Laboratory Diary: a research on higher education in chemistry

Abstract

Experimental activities in higher education in chemistry have been criticized, including for distancing themselves from research considerations in the area of science education. Therefore, the objective of this work was to analyze contributions from a laboratory diary used in a general chemistry course in a chemistry graduate course at a Brazilian institution. Twenty-seven students participated in the study. The diaries produced collectively in two classes were submitted to the procedures of discursive textual analysis. It’s pointed out that the laboratory diaries can favor an interlocution with the students' knowledge, as well as discussions of epistemological character regarding the experimentation.