Ensino e aprendizagem de genética mendeliana mediados pelas tecnologias digitais de informação e comunicação

Abstract

In deference to the current reality of society in the quick access to information because of technological advances, this dissertation brings a study about the teaching and learning of Mendelian Genetics, mediated by digital information and communication technologies (DICT), with the aim of helping a more dynamic learning experience for students. Being the science that studies the transmission of hereditary characteristics between generations, Genetics helps to understand the mechanisms of heredity, how certain genes can manifest, how likely an individual inherits a disease of their parental generation, among others aspects which influence directly and/or indirectly in the maintenance of the life on the planet. As a literary base, it was listed a series of historical information related the origins of digital technologies at the educational level in Brazil, starting from 1917 with the beginning of era of the data processing, to the present day. Simultaneously, the text specified some public policies for the insertion and use of DICTs in Brazilian education, based on decrees and laws designed to effectively organize, foster and apply technological innovations. Searching to investigate how the teaching and the learning are triggered through technological innovation, this work was organized in two articles. In the first, it was intended to relate the theory of Meaningful Learning to the teaching of Mendelian Genetics, with the purpose of studying the development of this theory as an artifice for the improvement of pedagogical practice at the classroom, with an explanation of how the hierarchies conceptual in which certain elements of knowledge can be assimilated to concepts that generalize the formation of a significant cognitive structure, specifying the teaching of Mendelian Genetics. The study involved two classes of high school students of a public school, totaling eight-nine participants. The second article referred to the use of technological information and communication resources which can be used to increase the quality of the classroom teaching about genetic traits. That culminated in the educational product Virtual Classroom on Mendelian Genetics, titled "Genética Fácil," aimed at the general public who wishes to learn about the basics of heredity through a set of digital tools contained in a single free online platform called Edmodo. The research was attended by twenty-three students from the public-school system, who experimented with some digital technology instruments to assimilate the concepts of genetic inheritance, for example a quiz, paraphrases, virtual mural, crosswords, questionnaire and videos of an open educational resource. At the conclusion of the tasks, the participants evaluated the virtual learning environment (VLE) through an evaluation formatted in an online form. Besides this public, the research involved eight teachers who teach the Biology school subject, in order to verify how they perceived an VLE aimed at teaching and learning the hereditary foundations.