Caracteres humanos utilizados no ensino dos padrões de herança mendelianos

Abstract

The study of Human Genetics in schools is quite recent and the use of hereditary human characters in the teaching of inheritance patterns has been seen as a way of introducing the daily in the learning processes, approaching the formal and scientific content of the knowledge brought by the student, in order to make the school content interesting and meaningful. With the purpose of evaluating the use of human characters as a way to contextualize the teaching of Mendelian heritage patterns in High School, four strategic points were outlined: 1. How did the textbooks present the inherited human characters? 2. How do teachers see the use of human characters inherited in genetics teaching? 3. How do these characters appear in terms of frequency and mode of inheritance? 4. How can human characters be used in a way that promotes learning without compromising the scientific character of teaching? An evaluation of the eight Biology books made available to teachers and students of the public network by the 2012 National High School Textbook Program (PNLEM) allowed us to identify the frequency of use of human characters and to raise related misunderstandings that were categorized in conceptual errors, deviations from description, simplifications and appropriate description. Interviews allowed the evaluation of the teachers' conceptions regarding the use of human characters in teaching genetics, their advantages, their counterparts and examples most used. The most cited characters in textbooks and more easily observed in individuals were entered into a form for frequency investigation using software, made available online. The sample consisted of 3,150 individuals (high school and university students), who accessed and answered the questionnaire. A learning strategy that uses this form of research and the analysis of software graphs was constructed in a collaborative way with the Biology teachers of the public network, from a moment of reflection and training provided by this work. The learning strategy was applied in 2016 by teachers who participated in the training of all students in the introduction of genetic content, considering that it allows the construction of concepts related to inheritance patterns, using examples of human characters and minimizing the inconsistencies found. A validated assessment form that uses the Likert scale allowed students to check their engagement with learning strategies in two classes of high school seniors. In this way, Crombach's alpha (α = 0.858) was identified, demonstrating a homogeneity of the group with respect to the validity of the developed proposal.