Panorama de atividades de ensino e divulgação científica em genética: interfaces entre o Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Genética) e o ensino básico
Carregando...
Data
2017-02-24
Autores
Barbosa, Cassiane Martins [UNESP]
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título de Volume
Editor
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Resumo
O envolvimento de adolescentes nas práticas educativas, principalmente no espaço escolar, mostra-se um grande desafio. Esse fato pode estar relacionado a inúmeros fatores, como ausência de aulas criativas e infraestrutura escolar adequada, número excessivo de alunos por turma, desatualização dos conteúdos de ensino-aprendizagem pelos professores, falta de tempo para planejamento das atividades escolares, carga horária excessiva e ausência de apoio pedagógico para o planejamento didático. Esses fatores, associados a outros problemas sociais e econômicos, podem levar os adolescentes, que estão em um período de transição da infância para a vida adulta - vivendo transformações fisiológicas, cognitivas, psicológicas e comportamentais - a manifestar seu desinteresse pelos estudos ou mesmo a evadir da escola. O abandono da escola ou a precarização da formação empobrecem sua preparação para o mercado de trabalho e o exercício da cidadania. Segundo indicadores nacionais e internacionais, esta deficiência do ensino-aprendizagem resulta em um baixo rendimento escolar, especialmente na área de Ciências. Sabendo da importância e contribuição de um adequado ensino de Ciências e suas Tecnologias (C&Ts) para formação crítica e de uma sociedade mais equilibrada e justa, as mesmas devem ser difundidas e expandidas a todos os níveis de ensino, especialmente ao Ensino Médio, momento em que os jovens assumem importante papel na sociedade e que decidem seguir ou não a vida universitária. Desta forma, atividades de divulgação da ciência não devem ser assumidas apenas pela escola, mas também por parte das universidades e centros de pesquisa, que podem ser considerados fontes geradoras de novos conhecimentos e tecnologias. O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Genética) do Instituto de Biociências da UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) realiza atividades de popularização da ciência por meio do oferecimento de cursos de férias para estudantes do Ensino Médio e produção de materiais didáticos. Denominados de “Experimentando Genética”, tais cursos pautam-se em atividades experimentais e lúdicas que visam divulgar tópicos que fazem parte do conteúdo curricular de Genética do Ensino Médio e recentes avanços da área de Biologia Molecular. Diante disso, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal avaliar as contribuições do processo vivenciado pelos alunos do Ensino Médio participantes dos cursos de férias realizados entre os anos 2007 a 2016, por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória, de caráter quantitativo e qualitativo. Esta análise assumiu, como procedimento técnico, o estudo de caso para avaliar dados coletados por meio de questionários (análise quantitativa e qualitativa) e de entrevistas (análise qualitativa) focados em conteúdos do tipo categorial temático. Foram analisados 330 questionários referentes ao período de 2007 a 2016, 132 formulários associados ao período de 2013 a 2016 e 35 entrevistas referentes aos anos de 2015 e 2016. A análise dos resultados procurou destacar predominantemente os aspectos pessoais dos alunos e a metodologia empregada nas atividades dos cursos de férias, bem como o relacionamento interpessoal. Os dados levantados indicaram que os cursos de férias “Experimentando Genética” contribuem efetivamente na aprendizagem de tópicos da área de Genética e de Biologia Molecular devido à sua metodologia diferenciada, pautada em atividades interativas e em questionamentos dos próprios alunos. Tais fatores promovem a atenção dos alunos, além de possibilitar aos participantes um conhecimento autônomo e suscitar discussões críticas. Adicionalmente, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo suplementar o desenvolvimento de um material didático como instrumento de divulgação científica. Este material, que deverá ser impresso na forma de uma cartilha educativa, abordou os temas mais destacados pelos alunos participantes dos cursos de férias, como estrutura do DNA e RNA, replicação, transcrição e tradução, utilizando uma linguagem adequada aos adolescentes e que poderá contribuir para a prática educativa de professores do ensino básico. Os resultados obtidos reforçam a importância, no ensino e aprendizagem de Biologia, da utilização de práticas e materiais didáticos que envolvem atividades investigativas e dinâmicas e a participação ativa dos alunos e também demonstram a relevância de atividades interativas e de popularização cientifica entre pós-graduação e ensino básico.
