Experimentation as a didactic strategy in science teaching with elementary school students

Abstract

Science Teaching has been discussed in the educational field regarding its methodological strategies on how to improve experimental activities that arouse students' curiosity and, consequently, stimulate practical teaching that is different from traditional teaching. The objective of this study was to verify the student's knowledge about the concept of bacteria and to identify whether the experimentation brings scientific knowledge closer to the student's reality. The study subjects of this research were Science students from a 7th grade elementary school class at a municipal school located in Arapiraca - AL. For this, a questionnaire was applied, both to investigate the students' prior knowledge about bacteria and to analyze the knowledge acquired after experimentation in the classroom. This experimentation consisted in the visualization of bacteria from the human oral mucosa, with the aid of an optical microscope and took place shortly after the students answered the initial questions of the questionnaire. Initially, it was possible to observe that most students had some difficulty understanding the microbiological world, and the learning process was limited to their imagination. On the other hand, experimentation provided students with greater participation in the class and sharpened their curiosity to observe and discover the microscopic universe of bacteria.

Keywords

• Aula de ciências
• Microbiologia
• Aprendizagem