The present work consists of the development of a didactic sequence (DS) to guide technical professionals in conducting visits to Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP). The didactic sequence was worked as a strategy to enhance the visit by transforming the technical knowledge into taught knowledge, and its development was articulated with the theoretical content taught in public elementary and high schools. To analyze the chemistry content, two books used in public schools in the city of Itajubá-MG were chosen. Each step of sewage treatment represents an element in the DS, which was elaborated based on the theory of didactic transposition advocated by Chevallard (1991) and elaborated considering the steps of the DS advocated by Zabala (1998). The DS was analyzed according to the principles of Didactic Transposition (DT) advocated by Astolfi (1995). It was also proposed the use of a questionnaire to be filled in by the visitor at the end of the visit in order to improve the DS. It is hoped that this DS will help the technical professionals during the visit and to provide a better use of the visit by students of basic education.

In view of the difficulties of contextualizing the contents worked in the subject of chemistry with the daily of students to facilitate their understanding and make the teaching and learning processes more effective, teachers resort to various teaching strategies and didactic resources to energize their classes and arouse the interest of students. Therefore, this work aims to propose a didactic sequence (DS), focusing on the Science, Technology and Society (STC) approach, using a game as a didactic resource, to be used by teachers in the final years of Elementary II and High School. The methodology used was qualitative research having the data regarding the contributions of the use of didactic resources and the STC approach present in the DS, analyzing elements that would confer to the didactic sequence and the game, a STC character. It was found that the STC approach associated with the use of the didactic game, contributes significantly to the teaching of chemistry, bringing students closer to the content and motivating them to build knowledge in a playful and efficient way.

This research has as objective the presentation of a didactic sequence (DS) to the teaching of soil chemistry, based on the use of the syntropic agriculture, and investigate the potential to approach the relation between science, technology and society (STS). Guided on the theoretical references, STS teaching approach, and on concepts about soil chemistry and syntropic agriculture the steps of the DS were woven. The DS was designed to the target audience of students from the second year of the high school and was built in nine stages that contain activities such as: presentation and discussion on videos and news related to the theme; experimental practices and problem situation resolution; growing vegetables garden at school; collection, organization and presentation of project data. The elaboration of the DS followed the STS teaching structure, since the proposal begins by introducing a social theme, going on to technical-scientific discussions and later returning to the initial question. It was also found that, throughout the main activities proposed in DS, several elements of science, technology and society, as well as their relationship, were inserted.

The present research aims developing and validating a Didactic Sequence, using digital information and communication technologies towards formation of high school students, considering the Scientific Literacy and the deepening of concepts that are present in students' daily life. In addition, the proposal presents itself as a practical possibility of bringing up technologies, scientific knowledge, and making teachers and students closer. It is intended that this Didactic Sequence can be applied as a pedagogical support for the teaching of basic genetics, helping teachers and students in the process of teaching this content. Toward the development of this Didactic Sequence, the Learning Styles and the Scientific Literacy indicators proposed by Sasseron (2008) were considered, aiming the improvement of the students in the Scientific Literacy perspective. The proposed Didactic Sequence was evaluated by three biology teachers who teach both in public and private schools. Evaluators were given a questionnaire containing questions that focused on the structure of the Didactic Sequence in terms of content, organization, form and feasibility of classroom application. The evaluation of the Didactic Sequence, by teachers of the area, proved to be an important instrument for its validation, before its possible application to the students. The obtained results indicate that the resources used for the elaboration of the Didactic Sequence are simple and easy to use, indicating that it can contribute to the teaching and learning of Genetics.

Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world. After the coffee harvest, the coffee cherry goes through some processes with the objective to improve the quality of the coffee. Among these processes the coffee cherries washing and pulping processes generates large amount of wastewater which contains high amount of organic matter. The present study evaluated the efficiency of Fenton and photo-Fenton processes to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total organic carbon (TOC) and color from the coffee pulping wastewater. Wastewater samples from conventional and organic cultures, collected in 2010, were used in these studies. A preliminary characterization of the effluent showed high content of organic matter and acidic pH. The Fenton process showed to be efficient to the removal of organic matter, resulting in a reduction of 92% of COD, 95% of BOD and 69% of TOC. Use of the photo Fenton system resulted in a reduction of 98% of COD, 100% of BOD and 94% of TOC. The reduction of the wastewater color was also observed in both processes.

Although analytical techniques to assess the degradation of transformer insulation systems are well established, it is essential to develop fast and effective methodologies for monitoring the quality of power transformer insulating fluid. The objective of this work was to develop a fast, simple, and environmentally friendly method to evaluate and monitor the quality of insulating vegetable oil (IVO) from transformers, using multivariate control chart and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). For the development of the method, IVO samples were subjected to electrical and thermal stress, as well as to contact with insulating paper and copper, to simulate the internal environment of a transformer before and after energizing. Control chart based on principal component analysis was developed to monitor insulating vegetable oil quality. It was possible to identify oil samples with oxidation levels that were outside the acceptable quality standards for insulating fluid in transformers. The results demonstrated the potential of FTIR spectroscopy and control charts as fast and simple tools for monitoring the quality of insulating fluids, enabling the identification of oil samples that fail to comply with regulation standards for insulating fluids, assisting in the implementation of maintenance programs for power transformers.