Teachers' perceptions of experimentation in chemistry teaching: Optimizing chemistry teaching during the internship period

This paper analyzes teachers' perceptions of the use of experiments to optimize chemistry teaching. Its objectives are: a) to systematize knowledge about experimentation in chemistry teaching as a pedagogical task for teachers; b) to find out what teachers do, and what they think about what they do, in relation to experiments to teach chemical knowledge. The research methodology is descriptive and qualitative, using observation, carried out during the internship-research period, and interviews as data collection techniques. The subjects of the research were four teachers responsible for teaching chemistry in one of the public schools in Manaus, two of whom had a degree in chemistry, one in natural sciences and another in physics, where they worked in the 9th grade of elementary school and in the three grades of secondary school. The research showed that experimentation is a method that attracts the attention of students, whose experiences are made available to teachers so that they can apply them with students, favoring the development of potential.