Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UNDERGRADUATE PHYSICS STUDENTS REGARDING SOCIAL INCLUSION OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS

This work investigated the discipline Physics Teaching and Social Inclusion, created three years ago as an elective in the Bachelor's Degree in Physics. Our objective was to determine the opinion of students about inclusive education in Physics at the university, for possible changes in the course. We used Focus Group and Discourse of the Collective Subject to identify social representations. The results showed that inclusion is not a topic that mobilizes undergraduate students, and does not constitute a social representation. On the other hand, the notion that Physics teaching is associated with difficulties that can only be confronted by students who conform to a normal pattern represents an object of social representation, because it generated both contradictory and convergent concepts, views and behaviors. This result indicates that our students still do not accept that visually impaired persons can learn Physics.

Social Representation; Physics Teaching; Social Inclusion


Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Av. Antonio Carlos, 6627, CEP 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil, Tel.: (55 31) 3409-5338, Fax: (55 31) 3409-5337 - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil
E-mail: ensaio@fae.ufmg.br