Metodologias ativas e tecnologias digitais de informação e comunicação a serviço da aprendizagem sobre plantas no ensino médio

Abstract

Teachers and students have experienced the challenges of teaching Botany for many years. This work arises from observations and reflections on botanical unawareness in the school environment and its consequences for community life. It is necessary to rethink the pedagogical practice of Biology teachers, encouraging actions that include attractive ways of studying plants. In didactic sequences, active learning methods and digital information and communication technologies favor meaningful learning; especially digital tools, such as cell phones (smartphones), Mentimeter, and Google Lens, can constitute an encouraging teaching strategy. Despite the legal prohibition of the use of mobile electronic devices, including cell phones, in public and private elementary schools, it is expected that they will be used for pedagogical purposes as equipment to promote learning. Active methodologies emerge in a scenario where education has been undergoing major transformations, as effective alternatives for the teaching-learning process that aim to transcend traditional teaching, challenging students to be proactive and collaborative in their learning. Approaches such as flipped classrooms, experimental classes, and inquiry-based teaching are actions that contribute to a more conscious teaching of Botany. The activities proposed here, such as the construction of word clouds, floral dissection, and fieldwork, aim to develop critical and contextualized understanding in students. These activities are not limited to transmitting knowledge but also seek to stimulate skills and competencies that are essential for deeper and more meaningful learning about plants. The application of this project activities resulted in notable student engagement, evidenced by motivation, proactivity, and interest in topics related to Botany. This work uses motivating educational strategies that can be applied in different realities to work on content about plants in a civic-minded manner. They are simple and accessible teaching strategies that facilitate the approach to topics related to plants in the classroom, with a focus on student leadership. Although plants often receive less attention than other living beings, this work demonstrated that students recognized the undeniable importance of plants for life on Earth. As a teaching resource, we present the didactic sequence “Circuit of knowledge: plants under an integrated approach”, which summarizes the proposed activities.