The experimental work as possible generator of knowledge in teaching of Physics

Abstract

In this work the first findings on the knowledge of first year Engineering students are presented. The research has been carried out during the realization (by the students) of experimental activities in laboratories of basic Physics under two modalities: innovative and traditional. Some achievements and difficulties are analyzed, and they show more than enough movements in the vertical plane from the theory of conceptual fields (TCC) of Vergnaud. An investigation methodology is used under the interpretive paradigm, where the data group in categories that are not provided a priori by the theoretical framework. The corpus is formed mainly by registers of participant observation and the production of laboratory reports in collective work. Their analysis has allowed to detect operative invariantes and outlines associated to the main difficulties and to interpret the contributions in favor of the TCC of Vergnaud in the fled of the Physical Sciences. The summations show, even in their incipient character, the potentiality of this theoretical framework.