Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

History of science, interdisciplinarity and physics teaching: the Maxwell's Demon problem

We propose that an evolution of scientific ideas be used as an instrument of learning specific content and, also how the subjects permeate the disciplines. As an example, we present a study about the "Maxwell's demon" problem and some discussions about its "exorcization", that is, an understanding of the nature of the intelligent being that acts inside a physical system and what is the meaning of the performance. Several phenomena are involved in this problem within the theories - Thermodynamics, Molecular Physics, Statistical Mechanics, Information Theory - and disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computation. Among several epistemological and conceptual questions concerned with this problem, we will emphasize the limits to the objectives of a scientific theory, that is, the limitation of the meaning of a theory to the range of phenomena it describes and explains. The delimitation of the studied phenomena, and also the theories and the techniques, characterize the understanding that will accomplish its concrete emergenge in the laboratory. This comprehension will also give the possibility of interdisciplinary actions.

Physics Education; History and Epistemology of Physics; Limit of meaning of a Scientific Theory; Interdisciplinarity


Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação para a Ciência, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências, campus de Bauru. Av. Engenheiro Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube, 14-01, Campus Universitário - Vargem Limpa CEP 17033-360 Bauru - SP/ Brasil , Tel./Fax: (55 14) 3103 6177 - Bauru - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista@fc.unesp.br