Os transgênicos do dia a dia: como os alunos do ensino médio os identificam e compreendem

Abstract

Education, according to Freire (2003) is the constant process of knowledge creation. Batista and Moraes (2019) define Education as “a reflection of society, of the political, historical and cultural context in which it is inserted, being reformulated according to the interests of the community”. Within the discussions in education, the Teaching of Science by Research, where the student's role in the construction of knowledge and its association with daily life is sought, has become evident. In the biology curriculum, biotechnology is a prominent topic, due to its influence on the daily life of society. For example, we can mention the methods of PCR, cloning, gene therapy, and also their products, such as vaccines, improved foods, drug development, among others. A topic within biotechnology is GM foods. Although we are surrounded by transgenic products, most students are not able to perceive them and do not even identify their presence or that of other biotechnological products in their daily lives. This research seeks to verify the perception and understanding of transgenic foods by high school students, through a didactic sequence based on Science Teaching by Research. To achieve our goal, we use strategies that involve Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT). Through teacher mediation focused on the consolidation of skills and competences by students on the topic, the production of scientific dissemination videos was obtained as a final product. Our results demonstrate through the evaluation of the pre-sequence and post-didactic sequence questionnaires, that a significant portion of the students managed to expand their knowledge about transgenics and biotechnology. The videos produced by the students presented a scientific content, with language that covers the general public, and were disseminated during the 1st Virtual Science Exhibition of the school that hosts the project. At the end, we realized that the didactic sequence can be applied in person, remote or in a hybrid system, thus becoming an instrument that can be used by other teacher looking for addressing the theme.