The teaching of Brazilian Biodiversity in an evolutionary perspective: subsidies for the development of teaching materials under the thematic project BIOTA-FAPESP in basic education

• Grant number: 20/07961-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2020
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Specific topics in Education
• Principal Investigator: Nelio Marco Vincenzo Bizzo
• Grantee: Leonardo Augusto Luvison Araújo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Educação (FE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/05843-4 - BIOTA-FAPESP Program in basic education: possibilities for curricular integration, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

The BIOTA-FAPESP program is one of the largest initiatives aimed at the study of Brazilian biodiversity. However, its educational relevance has not been fully explored. The emphasis on exotic animals in Brazilian curricula and textbooks is an example of the little incorporation in elementary and high school of the biological knowledge produced by scientists from São Paulo institutions. In addition to the low emphasis on local biodiversity, some research also points out the absence of an evolutionary perspective in biology teaching. Biological diversity in the biology classroom is characterized by the memorization of group names and characteristics, without connection with the evolutionary history of the lineages. Considering these two problems - the need for an evolutionary perspective in the biodiversity teaching and the importance of knowledge about Brazilian biodiversity in basic education -, the present postdoctoral project aims to develop teaching materials about Brazilian biodiversity from an evolutionary perspective. The proposal is linked to the thematic project entitled "The BIOTA-FAPESP program in basic education: possibilities for curricular integration" (proc. 2016/05843-4), whose main objective is to promote actions aimed at the use and dissemination of data generated by the program BIOTA-FAPESP. The thematic project also accumulates results on the interests, attitudes, and knowledge about science and technology among young Brazilian students, deposited in a database at the Research Center for Education, Dissemination, and Epistemology of Evolution "Charles Darwin" (EDEVO-Darwin). The knowledge accumulated by the BIOTA program and data obtained by the thematic project represents a unique opportunity to promote the centrality of evolution in the teaching of Brazilian biodiversity, allowing the development of didactic materials contextualized to local realities. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

OLIVEIRA, GRACIELA DA SILVA; PELLEGRINI, GIUSEPPE; LUVISON ARAUJO, LEONARDO AUGUSTO; BIZZO, NELIO. Acceptance of evolution by high school students: Is religion the key factor?. PLoS One, v. 17, n. 9, p. 25-pg., 2022-09-19. (16/05843-4, 20/07961-0)

LUVISON ARAUJO, LEONARDO AUGUSTO; DOS SANTOS ALITTO, RENATA APARECIDA. Teaching native biodiversity: an exploratory study with Brazilian teachers. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL EDUCATION, NOV 2021. (20/09031-0, 16/05843-4, 20/07961-0)

LUVISON ARAUJO, LEONARDO AUGUSTO. Fritz Muller: 200 years of a pioneer evolutionist. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 137, n. 4, p. 3-pg., 2022-10-22. (20/07961-0)