Theory and Application of Electrostatics

Researches on electrostatics’ conceptions found that students have ideas and conceptions that disagree with the scientific modelsand that might explain students’ learning difficulties. To favour the change of student’s ideas and conceptions, a teaching sequence that relies on a historical study of electrostaticsis proposed. It begins with an exploration of electrostaticsphenomena that students would do with everyday materials. About these phenomena they must draw their own explanations that will be shared and discussed in the class. The teacher will collect and summarize the ideas and explanations which are nearer the historyof science.