A ilustração botânica como estratégia de ensino de biologia na educação básica

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges in teaching the biological sciences is instructing botany in a world dominated by botanical imperceptibility. This inherent condition makes people generally indifferent to the plants in their daily lives and surroundings. Additionally, botany is often neglected in schools due to teaching methodologies that focus solely on memorizing nomenclatures and content, which discourages students. To overcome this imperceptibility and neglect, this study proposes an investigative approach based on meaningful learning. This approach focuses on the association between students' prior knowledge and the practice of scientific illustration. Scientific illustration is a tool that expands students' perception of the plant world. By drawing and documenting images in field journals, students compared their existing knowledge with data collected in school spaces and gardens. This allowed them to develop and test hypotheses about the morphological and evolutionary aspects of plants. In doing so, they learned to perceive, identify, classify, reframe, and respect their biodiversity. The study applied a four-stage didactic sequence: 1) illustration based on memory and prior knowledge, 2) classification of plants based on observation of botanical illustrations, 3) comparative illustration in the field, and 4) creative illustration and the Botanical Battle game. Throughout the process, students organized their existing ideas, acquired new knowledge, and enhanced their botanical perception by observing and illustrating plants. There was substantial progress in meaningful learning, as evidenced by the improvement in the quality of the information conveyed through the students' images.