Insect Biochemistry Goes to School .

• Autor(a) principal: Cunha, Leonardo R.
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Cudischevitch, Cecília, Jablonka, Willy, Brito, Alan, Silva-Neto, Mário A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Ensino de Bioquímica
• Texto Completo: http://bioquimica.org.br/revista/ojs/index.php/REB/article/view/235
• topic: Biochemistry, Triatominaes.

Many arthropods feed on vertebrate blood and eventually transmit diseases to the human being. Ordinary citizens are continuously exposed to vectors of major diseases and thus prone to contamination. In the present study we have evaluated a new approach regarding the basic biochemistry mechanism that regulates thebiology of Triatominaes, well known as vectors of Chagas Disease. We have used a comic book "Carlos Chagas: 100 years of the discovery of a hero", produced by researchers at our laboratory. The main concepts presented include: neurochemistry of insect olfaction, hemostasis, blood digestion, redox balance to mention some. The material was applied between 60 pupils of theseventh year of elementary school. The work is divided into two phases: an assessment of the concepts that thestudents bring their experiences into the classroom by producing conceptual maps followed by the intervention with the comic and production ofnew conceptual maps under the influence of activity with the material. Analysis of 18conceptual maps obtained from 06 different groups at three different points revealedthat the average score 07 at the beginning of theevaluation went to an average of 45 at the end of the study. This result suggests that a change in the approach of content can give encouragement to students to better develop the theme of contributing to a proper process of conceptual change.