Banca de DEFESA: IANE OHANNA DE ARAÚJO LABRE DA NÓBREGA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : IANE OHANNA DE ARAÚJO LABRE DA NÓBREGA
DATE: 19/08/2026
TIME: 09:30
LOCAL: online
TITLE:

The Radium Girls and the Teaching of Radioactivity: A Didactic Proposal Integrating History of Science and Playfulness

KEY WORDS:

Physics Teaching; Radioactivity; History and Philosophy of Science; Radium Girls; Three Pedagogical Moments.

PAGES: 224
BIG AREA: Ciências Exatas e da Terra
AREA: Física
SUMMARY:

This study presents and investigates the implementation of an original teaching proposal grounded in the History and Philosophy of Science approach to Physics Education, focusing on the topic of radioactivity. The educational product Green Radio was developed to meet the guidelines established by Brazil's National Common Curricular Base for upper secondary education, particularly regarding the appropriation of knowledge in the Natural Sciences and the understanding of science as a human, historical, and socially situated enterprise. The teaching proposal combines the historical episode of the so-called Radium Girls—young factory workers exposed to radium in the early twentieth century—with the teaching of scientific concepts related to radioactivity, such as types of radiation, radioactive decay, and half-life. This historical episode serves as a basis for promoting reflections on the relationships among science, technology, and society, encouraging the development of a critical perspective on the production and application of scientific knowledge. The pedagogical approach is based on the Three Pedagogical Moments framework and employs a variety of teaching strategies, including video analysis, interactive activities (such as an Escape Room), the production of journalistic texts, and the creation of a short film. These activities were designed to foster students' active participation while promoting cognitive, communicative, and collaborative skills through reflective and historically contextualized learning. The proposal was implemented in a public school as part of an elective course offered to upper secondary students. The data produced during the intervention were analyzed through Content Analysis following Bardin's methodological framework, enabling the identification of categories related both to the scientific concepts addressed in the teaching sequence and to the historical, social, and ethical dimensions of the Radium Girls episode. The results revealed improvements in students' understanding of radioactivity, its biological effects, and radiation protection measures, as well as in their ability to establish connections between scientific knowledge, the historical context under study, and the social implications of radiation exposure. Overall, the teaching sequence contributed to the development of a more contextualized and critical understanding of science.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1645641 - JULIANA MESQUITA HIDALGO FERREIRA
Interno - 4857669 - JEFFERSON SOARES DA COSTA
Externo à Instituição - KAREL PONTES LEAL - UFSB