Analisando os diferentes contextos acerca do conceito de luz nos livros didáticos

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how the concept of light is presented in high school textbooks approved by the PNLD 2026-2029, considering elements of the Theory of Conceptual Profiles. This theory is based on the idea that individuals understand scientific concepts in different ways, depending on context, from zones associated with epistemological, ontological, and axiological commitments. Thus, this theory starts from a critique of teaching through conceptual change, proposing a view that admits the coexistence of scientific and non-scientific conceptions. For this research, we analyzed four textbooks, categorizing the approaches to light into four contexts: human action, optical phenomenon, color element, and wave-particle duality. The results show variation in the depth and breadth of the approaches. While some books extensively explore the four contexts, others treat the concept in a more superficial or restricted way. Thus, we emphasize that the concept of light is historically constructed and presents evident polysemy, which allows us to propose that textbooks contemplate this diversity of thought, with pragmatic value in specific contexts, to promote learning that values ​​the heterogeneity of ways of thinking and speaking about light. This also makes it possible to value the socio-historical-cultural experience of students, so that they can consciously choose the meanings most appropriate to the contexts they experience.