As tramas do ensino de biologia celular na educação básica: conteúdo específico, prática pedagógica e formação de professores/as

Abstract

This study analyzes how Cell Biology is taught in public high schools in the Brazilian states of Goiás and Minas Gerais. We conducted a qualitative research study consisted of continuous, connected stages: first we applied questionnaires to students at public high schools of a municipality of the state of Goiás; next we promoted a teacher training course in two editions, one in Goiás and the other in Minas Gerais, with the collaboration of seven and eleven teachers, respectively; also, we followed up the teaching practice of a teacher at a public school in Goiás for one year, in the first year of high school. We analyzed the questionnaires and the students’ and teachers’ testimonies, and we triangulated the data collected in all the survey stages with the information from the focal group and the textbooks used by teachers. Then we outlined a discussion on the academic production in the field of teaching Cell Biology and Biology. The results indicated that most students understood cells as circular, flat structures, consisted of membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, and some organelles with particular functions. We also noticed that these students had difficulties to differ vegetal and animal cells; they pointed out complexities determined by the presence or absence of some components in each cell type, such as the genetic materials DNA and RNA. Another finding approached the language register used by teachers or textbooks, which employed analogies, simplifications and reductionism to help students learn the subject; however, this language resulted in distorted and/or wrong concepts about Cell Biology. During the training courses and the field research at high schools, we had profitable discussions on the teaching practice: reflections on action and in action promoted valuable moments for professional development. Therefore, we emphasize the necessity to systematize subjects on Cell Biology as a whole and to invest on continuous training for teachers by providing indispensable resources to improve the teaching-learning process on Cell Biology.