The Eratosthenes Project: the reproduction of a historical experiment as a resource for the inclusion of Astronomy concepts in High School

Abstract

This investigation was about an educational approach based on the  History of Science and experimentation involving scientific concepts in the area of Astronomy, highlighting the reproduction of the original experiment performed by Eratosthenes in the third century B.C., designed to measure the Earth radius. It was found that the realized activities contributed significantly to the success of High School students from two public schools of Sergipe – the State College State Secretary Francisco Rosa Santos in Aracaju, Sergipe and the Federal Institute, campus of São Cristovão – since these activities had aroused the students’ interest for the construction of new scientific knowledge, and they improved their comprehension of some aspects related to Science and Astronomy in particular, as its empirical character and its historical development, therefore immersed in a specific social, economic and cultural context. The approach allowed for a greater involvement of participating students and it improved student-teacher relationship. The evaluations identified that a significant learning of the discussed concepts involving Physics and Astronomy had occurred, such as latitude, longitude, equinox, solstice, midday sun, among other concepts treated in an interdisciplinary manner with other disciplines such as Geography, History and Mathematics.