Resumo No que tange às potencialidades do uso de questões sociocientíficas (QSC) no ensino de ciências, destaca-se a sua contribuição para o desenvolvimento moral dos educandos, o qual compreende, dentre outros elementos, a sensibilidade moral. Mediante a sua relevância para a formação de cidadãos engajados socialmente, o objetivo deste trabalho consiste em identificar, no âmbito da formação inicial de professores de química, a extensão da sensibilidade moral que licenciandos exibem. Os resultados indicam que as atividades realizadas, pautadas no uso de QSC extraída de uma história em quadrinhos, foram adequadas para o desenvolvimento da sensibilidade, contudo, a sua extensão foi limitada. Essa observação sugere a necessidade da inserção de práticas semelhantes em cursos de licenciatura, tendo em vista a formação de professores que irão atuar em favor do desenvolvimento moral dos estudantes da educação básica.

Abstract Among the potentialities of using socio-scientific issues (SSI) in science education, its contribution to students’ moral development can be mentioned, which, among other components, comprises moral sensitivity. Due to its relevance to the formation of socially engaged citizens, the study aims to identify the extent of the moral sensitivity of undergraduate chemistry students enrolled in an initial teacher training course. The results showed that the activities developed, based on the use of a comic strip, were adequate for developming this sensitivity. However, its extension was limited, suggesting the need to carry out activities of this nature in undergraduate courses, with a view to traininger teachers who will work in favor of the moral development of elementary and secondary school students.

THE BIOCHEMISTRY BEHIND COVID-19: WEBQUEST DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION FOR EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING. WebQuests are inquiry-oriented activities structured in such a way that almost all resources used come from the web. The present study aims to investigate to what extent a WebQuest focusing on Biochemistry and COVID-19 can be used as an instructive tool to enhance undergraduate students’ media and information literacy (MIL). Students’ opinions on the use of the WebQuest were also discussed. The WebQuest was implemented in a BSc in Physical and Biomolecular Sciences course in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the results of this study, the WebQuest has improved the MIL competence of students and motivated them towards learning Biochemistry.

Resumo: Introdução: A importância da divulgação científica (DC) ficou em evidência diante da pandemia de COVID-19, que aproximou cientistas das mídias populares de forma sem precedentes. No entanto, a formação desses profissionais para a comunicação com públicos não-especialistas ainda é incipiente. Pensando em contribuir com iniciativas que visam suprir tal necessidade, foi simulado um ambiente de uma revista de DC na qual bacharelandos em química, no papel de jornalistas de ciência, foram convidados a redigir textos de divulgação científica (TDC) sobre a COVID-19. Objetivos: Este trabalho objetiva analisar o conteúdo textual produzido pelos estudantes, destacando as potencialidades e fragilidades dos TDC. Métodos: Para tal, foram empregados os fundamentos da Análise de Conteúdo (AC), que propiciou a caracterização dos TDC na perspectiva dos elementos recorrentes neste tipo de produção. Nessa perpectiva, o material analisado foi submetido a um processo de cinco etapas: (i) preparação das informações; (ii) transformação do conteúdo em unidades de análise; (iii) categorização do material, que emergiu de um Quadro Analítico de TDC; (iv) descrição das categorias; (v) e interpretação dos resultados. Resultados: Os estudantes empregaram recursos visuais e textuais para o apelo à atenção do leitor; mostraram preocupação com a contextualização da informação; e disseminação de uma visão não distorcida da produção científica, a partir do detalhamento das características da atividade científica. Ficou também mostrado que TDC com menor emprego de recursos linguísticos podem resultar em abordagens mais conceituais e técnicas. Conclusões: Esta experiência corroborou o potencial dos estudantes em promover informações sobre ciência para audiências leigas, já que se encontram próximos tanto do público não-especializado quanto da comunidade acadêmica; e reforçou a aplicabilidade da AC de relacionar categorias analíticas de TDC reportadas na literatura a casos mais particulares, como o aqui descrito.

