COSMETICS: A DIDACTIC SEQUENCE FOR CHEMISTRY TEACHING IN AN STS APPROACH

Abstract

The STS (Science, Technology, and Society) approach contributes to promoting contextualized teaching, in which the debate of socio-environmental issues corroborates the formation of citizens capable of making decisions. This study, developed using a qualitative research approach, aims to analyze the potential and challenges of a teaching sequence (TS) for chemistry education, developed from an STS perspective with the theme of cosmetics. The TS, structured in three pedagogical moments, was applied to a third-year high school class at a public school. The research data, collected from questionnaires, participant observation, and student work, were analyzed based on the assumptions of content analysis. In this work, we analyze two activities from the DS, the essays produced by the students, and the Science Fair. The analysis of the essays showed that the students understood issues related to their daily lives by establishing relationships between science, technology, and society based on the debate on cosmetics. At the Science Fair, students worked in teams, which fostered the development of communication skills and the curiosity and interest of young people in science. Among the main potentialities of TS, we highlight that the STS approach, in addition to contributing to citizenship education, promotes contextualized chemistry teaching, encourages student participation in the debate of socio-environmental issues, and contributes to the autonomy of scientific knowledge learning. Regarding the challenges of TS, we highlight the school's lack of resources for conducting experiments and the reduced course load, challenges that were overcome during the implementation of the TS. We believe that the TS enabled students not only to discuss chemical content related to cosmetics but also the social, economic, and environmental implications of their manufacture and use.