Abstract:

The Scientific Research Activity began in 2006 in the Crystal Growth and Ceramic Materials Research Group (CCMC) of the Institute of Physics of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The objectives of the Scientific Research Activity are to develop material science research together with high school students from public schools, so that they can learn the scientific method and understand the process of knowledge construction. Each Scientific Research Activity has a theme defined by project coordinator and a minimum duration of 12 months. The Students frequent the research group to carry out experiments, study, analyze results, report and presentation preparations. At the end of each project, the students give presentations of the results obtained in their project at the university and in their respective schools. Altogether, twelve high school students have completed the Science Research Activity project, five of which gained admission into the public university in Brazil. Besides learning the scientific concepts related to their work in an interdisciplinary way and knowing the process of knowledge construction, throughout the course of the project, the students had changes in their attitude, being a greater responsibility towards their school activities and demystification of the university, in view of the fact that majority of public school students in Brazil are believed to be incapable of entering the university environment.

Keywords:

Scientific Research Activity, high school students.