Spectroscopy and atomic models: a proposal to teach Modern Physics at High School

This text presents the results of a didactic sequence elaborated to discuss some modern Physics concepts. The sequence begins with the question: “how do we know the Sun’s composition if we have never been there?”. The teacher used experimental activities, simulations, texts and questions elaborated by students to discuss important concepts (spectroscopy, quantization of energy, and some atomic models). The qualitative analysis of five questions about Bohr’s model will be presented. This analysis shows that more than 50% of students wrote good answers for the questions about quantization of energy and quantization of radiation. Although the sequence was successful, the students had difficulties to relate the electron’s transitions with the rise of spectra.