Avaliação do ensino de sistemática filogenética em escolas de ensino médio da rede pública do município de Cruz das Almas, Bahia

Abstract

The Phylogenetic Systematics is a classification system of living beings that uses as its reference their evolutionary history, proposed by Willi Henning in 1965. This classification system constitutes the most important approach in Biology studies, once the parental relationship among the taxonomical groups is presented using an evolutionary context. However, in the context of High School Biology classes, several authors mention the fragmented approach in Biology teachings, specially about Biodiversity, focusing on the curricular content and its memorization. Based on this scenario presented, the necessity of an evaluation about how the subject has been approached by teachers and in the high school textbooks of public schools in Cruz das Almas, Bahia, has emerged. To achieve this goal, a questionnaire was applied to eight Biology teachers who work in public schools in the city, and for 35 students of these four high schools. A qualitative analysis of the contents related to the Phylogenetic Systematics of textbooks adopted by these four investigated schools, that have been approved by the PNLDEM, was carried out, with the goal of evaluating the issue approach, in these textbooks, with comprise the main support for teachers work. It was possible to note that all teachers have studied Phylogenetic Systematics in their initial education, nevertheless, they do not adopt this approach in Biology teaching, specially due to failures in these formation, having doubts in concepts and process, that brought up feelings of insecurity on teaching these issues. Historically, the textbook has been pointed as villain, since it discusses this theme superficially. Therefore, what has been observed in last years, as it was showed in the material studied here, this scenario has been modified, with presentation of Phylogenetic Systematics properly, giving support to evolutionary processes. Despite of that, although these textbooks constitutes the main support to the interviewed teachers, the insecurity about the issue, arising from their initial education, do not encourage them to address the theme as the basis for Biodiversity knowledge. The students were able to identify the restrictive approach of these concepts, especially in Biological classification, therefore, they showed interested in having more knowledge about evolving parts inherent to Phylogenetic Systematics. Based on the present study, it was verified the necessity of teachers comprehend the importance of their actualization about the approach’s methodologies for these issues, leaving apart the inadequate teaching’s methods, based on linearity, isolated and supported on the content, without contextualization of the subject. It was evidenced the urgency of Biology teachers on high schools continuing education, elaborating their knowledge about the subject and allowing them to adopt the Phylogenetic Systematics approaches securely on their teaching practices.