TEACHING COSMIC RAYS IN HIGH SCHOOL THROUGH THE THREE PEDAGOGICAL MOMENTS

Abstract

This work is an excerpt from the Undergraduate Final Project entitled “A Didactic Sequence on Cosmic Rays Using the Three Pedagogical Moments.” Its objective is to present a teaching activity for high school that enables the inclusion of topics from modern and contemporary physics, using cosmic rays as the central theme. As a broad subject, it allows for connections between basic and modern physics concepts. To guide the content approach, Chevallard’s theory of didactic transposition was adopted as the theoretical framework, and the methodology was based on the three pedagogical moments proposed by Delizoicov and Angotti. This method, inspired by Paulo Freire’s ideas, seeks to relate scientific knowledge to everyday situations through problematization. Based on this framework, the discussion of cosmic rays in high school involves key topics such as order of magnitude, atomic models, and electric charges, along with less common content like Cherenkov Radiation, enabling an understanding of how the detection tanks at the Pierre Auger Observatory work. At the end of the sequence, students are encouraged to create presentations using the concepts explored throughout the activities.