A historical case study of Foucault's experiment in Brazil, made by a high school teacher on in-service distance learning

Abstract

This paper addresses a qualitative research on in-service education of Physics teachers that aimed to evaluate a proposal based on the History of Science approach designed for a distance mini-course. Based on the investigative model and organized through an educational model for distance learning, the continuing education course considered the historical case study as a main teaching strategy. We address here the historical case study made by a teacher, and the analysis of excerpts of a video in which she presents the didactic sequence she will use with her high school students. The historical case study involves the first Foucault’s Pendulum Experience held in Brazil and contributes to the enhancement of national scientific culture. The discursive textual analysis (DTA) applied to the historical case study enabled the production of three metatexts that can be used to explain controversial aspects of the nature of science, such as the discussions between the geocentric and heliocentric theories. ATD applied in the didactic sequence elaborated by the teacher enabled the construction of another metatext that can be used to avoid the anachronistic view of science and explain Foucault's pendulum motion in both hemispheres.