Desafios para a Popularização da Ciência em Paleontologia no Brasil: Avaliação do livro infantil “A Dinossaura Gnathovorax Azul" no contexto do Geoparque Quarta Colônia Mundial UNESCO

Abstract

This academic work intends to analyze the challenges in brazilian’s popularization of science in paleontology, focused on an executed strategy by the Center for Support to Paleontological Research of the Quarta Colônia (CAPPA/UFSM) in the context of public education in the region, based on the children's book “A Dinossaura Gnathovorax Azul”, launched in 2022 by an UFSM’s extension project. The research presents a review of the evolution of paleontology as an area of science in Brazil (FERNANDES, 2020; LIMA; CARVALHO, 2022; SILVA JUNIOR, 2022; SOARES; MOTA, 2022), its correlation with society, in an analogy as an ecosystem (BLACKMORE, 2010; DI FELICE, 2014; KATO; KAWASAKI; CARVALHO, 2020). In addition, the communication is presented as a link for the circulation of knowledge based on concepts like scientific communication (CAPOZOLI, 2002; BUENO, 2014; CARIBÉ, 2015; MASSARANI; MOREIRA, 2020), public communication (DUARTE, 2011) and public communication of science (MALAGOLI, 2019). Based on this conceptual basis, a qualitative and quantitative research is applied to measure the effects of this strategy on the children from the Basic Education, having as main results the indications that, in addition to the elaboration of materials with good quality and aligned to the community's demand, there is also an urgent need for complementary actions for the effective activation of products for the generation of a favorable context for the popularization of science in paleontology in the region of Quarta Colônia/RS.