Abstract: Introduction: The importance of public communication of science and technology (PCST) became evident in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought scientists closer to popular media in an unprecedented way. However, the training of these professionals to communicate with non-specialist audiences is still incipient. Thinking about contributing to initiatives that aim to meet this need, an environment of a PST magazine was simulated in which chemistry bachelor students, in the role of science journalists, were invited to write popular science texts (PST) on COVID-19. Goals: This work aims to analyze the textual content produced by students, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of PST. Methods: To this end, the foundations of Content Analysis (CA) were used, which allowed the characterization of PST from the perspective of recurrent elements in this type of production. From this perspective, the material analyzed was submitted to a five-step process: (i) preparation of information; (ii) transformation of content into units of analysis; (iii) categorization of the material, which emerged from a PST Analytical Framework; (iv) description of the categories; (v) and interpretation of results. Results: The students used visual and textual resources to appeal to the reader's attention; showed concern with the contextualization of information; and dissemination of an undistorted view of scientific production, from the detailing of the characteristics of scientific activity. It was also shown that PST with less use of linguistic features can result in more conceptual and technical approaches. Conclusions: This experience corroborated the students' potential to promote information about science to lay audiences, as they are close to both the non-specialized public and the academic community; and reinforced the applicability of CA to relate analytical categories of PST reported in the literature to more particular cases, such as the one described here.

Resumo: Introdução: A argumentação é uma habilidade fundamental para a vida em sociedade, estando presente em diversos contextos cotidianos e no ensino de ciências, com o qual contribui significativamente. Desse modo, sua inserção na educação em química é cada vez mais recorrente, sendo reportada em diversos trabalhos. Assim, uma produção acadêmica expressiva sobre o assunto tem sido observada, a qual carece de estudos para organizá-la e identificar suas tendências, lacunas e potenciais contribuições. Objetivos: O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em identificar e analisar as publicações em periódicos brasileiros sobre argumentação na educação em química, ocorridas no período de 2000 a 2020. Métodos: Para tal, foram selecionados periódicos A1, A2, B1 e B2 das áreas de Ensino e Educação do programa Qualis da CAPES cujos títulos reportavam ao ensino de ciências. Em tais revistas foram empregados como termos de busca os vocábulos químicas e argumentação, os quais deveriam estar presente nos títulos, resumos e/ou palavras-chave dos trabalhos. Foram obtidos 27 artigos que possuíam estrita relação com a temática investigada, que foram classificados de acordo com seu ano de publicação, nível de escolaridade e foco temático privilegiado. Resultados: Constatou-se que as publicações identificadas tiveram início em 2005, atingindo seu ápice nos anos de 2019 e 2020. Ainda, os níveis escolares privilegiados foram o ensino médio e o superior, enquanto que os principais focos temáticos dos trabalhos foram o emprego de estratégias para promover a argumentação e sua inserção na formação de professores. Conclusões: Os resultados mostraram que investigações sobre a temática encontram-se em franco crescimento e que diferentes aspectos da argumentação têm sido explorados pelos pesquisadores da área. Entretanto, a escassez de estudos direcionados ao ensino fundamental é uma lacuna a ser superada.

Abstract: Introduction: Argumentation is a fundamental skill for life in society, which can be found in different everyday contexts and in science education, to which it contributes significantly. Argumentation has been recurrent in chemical education and reported in various studies. Thus, significant academic production on argumentation in chemistry education has been observed, which lacks studies to organize it and identify its trends, gaps and potential contributions. Goals: The present study aims to identify and analyze publications in Brazilian journals on argumentation in the chemistry education, published between 2000 and 2020. Methods: To do this, journals A1, A2, B1 and B2 were selected from Teaching and Education areas of the CAPES Qualis program, whose titles are related to science education. In these journals, the words chemical and argumentation were used as search terms, which should be present in the titles, abstracts and/or keywords of the studies. Twenty-seven articles that were closely linked to the topic investigated were obtained and then classified according to their year of publication, level of education and privileged thematic focus. Results: It was found that publications on argumentation in chemistry education in Brazilian journals began in 2005, reaching their peak in 2019 and 2020. Furthermore, secondary and higher education school levels were the most recurrent, while the main thematic foci of the studies were the use of strategies to promote argumentation and its inclusion in teacher education. Conclusions: The outcomes showed that the topic is growing fast and that different argument aspects have been explored by researchers from the educational field. However, the lack of studies regarding elementary education is a gap to be filled.

COOPERATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING TO TEACH CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM TO FRESHMAN STUDENTS. This paper describes cooperative (jigsaw) and collaborative activities (Peer-Led Team Learning) carried out in the BSc degree in Chemistry at the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, the University of São Paulo, Brazil. The dynamics of discursive interactions established among students in the cooperative and collaborative groups was investigated based on the Model proposed by Kumpulainen and Mutanen, by analyzing the following: functions of speech, cognitive processing and social processing. In this perspective, the influence of the level of structure of the activities was studied. The results obtained point to the possibility of adapting both types of activities in higher education chemistry courses.

ENEQ ANNALS: WHAT DO THEY TELL US ABOUT CHEMISTRY EDUCATION AREA IN BRAZIL? Academic production on Chemistry Education in Brazil is abundant. The network of participants that contribute to it is vast, spread across all geographic regions. This network is responsible for carrying out actions that have led to consolidating the area of Chemistry Education. This article analyzes all the annals now available from the Encontro Nacional de Ensino de Química (ENEQ) and establishes relationships between events that took place at the conferences and the previously mentioned consolidation (analysis period: 1982 to 2018). In addition, the authorship of the works presented at ENEQ (analysis period: 1982 to 2010) was investigated, enabling us to identify professionals who offered relevant contributions to help construct the current scenario in the area.

THE APPLICATION OF A COMIC STRIP, TRINITY, IN CHEMISTRY EDUCATION. Faced with obstacles encountered in lessons and the search for actions that meet current educational needs, some attention has been paid to the role of comics as instructional tool. This article focuses on the use of a comic strip, Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb, to develop knowledge and promote science learning. Three case studies were extracted from the comic and implemented to a group of pre-service chemistry teachers. A questionnaire was utilized to assess their perceptions about the usefulness of comics for their learning. One hundred percent of students indicated that comics helped improve their understanding of the nature of science. On the basis of the data, comic strips may be utilized as an acceptable educational tool in science education.

This work presents an analytical framework focusing on the evaluation of contributions of formative actions to teaching practice. It consists of thirteen indicators, distributed into four levels, The framework was developed from analyzing participants’ final assignment, who attended a Specialization Course in Teaching Methodology in Natural Sciences, offered in a non-formal education setting. Potentialities and limitations related to the teacher education framework are discussed, as well as its application in the context of teaching chemistry.

Resumen Alunos de graduação em química de um curso semestral de comunicação científica, oferecido na Universidade de São Paulo, com duas horas de aula por semana, produziram textos argumentativos sobre a temática biodiesel com base na literatura científica primária. Um componente integral do curso foi o processo de peer-review, a partir do qual os alunos receberam feedback dos colegas sobre os seus textos, antes de fazer a submissão dos mesmos à avaliação do professor. Com o propósito de encorajar a elaboração de comentários de revisão proveitosos, uma rubrica foi empregada. Um questionário foi aplicado para obtenção das opiniões dos alunos sobre o processo. Este exige que os mesmos se posicionem frente a quinze afirmativas, usando escala Likert de cinco pontos (1 = concordo fortemente a 5 = discordo fortemente), e após cada uma delas consta um espaço para a redação de comentários. Os resultados dos questionários indicaram que os alunos perceberam melhoria nas suas habilidades de pensamento crítico, argumentação e comunicação científica e na aquisição de conhecimentos sobre a temática biodiesel.

