This work analyses the book Practical Problems of Elemental Physics, written by Heitor Lyra da Silva and published between 1916 and 1929. It was written to students of the elementary and high schools, and technical courses. Unlike the current teaching methods, didactics intended to be as simple and objective as possible. The proposed instruments are of a basic conception and can be easily assembled by teachers and students anywhere in the country. The teaching method is direct learning, based on repetition of the experiments and a critical analysis of experimental data. The structure and the objective of the book show characteristics of the so called Renovation Movement, consolidated in the 1920s, whose objective was to establish an individual education, respecting the differences of the development of each student. However, the new educational ideas under liberal principles have failed to overcome the conservative currents that dominated the Brazilian educational scenario. This new didactic proposal was later abandoned.
physics teaching; experimental physics
