Os livros didáticos, ao promoverem a circulação de ideias, valores e comportamentos desejados em determinados períodos, constituem importante ferramenta no levantamento da história de uma disciplina. Propõe-se investigar, nesse contexto, qual foi e qual é o papel dos livros didáticos na formação profissional em química, e que lugar eles vêm ocupando na dinâmica das salas de aula, tomando como locus de pesquisa uma importante universidade pública brasileira. Considerando-se fundamentos da história oral, foram entrevistados seis professores, cuja formação e atuação docente ocorreram em diferentes períodos da história da instituição. Os depoimentos sobre o papel do livro didático em suas vidas acadêmicas, como alunos e docentes, permitiram observar diferentes tendências desde o período em que o ensino de química permaneceu centrado na figura do professor até a recente opção pela adoção de um único livro didático como guia para o desenvolvimento de uma disciplina.

Textbooks constitute important research tools for the history of education, since they promote the circulation of the desired ideas, judgments and behaviours in a specific period. In this context, this paper focuses on the textbook's role in general chemistry courses in different periods, assuming as a research locus a major Brazilian public University. Considering the fundamentals of oral history, six lecturers, whose training and professional work developed in different periods of the history of the institution, were interviewed. The reports about the role of the textbook in their academic lives as students and lecturers revealed different tendencies from the lecturer-centered process of the early years, to the suggestion of using several textbooks, to the recent adoption of a single textbook as a guide to the general chemistry course.

Mental models play an important role in the evolution of an individual's so-called knowledge. Using such representations, students can explain, foresee, and attribute causality to observed phenomena. In the case of Chemistry, the ability to work mentally with models assumes great importance, due to the microscopic component that is characteristic of this science. With the objective of exploring students' ability to work with models, 27 students of the Chemistry Institute of UNESP were asked to describe the mechanisms of dissolution, in water, of NaCl, HCl and HCN, as well as the partial dissolution of I2. Due to difficulties of access to complex descriptors of these processes, each student was asked to explain the phenomena using words and drawings. The results of these investigations were analyzed, and enabled construction of a framework representing the Chemistry students' theoretical training, especially with respect to their most important transferred skill: an ability to model the physical world.