A proposal to teach a physics subject using the history of science

Abstract

This article describes the analysis of the possibilities to improve the teaching of optics subjects at middle school, based upon the belief in the need to develop an essentially active methodology which includes problematizations and questionings, and in the fact that history may provide very useful elements for this. The process points to the development of a proposal with these characteristics and with history as a central thread. Throughout the work, the most serious problems of the traditional teaching of optics, some ways of overcoming them, and the way that history may be used are pointed out and illustrated.