Desafios no ensino de bioquímica das membranas biológicas: concepções, experimentações e metodologias de ensino

Abstract

Learning scientific concepts and phenomena can be challenging, especially because they present a specific language and because many processes are not possible to visualize with the naked eye. This thesis sought to investigate the pedagogical strategies that aim to mitigate limitations and learning difficulties in the teaching of biochemistry and later devoted itself to the study of biological membranes, resulting in two articles and a manuscript. The theoretical framework that permeates this research is of a historical-cultural nature, with interlocutions between Vygotskian studies and Leontiev's theory of activity. This research has a qualitative approach in which the data analysis instruments were based on questionnaires and other materials produced by the students. Data analysis was based on Content Analysis. In the first study, the didactic modalities used to teach Biochemistry in Brazil were identified, and why these modalities can be considered motivating for teaching and learning. A bibliographical study was carried out in which most of the research described active teaching processes, pointing to a tendency focused on the student as the protagonist of learning. The second study investigated the conceptions of undergraduate and graduate students about biological membranes and their knowledge about the models that evolved throughout the recent history of Biological Sciences. The results revealed that students know the membrane model described by Singer and Nicolson, published in 1972, but are unaware of the existence of other models of biological membranes. Our findings suggest that knowledge about biological membranes is taught in a non-mechanical way, including the critical and historical aspects that drove the evolution of models in order to trigger meaningful learning. Finally, the manuscript describes the proposal and development of an experimental activity that can be carried out both in educational institutions and in students' homes, using cheap and easily accessible materials, with the aim of developing the conceptual meaning through experimentation. Our analysis indicates that it is possible to trigger the conceptual meaning of biochemical phenomena that occur in biological membranes from macroscopic observations and inferences through experimentation.