AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH

摘要

It can be argued that knowledge of "phase diagrams" is a precondition to all materials science, since this tool is fundamental to understand and justify many of the process-microstructure-property relationships observed in the technology. Consequently, teaching phase diagrams assumes a prominent role in most undergraduate engineering courses. The present work identifies the set of beliefs associated with the knowledge of phase diagrams and discusses their impact on learning. The structure of three disciplines of the Materials Engineering undergraduate course at the Escola Politecnica da Universidade de Sao Paulo, held up to the 5th semester, is analyzed, regarding their methodological aspects. Understanding the relational interdisciplinary connections help to identify how the main beliefs associated with phase diagrams are chronologically introduced to the students and to suggest a relevance order to this process resulting in a less traumatic experience (with a consequent gain in learning ability).