Resolução de Problemas e Problemas Abertos: Uma Investigação no Ensino de Física

This work talks about an investigation of problem solving in the context of physics teaching in a high school class, where the main goal was to analyze students’ engagement in solving physics problems. The failures observed in tests based on problem solving show the necessity to work on this subject in the classroom by the teacher and the school. Students without a proper training should not be considered able to solve pencil and paper problems and ill-structured problems in physics. Solving ill-structured problems meets philosophical positions that advocate a more active student stance during the teaching-learning process. Among other benefits, problem solving also contributes to the learning of the theory, to make the class more dynamic and to form citizens more aware of the world around and the impact of their actions on it, even outside the classroom. We concluded, then, that problem solving, especially with ill-structured ones, is a useful tool in several aspects in the teaching-learning process, in addition to being of low material cost, that is, it does not demand many resources and it can be implemented in almost any school.