Investigative activities in science teaching: the use of problem-based learning with high school students

This work aims to present the results of a chemistry class held with students from the three high school grades. The learning of chemistry concepts was evaluated based on the contribution of experimental class in the process of understanding the chemical phenomena studied. The results demonstrated that Chemistry can be better understood if viewed as a visual science, but the interconnection between macroscope, microscope and symbolic levels needs to be sought to provide better understanding and positively influenced to student formation. The contextualization of knowledge proved to be a useful tool, since it aroused student’s interest in better understanding how it was possible to associate chemistry seen in the classroom with the processes and chemical phenomena that occur in everyday life.