International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
following series. On the 3 rd Year, it is free to school to teach new contents out of the CBC, maximizing the
students' formation and their comprehension of the spoken themes.
On the studied school, Organic Chemistry content is offered at the last Unit (Unit 7), of the 2 nd Year (so, all
the other units were suppressed of the eight board). Considering the time dedicated to the subject, and detailing
that other schools normally dedicate all 3 rd Year to it, the offered Organic Chemistry content seems to be
administrated in a short and superficial way.
Detailing exploring the subject, Guimarães & Silva (2008, 44) inform that, on 3 rd Year Class Plan nothing
was mentioned about Organic Chemistry, although there were, among didactic resources, practical laboratory
activities, whose themes were not informed by the teacher.
METHODS AND PROCEDURES
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was, undoubtedly, the pioneer on constructivist focus to human cognition. His
proposals configure a cognitive human development constructivist theory, known as Piaget's cognitive
development theory.
Piaget establishes four general cognitive development periods: sensory-motor, pre-operational,
concrete-operational and formal operational. Each one is subdivided in stages or levels. For this project, the
author chose to emphasize only the two last ones of those abovementioned periods, which really interest to the
students age group focused on this research, that are students of Chemistry curricular compound of High School
3 rd Year.
About the mental development periods proposed by Piaget, it is below presented one of his
citations (Piaget, 1977, 127, apud Moreira, 2011, 99):
“[...] From 7 to 8 until 11 or 12 years old, the concrete operations are
organized, that means, the operatory groupings of thinking relapsing over
manipulable or susceptible of intuition. Since 11 or 12 years old and during
teenage, the formal thinking is elaborated, which grouping characterize the
over reflexive intelligence.”
According to Gravina & Santarosa (1998, 4), that stage is characterized by the operations appearance, the
actions in thinking; however, at this phase children are still dependent of concrete objects to change actions in
concepts (concrete-operational stage).
At about 11 or 12 years old, the fourth and last mental development period starts. It passes through
adolescence and reaches adult age: it is the formal operational period. The main characteristic of this period is
the capacity of ratiocinate with verbal hypothesis and not only with concrete objects. It is the propositional
thinking, by means of the teenager, by ratiocinating, manipulates propositions. The starting point is the concrete
operation; however, the adolescent transcends this stage: formulates the concrete operation results under
propositions' shape and continue to mentally operating them (Moreira, 2011, 98).
Summarizing, it is observed that since seven or eight years old the child is already able to do certain logical
thoughts; however, the operations incise directly over the real objects, in a way that impossible is subordinated
to real. However, by formally thinking, or else, by ratiocinate about hypothesis, reality stays on second plan
towards possibility, and real turns to subordinate itself to possible. So, teenager becomes able of executing
hypothetical-deductive thoughts.
Thus, the most important characteristics of this period is the capacity of manipulating mental constructs and,
at the same time, recognizing relations among those abstract products internally projected. The formal operation
period goes until adult age.
It is a fact that experimentation can assume fundamental importance on significance learning promotion in
sciences (Silva and Zanon, 2000). Considering that, experimental activities are frequently used as previous
organizers to concepts and scientific models teaching, constituting a way of Chemistry macroscopic approach.
David Ausubel is one of the cognitivism's representatives and, as well, he proposes a theoretical explanation
of the apprenticeship process, under the cognitive point of view, similarly to Jean Piaget's theory (Moreira, 2011,
p.160).
In the same way of other cognitivism's authors, Ausubel based himself on the premise that there is a structure
where organization and integration of determined material is processed, called by him cognitive structure,
understood as somebody's total idea content and its organization, or as someone's content and idea organization
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