A Metodologia Fishbowl como estratégia ativa para o ensino de radiações em física

Abstract

The Fishbowl is an active teaching methodology that is still rarely used in science classes, particularly in physics instruction, despite its considerable potential to enhance student learning. Similarly, the topic of radiation is often treated with little depth or in a superficial manner, largely due to conceptual complexity, difficulties with abstraction, students’ prior lack of knowledge, fear associated with the subject, and a history of disinterest in the subject of physics. Given this scenario, the study aimed to analyze the effect of the Fishbowl active learning methodology on the learning of physics concepts related to radiation and electromagnetic waves among students in the final years of elementary school. This was a quantitative, quasi-experimental, investigative study conducted with students in the final years of elementary school at a public school in Fortaleza, Ceará. The 72 students were organized into two groups: a control group, which received traditional instruction, and an experimental group, which received pedagogical interventions using the Fishbowl methodology. To assess learning, a pretest was administered, followed by immediate posttests after the intervention and a new assessment six months later, aiming to verify long-term knowledge retention. The data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism software, version 6.0. Initially, the D’Agostino Pearson test was applied to verify normality. To compare student performance across the different assessment points (pre-test, immediate post-test, and long-term assessment), the Friedman test with Dunn’s post-hoc test was used. For comparisons between the traditional and Fishbowl groups, the unpaired Student’s t-test or the Mann-Whitney test was used, depending on the data distribution. Results with p < 0.05 were considered significant. The findings indicated that students exposed to the Fishbowl method achieved statistically superior performance compared to students who participated in classes using the traditional method. Furthermore, this performance was maintained in the long-term assessments, demonstrating significant learning retention. It is concluded that the Fishbowl presents itself as a promising active methodology for teaching physics, notably in conceptually demanding topics such as radiation, as it fosters meaningful learning, promotes student engagement, stimulates scientific reasoning, and encourages students’ active participation in the educational process.