The involvement of teenagers on educational practices, especially inside classrooms, is a huge challenge. This fact can be correlated to several aspects, as the lack of innovative lessons and satisfactory school infrastructure, excessive number of students per class, non up-dated teaching-learning contents by educators, absence of time to plan school activities, excessive workload and lack of pedagogical support for educational scheduling. These factors, associated to other economic and social problems, can direct teenagers that stand in a transition period from childhood to adult life - dealing with physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes - to demonstrate their lack of interest for learning or even to evade school. The academic dropout or the poor quality system education impoverishes their career preparation and citizenship practice. According to national and international indexes, this teaching-learning deficiency results on a negligible educational performance, mainly at the Science area. As a satisfactory instruction of Science and its Technologies (S&T) is important and can contribute to a critical development and to a more reasonable and equitable society, they should be diffused and expanded to all educational levels, specially to High School, the period that young students assume an important role on society and also decide to get in an university. Therefore, science popularization activities can be emphasized by schools and also by universities and research centers, which can be considered as sources of innovative knowledge and new technologies. The graduate program on Biological Sciences (Genetics) of the Biosciences Institute of UNESP (São Paulo State University) promotes science popularization activities through vacation courses for High School students and production of educational materials. The entitled “Experiencing Genetics” courses are based on experimental and playful activities that intend to highlight Genetics topics that are included at the High School curricular content and also emphasize recent advances on Molecular Biology. Hence, the main goal of the present work was to evaluate the contributions of the process experienced by High School students that took part in the vacation courses during the years of 2007 to 2016, throughout an exploratory research that was based on a quantitative and qualitative character. This analysis assumed, as a technical procedure, a case study in order to evaluate data collected by questionnaires (quantitative and qualitative analysis) and by interviews (qualitative analysis) focused on thematic categorical contents. We analyzed 330 questionnaires referring to the period of 2007 to 2016, 132 questionnaires associated to the period of 2013 to 2016, and 35 interviews related to 2015 and 2016. The analysis of the obtained data mainly highlighted personal aspects of the students and the methodology that was applied at the vacation courses activities, as also interpersonal relationships. The outlined results indicated that the “Experiencing Genetics” vacation courses contribute to an effective learning of Genetics and Molecular Biology topics due to its differential methodology, based on interactive activities and personal questions. These factors promote the attention of the students 10 and also result on a freestanding knowhow and critical discussions. Moreover, the present work had a secondary objective in order to develop an educational material as a scientific divulgation tool. This material, that should be printed as an educational primer book, involved the terms that were more stressed out by the students of the vacation courses, as DNA and RNA structure, replication, transcription, and translation, using an adequate language for youngster scholars and that contribute to the educational practice of school teachers. The obtained results reinforce the importance, at the Biology teaching-learning process, of the use of educational practices and materials that involve investigative and dynamic activities and the effective students´ participation, and also demonstrate the relevance of integrative activities and science popularization between graduate and basic education.
The involvement of teenagers on educational practices, especially inside classrooms, is a huge challenge. This fact can be correlated to several aspects, as the lack of innovative lessons and satisfactory school infrastructure, excessive number of students per class, non up-dated teaching-learning contents by educators, absence of time to plan school activities, excessive workload and lack of pedagogical support for educational scheduling. These factors, associated to other economic and social problems, can direct teenagers that stand in a transition period from childhood to adult life - dealing with physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes - to demonstrate their lack of interest for learning or even to evade school. The academic dropout or the poor quality system education impoverishes their career preparation and citizenship practice. According to national and international indexes, this teaching-learning deficiency results on a negligible educational performance, mainly at the Science area. As a satisfactory instruction of Science and its Technologies (S&T) is important and can contribute to a critical development and to a more reasonable and equitable society, they should be diffused and expanded to all educational levels, specially to High School, the period that young students assume an important role on society and also decide to get in an university. Therefore, science popularization activities can be emphasized by schools and also by universities and research centers, which can be considered as sources of innovative knowledge and new technologies. The graduate program on Biological Sciences (Genetics) of the Biosciences Institute of UNESP (São Paulo State University) promotes science popularization activities through vacation courses for High School students and production of educational materials. The entitled “Experiencing Genetics” courses are based on experimental and playful activities that intend to highlight Genetics topics that are included at the High School curricular content and also emphasize recent advances on Molecular Biology. Hence, the main goal of the present work was to evaluate the contributions of the process experienced by High School students that took part in the vacation courses during the years of 2007 to 2016, throughout an exploratory research that was based on a quantitative and qualitative character. This analysis assumed, as a technical procedure, a case study in order to evaluate data collected by questionnaires (quantitative and qualitative analysis) and by interviews (qualitative analysis) focused on thematic categorical contents. We analyzed 330 questionnaires referring to the period of 2007 to 2016, 132 questionnaires associated to the period of 2013 to 2016, and 35 interviews related to 2015 and 2016. The analysis of the obtained data mainly highlighted personal aspects of the students and the methodology that was applied at the vacation courses activities, as also interpersonal relationships. The outlined results indicated that the “Experiencing Genetics” vacation courses contribute to an effective learning of Genetics and Molecular Biology topics due to its differential methodology, based on interactive activities and personal questions. These factors promote the attention of the students 10 and also result on a freestanding knowhow and critical discussions. Moreover, the present work had a secondary objective in order to develop an educational material as a scientific divulgation tool. This material, that should be printed as an educational primer book, involved the terms that were more stressed out by the students of the vacation courses, as DNA and RNA structure, replication, transcription, and translation, using an adequate language for youngster scholars and that contribute to the educational practice of school teachers. The obtained results reinforce the importance, at the Biology teaching-learning process, of the use of educational practices and materials that involve investigative and dynamic activities and the effective students´ participation, and also demonstrate the relevance of integrative activities and science popularization between graduate and basic education.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Cursos experimentais, Divulgação científica, Ensino Médio, Ensino de ciências, Ensino-aprendizagem