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Chemical Kinetics; General Chemistry Book; Submicroscopic aspects and context
The present work is the result of an investigation involving higher education chemistry textbooks using the Johnstone triplet (1982) as the main reference. In this sense, in an attempt to achieve the objectives of this research, a qualitative analysis of the chapter called Chemical Kinetics was carried out in 4 (four) books of general chemistry used in university teaching in Chemistry and Engineering courses at UFRN. The study was developed based on a qualitative approach based on a consultation with the number of books in circulation for loans at the central library of the UFRN campus and in the sector of the Institute of Chemistry. The methodological path included the elaboration of guiding points for the analysis of books with an emphasis on chemical knowledge that addresses the elements of symbology, representations, context and the macroscopic and submicroscopic aspects of the textual content present in these works. The categories constructed during the analysis were based on elements of Bardin's content analysis. The partial results demonstrate that the books present discussions that are not intertwined with Johstone's proposal. From the analysis, it was also possible to perceive that the works do not present the interconnection between the discussions of these levels of representation with a contextualized approach that portrays practical examples from the students of the local reality in which these students find themselves (Natal / RN). Finally, it can be said that university chemistry textbooks that address the content of chemical kinetics, may be useful in understanding the content of general chemistry, but need complementary material that allows the reader / student discussions that lead to understanding of the three levels of representation of matter as Johnstone (1982) points out.