A qualidade do ensino superior tem despertado cada vez mais o interesse de pesquisadores e especialistas em educação. Neste trabalho, foi enfatizada a correlação entre a crescente especialização oferecida pelos programas de pós-graduação em química e a melhoria da qualidade docente dos professores universitários, procurando entender como os próprios pós-graduandos imaginam ser a atividade docente. Para isso, os estudantes de pós-graduação em química da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais foram convidados a construir uma narrativa sobre uma situação fictícia em que se imaginavam professores. A análise dos relatos foi realizada agrupando-se os fatos narrados em três categorias: a preparação para aprovação no concurso, as aulas ministradas e as atividades desenvolvidas durante os quatro primeiros meses de trabalho. Os resultados mostraram que os estudantes dão menos atenção à atividade docente e tendem a valorizar a pesquisa e as atividades que a dinamizam. Isso evidencia que os futuros profissionais, mesmo assumindo o cargo de professor, estão mais predispostos a atuarem como pesquisadores do que a exercerem a docência. Tal indício parece estar relacionado com as exigências dos processos de seleção de professores de ensino superior e com o funcionamento atual da maior parte das universidades, que avaliam em termos qualitativos a produção intelectual na forma de artigos, ao passo que as aulas são avaliadas em seu caráter mais quantitativo.

The quality of higher education has raised growing interest among researchers and experts in education. In the present work we have emphasized the correlation between the growing specialization offered by graduate programs in Chemistry and the improvement in the quality of university teachers, trying to understand how the graduate students themselves imagine the teaching activity. For that, graduate students in Chemistry from the Federal University of Minas Gerais were invited to construct narratives about a fictitious situation in which they imagined themselves as teachers. The analysis of the reports was made by grouping the facts described under three categories: the preparation for approval in the admission exam, the classes taught, and the activities developed during the first four months of work. Results have shown that students pay less attention to the teaching activity and tend to value research and the activities that foster it. This shows that future professionals, even taking up the post of teachers, are more predisposed to act as researchers than to exercise the teaching activity. Such indication seems to be related to the demands made during the selection process for higher education teachers and to the current work situation in most universities, which evaluate qualitatively the intellectual production in the form of articles, whereas classes are evaluated in a more quantitative manner.

Nos últimos anos, o olhar de educadores/pesquisadores brasileiros tem se voltado para a formação didática do professor de Ensino Superior. Seguindo esta tendência, investigamos a percepção dos estudantes do Programa de Pós-graduação em Química da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais sobre a preparação para a docência, tanto no que vivenciam no curso como no que consideram importante como preparação para a docência no Ensino Superior. Percebemos que os estudantes sentem e expressam a necessidade da formação docente, mesmo com interesses nem sempre convergentes com uma boa preparação didático-pedagógica. As iniciativas oferecidas no programa em questão, a partir da última década, vêm ao encontro das necessidades descritas pelos pesquisados, mas precisam ser ampliadas, num processo amplamente reflexivo.

The didactic training in higher education of Brazilian teachers' has received more attention in recent years. Therefore, we investigate students' perceptions from the Post-graduate Degree Program in Chemistry at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Thus, we recognize that these students don't feel prepared and express their need for a didactic training, as they are without any pedagogical preparation. The initiatives offered in the program in question, in the last decade, recognize the students' needs, but they have to be extended into a reflective process.

The present work sought to investigate the chemistry content that high school Brazilian teachers find difficult to work with in the classroom, the strategies, and the pedagogical resources they use to teach such content, and how students view this content. The interviews with 79 chemistry teachers from Minas Gerais State of high schools revealed an overemphasis on calculations to the detriment of content comprehension.

El presente trabajo investiga los contenidos de química que los profesores de bachillerato brasileños encuentran difíciles de trabajar dentro del aula, así como las estrategias y los recursos pedagógicos que emplean para enseñar tales contenidos y cómo los estudiantes los ven. Las entrevistas con 79 profesores de bachillerato de química del Estado de Minas Gerais revelan un sobreénfasis en cálculos en detrimento de la comprensión conceptual.

The pedagogic training of university professors has been overlooked in institutions of higher education. In the second semester of 2009, students of the Graduate Chemistry Program at the Federal University of Minas Gerais participated in an investigation that aimed to evaluate the students' perceptions of their own training to become professors. It was found that a large number of students felt prepared to teach at institutions of higher education, despite their lack of experience at this education level. A significant point in this work was the finding that most students do not acknowledge the need of associating the teaching practice with teaching-learning theories, but instead consider the knowledge of scientific content important.

In this work, a TPR (Temperature Programmed Reduction) system is used as a powerful tool to monitor carbon nanotubes production during CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition), The experiments were carried out using catalyst precursors based on Fe-Mo supported on Al2O3 and methane as carbon source. As methane reacts on the Fe metal surface, carbon is deposited and H2 is produced. TPR is very sensitive to the presence of H2 and affords information on the temperature where catalyst is active to form different forms of carbon, the reaction kinetics, the catalyst deactivation and carbon yields.

In this work, controlled reduction of perovskites supported on Al2O3 was used to prepare thermally stable nanodispersed iron catalysts based on Fe0/La2O3/Al2O3. The perovskites composites LaFe0.90Mn0.08Mo0.02O3(25, 33 and 50 wt (%)) /Al2O3 and LaFe0.90Mn0.1O3(25 wt (%)) /Al2O3 were prepared and characterized by XRD, BET, TPR, SEM and Mössbauer spectroscopy. XRD for unsupported perovskite showed the formation of a single phase perovskite structure. The Mössbauer spectra of the perovskites were fitted with hyperfine field distribution model for the perovskite. Supported perovskites on Al2O3 showed a decrease of the hyperfine field in respect to unsupported perovskite, due to decrease of particle size and dispersion of the Fe3+ specimens on the support. Also showed broaden lines and relaxation effects due to the small particle size. To produce the Fe0 catalyst, the composite perovskite(25%)/Al2O3 was reduced with H2 at 900, 1000 and 1100 °C for 1 hour. XRD data indicated the formation of Fe0 catalyst with particles sizes of ca. 35 nm. The Mössbauer spectrum showed the formation of metallic iron and doublets corresponding to species of octahedric Fe2+ and Fe3+ sites dispersed on Al2O3. These catalysts showed improved stability towards sintering even upon treatment at 1000 and 1100 °C under H2.