Abstract In a semester science communication course that met for 2 hours once a week at the University of São Paulo, undergraduate chemistry students produced argumentative texts about biodiesel by using primary scientific literature. An integral component of the course was peer-review, whereby students received feedback on their drafts from a peer before submitting them to the professor. To encourage students to provide useful review comments, a rubric was used. A questionnaire was distributed to assess students’ opinions about the process. It asked students to answer fifteen statements using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree). There was a space for written comments after each statement. The results of the questionnaire indicated that students perceived an increase in their argument, critical-thinking and communication skills, and on the acquisition of knowledge about biodiesel.

Although the impacts of science discoveries are relevant to society, awareness of this intellectual output is still minimal. Much of this communicative failure between researchers and the general public lies in the disclosure, which contributes to the superficiality and misinterpretations of the content served. Strategies need to be found to improve science communication worldwide, promoting well-grounded content and accessible language to a non-specialist audience. This work aims to report writing strategies used in a course about public communication of science, offered to undergraduate chemistry students. The results showed that students fully achieved the task of writing popular science texts as a science journalist, emphasizing their ease and difficulties throughout the activity.

Research in the area of science teaching has highlighted the importance of using argumentation in the classroom, as well as preparing teachers to undertake and conduct activities of this nature. In order to bring elements that contribute to the progress of discussions about the subject, we investigated implementing and developing two teaching strategies (ludic activities and chemistry experiments) in lessons taught by pre-service teachers in supervised internships and we identified their pro-argumentation actions. The results showed that pre-service teachers not fully achieved the task of promoting argumentation practices in chemistry classes, emphasizing their ease and difficulties throughout the activity.

Inscriptions - graphs, diagrams, photographs, tables, and so forth - are central to scientific practice. In this study, a semiotic model was used to evaluate the reading of inscriptions by undergraduate chemistry students when giving oral presentations based on original research articles about environmental chemistry. Results revealed that the model helps to identify the extension of the adequacy of using inscriptions by the students in communicative situations. Potentialities and limitations of the model for chemistry education are discussed.

Resumen Entre los diversos desafíos de la Educación en Ciencias (EC), familiarizar a los alumnos con relación al lenguaje científico y llevarlos a comprender aspectos de la Naturaleza de la Ciencia (Ndc) son elementos tan importantes como la enseñanza y aprendizaje de conceptos científicos. Si bien estos dos primeros desafíos se exploran ampliamente en la investigación de la EC, vemos poca preocupación en articularos. Nos preguntamos en qué medida el lenguaje canónico científico ha contribuido al mantenimiento o la ruptura de las visiones de la ciencia que reflejan cómo el conocimiento científico es producido. En este sentido, este artículo teórico pretende explorar estas relaciones basadas en la contribución del Análisis del Discurso (AD) de línea francesa, que nos permite reconocer los efectos del significado del texto científico, y las investigaciones recientes sobre Ndc, que discuten aspectos fundamentales para comprender el proceso de producción de conocimiento científico. Identificamos tres articulaciones fructíferas entre estas perspectivas, basadas en la caracterización del discurso científico basado en AD: la ausencia de subjetividad y la dimensión humana del trabajo científico; la prohibición a la interpretación y los aspectos comunicativos, históricos y creativos del proceso de producción de conocimiento científico y la intertextualidad explícita y / o el carácter colectivo del trabajo del científicoO Concluimos que este tipo de análisis ilustra que un lenguaje científico condensa elementos que contribuyen tanto a ratificar puntos de vista distorsionados de ciencia como a rectificarlos, lo cual tiene implicaciones para la enseñanza y las investigaciones en EC.

