Chave dicotômica artificial para identificação de macroalgas marinhas da região costeira de Cabedelo-PB: recurso didático para o ensino de ficologia

Abstract

Accessibility to quality education has been expanding over the years within public and private institutions. Thanks to the Law of Guidelines and Bases of Education, significant changes have been made in the country's educational framework, however there are still difficulties in its implementation, mostly due to the lack of funds directed to education. Within the school environment, a series of questions are found that involve the relationship between the teacher, student and the didactic practices used by them, including their teaching methods and what the teacher intends to do as an educator. These strategies tend to improve the transmission and understanding of the contents applied in the classroom, the use of alternative methodologies, scientific experiments, and diversified practices, such as: the production of a dichotomous key, can assist in the understanding of the contents and in the construction of a progressive learning. In view of this theme, the present work aims to develop a study to identify macroalgae for use in the classroom as a facilitating tool for the teaching-learning process in biology, promoting the expansion of students' perception of seaweed by encouraging them to exercise their creative side and relate the importance of these organisms to the environment. The study area took place at the Instituto Federal da Paraíba (IFPB), Campus Cabedelo, with a Class of 40 2nd year students of Fisheries Resources. Data collection was carried out by applying the pre-test, followed by pedagogical activities organized in field classes, laboratory practices, creative development exercises and the use of didactic material, after which the post-test with the purpose of to analyze whether the dichotomous key, taken as didactic material, showed improvement in the teaching-learning process. Both, pre-test and post-test, had four identical essay questions. The Institution has ample space favorable to the study, with well-designed rooms, new materials, a large arsenal library, leisure places and laboratories for research. The research showed that a significant number of students had knowledge about seaweed, demonstrating a positive relationship between the dichotomous key and the students' learning, so that learning together with the pedagogical activities experienced stimulated the student-centered participation as being active in the construction of individual and collective knowledge. The project ended with the use of the dichotomous key as a study tool for biology. It is possible to verify that there has been an improvement in the understanding of the content, having transmitted it in a pleasant and easy way, as well as, hurrying through research, encouraging creativity, and caring for the environment.