EXPERIMENTATION IN REMOTE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: UNDERSTANDINGS AND IMPACTS ON THE TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN CHEMISTRY

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the understandings constructed by Chemistry undergraduates, during the development of disciplines that included carrying out experiments in the laboratory, during the period of remote teaching during the pandemic of the new coronavirus - SARS-CoV-2, to analyze the impacts on teacher training. Nine undergraduate students from a night course in Chemistry, from a campus of the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), participated in the basic research with a qualitative and explanatory approach. They answered a questionnaire containing five essay questions. The data obtained was structured according to content analysis. The results show that during the Covid-19 pandemic, most teachers used videos available on YouTube during subjects that included experimental activities at UTFPR. Regarding the evaluation, some teachers asked the students to record, on video, the explanation of the phenomenon that occurred in experiments that they carried out at home. In the opinion of some undergraduates, it was impossible to carry out experiments outside the laboratory, and others saw video as a viable alternative for remote teaching. For all undergraduates, the impacts caused by not carrying out experimental activities in the laboratory were considered negative, since the absence of such activities leads to a delay in teaching. In the students' speech, a utilitarian view of experimental activities was evident, regarding not learning how to handle equipment and perform techniques. We also identified a naive conception regarding experimental activities, in the sense that they were understood only as a form of luddism, to arouse attention and interest in the study.