TEACHER’S EDUCATION AND THE USE OF VISUALIZATIONS IN CHEMISTRY INSTRUCTION

The accelerated development of information and communication technologies followed by several studies in the cognitive theory area, have promoted the construction of many visual tools (3D concrete models, statics or dynamics virtual 2D and 3D images, simulations, animations, interactive software's, etc) that have been placed to the disposition of instructors. When they introduce systematically these tools in there classes, with the purpose of getting better learning results, we verify a changing in the teacher's role. He is no longer the source nor the transmitter of knowledge, but the mediator between the source and the student. The class dynamic frequently changes without the perception of the teacher. The information was predominantly presented in the verbal and gestural modes, with some punctual introduction of graphics, tables and models, with the purpose of merely illustrating the teacher's verbal presentations. With the frequent use of these tools, images became the main vehicle of information, and if the learning impact is bigger so is the risk of misconceptions if the image's choice is inappropriate. What pre-service educational training do teachers have to deal with learning/instruction processes strongly supported in visualization tools? What conceptions they have about visualization, representations and images, etc? These are the two questions that we are trying to answer throughout the development of this work. The research is qualitative. We applied a questionnaire with 12 open questions answered by 24 pre-service chemistry teachers. We concluded that their training course discusses these topics in some subjects but in superficial way. We also found that their conceptions are not solid, and sometimes even become misconceptions.