Abstract
A research about the astronomical conceptions of 65 elementary school teachers, developed at the last module of a continuing education course, in 2012, is described. The module addressed the apparent movement of the Sun in the sky and its relation with the shadows if the objects. Two types of sundials were built and tested. A concrete model was used to simulate the phenomena. A test with five open questions was applied to the participants before and after the activities. Initially, the participants already had notions about the themes treated, because almost all recognized: the existence of variations in the position of the Sun in the sky both throughout the day as well as during the year; the existence of relations between such apparent movements and changes in the shadows of the objects; the possibility of using the shadows of the objects to measure time. However, 53.8% of the participants expressed, at first, the misconception that the Sun passes daily by zenith. And, in general, the responses had incomplete explanations. After the activities, some development in the explanations of the phenomena was observed. For example, there was an increase in the percentage of responses: indicating that the length of the shadows varies throughout the day (from 18.4% to 41.6%) and during the year (from 6.1% to 29.2%), depending on the position of the Sun; considering sundials as devices that permits the reading of the hours on the basis of the behavior of the shadows (from 3.1% to 29.3%); with the opinion that the sun is not daily by zenith (from 36.9% to 95.4%).
