HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PERFORMANCE'S COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN ACTIVITY WITH COMPUTER MODELING AND TRADITIONAL EXPLORATORY ACTIVITY ABOUT BODY MOTION

ABSTRACT:

This paper presents an investigation of 114 students who attended the 1st High School Year in 2011' performance in activities with mathematical relationship of Average Simple and Average Speed in the study of bodies' rectilinear motion. The process involved two distinct and subsequent moments. The first moment was characterized by the application of exploratory computer modeling activities. Approximately 4,5 days after the initial activity students were submmited to a traditional activity, during a quarterly assessment, containing items of the computer modeling activity. In this perspective, the results reveal that the performance decreased to 51 students (≈ 44,7%), was held constant for 40 (≈ 35,1%) and increased to 23 (≈ 20,2%). The results also point that the use of exploratory computer modeling in activities that develop teaching of algebraic relations and numerical quantities can be a possibility to be incorporated into classroom daily life and not only in punctual and exploratory investigations.

Keywords:
Average Velocity; Computer Modeling; Performance.