Explorando a Física por meio de experiências na educação infantil

Abstract

This work aims to explore the use of practical physics experiments as a playful and pedagogical tool in Early Childhood Education, specifically in classes of children aged 5 to 6 years. The research was conducted at the Colégio de Aplicação Núcleo de Desenvolvimento da Criança (NDC CAp UFC), where 17 experiments related to different areas of physics, such as thermodynamics, mechanics, optics, magnetism, and modern physics, were applied. A qualitative, interpretative approach was used to analyze the children's engagement and understanding during the proposed activities. The results demonstrated that practical experimentation is an effective strategy to awaken children's curiosity and interest in scientific phenomena, even in an intuitive and non-formal way. Experiments such as Galileo's free-fall experiment, Newton's disc, and anamorphosis with a cylindrical mirror stood out for their high playful and pedagogical potential, also showing high engagement and satisfaction. However, some experiments, such as the one on relative temperature perception, proved to be less effective in maintaining children's attention. It is concluded that physics, when approached in a playful and contextualized manner, can be a powerful tool for promoting scientific literacy in Early Childhood Education, contributing to children's learning and integral development and preparing them for the study of more complex content in the future.