Mutações genéticas: percepção docente/discente e práxis em escola pública na Planície Litorânea do Piauí

Abstract

Genetic mutations are biological conditions in which changes in cellular genetic information occur. Although perceived as negative and generally associated with disease, mutations play an important role in the evolutionary and genetic improvement process. This study aims to assess the perception of third grade teachers and students in public schools in the interior of Piauí with regard to the study of genetic mutations and to propose an Investigative Teaching Sequence (ITS) that facilitates the teaching-learning process. After approval by the Research Ethics Committee (Opinion N°. 3,271,619), the study was developed in the state public schools of the Plain of the Coast of Piauí. Data were collected through questionnaires made available on the Google Forms® platform. The teaching questionnaire showed that: 74% of teachers have specialization; 58% teach at least 24 lessons per week; 72% say that the students' lack of prior knowledge makes it difficult to teach mutations; 46% say that the approach in textbooks is almost always superficial. For 41% of students, mutations with the evolutionary process while; 53% of students consider that mutations are changes in DNA that can be inherited from parents or acquired throughout life. Based on the data from the student questionnaire, a ITS to approach the topic was developed in the application class. The products developed were: an online blog for the dissemination of the materials produced; and an investigative teaching sequence that improves the teaching-learning process on the topic. The development of this study improved the understanding of how students and teachers perceive the teaching-learning process of genetic mutations. The analysis of data related to the application of ITS allowed us to discover how much this type of active methodology is able to improve the quality of the knowledge construction process through the involvement of students.