Abstract Among the many challenges of Science Education (SE), familiarizing students with scientific language and getting them to understand aspects of the Nature of Science (NOS) are as important elements as teaching and learning scientific concepts. Although these first two challenges are widely explored in SE research, we see little concern in articulating them. We wonder to what extent canonical scientific language itself contributes to maintaining or breaking with views of science that reflect the way scientific knowledge is produced? In this sense, this theoretical article intends to explore these relations from the contribution of the French Discourse Analysis (DA), which allows us to recognize the meaning effects of the scientific text, and recent research on NOS, which discuss fundamental aspects for the understanding of the process of production of scientific knowledge. We identified three fruitful articulations between these perspectives, starting from the characterization of scientific discourse based on DA: the absence of subjectivity and the human dimension of scientific work; the interdiction to interpretation and communicative, historical and creative aspects of the scientific knowledge production process; and the explicit intertextuality and collective character of the scientist's work. We conclude that this kind of analysis illustrates that scientific language condenses elements that contribute both to ratify distorted views of science and to rectify them, which implies teaching and research in SE.

Resumo Dentre os diversos desafios da Educação em Ciências (EC), familiarizar os alunos em relação à linguagem científica e levá-los a compreender aspectos da Natureza da Ciência (Ndc) são elementos tão importantes quanto o ensino e aprendizagem de conceitos científicos. Embora esses dois primeiros desafios sejam bastante explorados nas pesquisas em EC percebemos pouca preocupação em articulá-los. Nos perguntamos em que medida a própria linguagem científica canónica contribui para a manutenção ou ruptura com visões de ciência que refletem a forma como o conhecimento científico é produzido? Nesse sentido, este artigo teórico pretende explorar essas relações a partir da contribuição da Análise do Discurso (AD) de linha francesa, que nos permite reconhecer os efeitos de sentido do texto científico, e das pesquisas recentes sobre Ndc, que discutem aspectos fundamentais para o entendimento do processo de produção do conhecimento científico. Identificamos três articulações frutíferas entre essas perspectivas, partindo da caracterização do discurso científico com base na AD: a ausência de subjetividade e a dimensão humana do trabalho científico; a interdição a interpretação e aspectos comunicativos, históricos e criativos do processo de produção do conhecimento científico e a intertextualidade explícita e o caráter coletivo do trabalho do cientista. Concluímos que esse tipo de análise ilustra que a linguagem científica condensa elementos que contribuem tanto para ratificar visões distorcidas de ciência quanto para retificá-las, o que implica para o ensino e as pesquisas em EC.

Collective authorship or a text written by more than one person in a computer-based environment can bring significant benefits to chemistry teaching, mainly concerning flexibilizing forms of interaction among those involved and collaborative construction of knowledge. This work investigates collective authorship activities based on constructing argumentative texts in groups with the participation of undergraduate chemistry students. In the activity, those involved, divided into groups, followed the textual production process aiming to present a joint solution for case studies. It was possible to understand aspects of collective work in the authorship process in question regarding collaboration and cooperation based on two perspectives considered crucial for collaborative writing: conditions offered by the electronic platform called eduqui.info, and in which contexts these possibilities were present in the writing process; and the organisational aspects of the activity. Overall, groups chose to collaborate more than cooperate. In other words, data shows that most of the students worked collaboratively in groups.

Oral presentation (OP) integrates social practices from the academic community, whereby knowledge about the subjects under study can be disseminated and discussed. On the other hand, systematic work is not verified for learning this genre in undergraduate chemistry teaching. In this perspective, this article aims to report on a classroom activity used in a scientific communication course in order to improve the skills needed for chemistry students to develop OP. The students were asked to prepare an OP by reading original research articles published in the Química Nova journal on the subject of biodiesel. The OPs were analyzed according to the Teachable Dimensions of the Oral Presentation Genre so as to indicate both the actions that make the production of this genre feasible and those that hinder it. The results suggest the relevance of commitment to OP teaching and learning in chemistry courses, which is a complex activity, but fundamental for undergraduate education.