Abstract

GARCIA, Edwin Germán. Science Images in University Textbooks. Contributions for New Rhetoric from the Experimental Activity in Electrostatics. Rev. Fac. Cienc. Tecnol. [online]. 2017, n.41, pp.149-167. ISSN 0121-3814.

The article presents a study of the rhetoric of fundamental physics university textbooks, identifying the juxtaposition in images of science, conceptual problems, absence of experimental activity, and coincidence with explanations given by students related to the meanings in electrostatics. The project was developed in three phases: first, the selection of the texts under study, according to level of use and consultation by teachers and university students. Second, the identification of the rhetoric present in the discursive development of the text and the experimental activity associated with electrostatics, according to the analysis techniques suggested by Van Dijk. Finally, a comparison was made between the rhetoric of the texts and the students' explanations of the electrostatic phenomena. Systemic networks on experimental narratives associated with science, didactics and reader models were also used.

The article emphasizes the little importance given to the experimental activity and the absence of the historical sense of knowledge about electricity in the texts, which favors distorted images of scientific activity and a lack of explanations about the phenomena under study. It also analyzes the importance of reflecting the historical meaning of knowledge, the relevance of experimental activity, and the exercise of a rhetoric of the development of explanations and meanings associated with electrostatics.

Keywords : University texts; rhetoric; experimental activity; electrostatics; alternative proposal..

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