Análise dos conceitos sobre a origem da vida nos livros didáticos do ensino médio, na disciplina de biologia, de escolas públicas gaúchas

Abstract

The current research is an attempt to evaluate how the origins of life are presented in Biology text books used by public schools in Rio Grande do Sul (the southern-most state of Brazil). An important motivation to collect that kind of information is the fact that the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) spends a considerable amount of money with acquisition and distribution of books to Brazilian public schools, supporting programmes for appreciation and evaluation of currently available books on the market. Another motivation is the fact that Biology text books represent one of the factors responsible for the academic formation of students in Rio Grande do Sul on the subject of the origin of life. This qualitative study is based upon several proposals that are already in action in this country. Books were collected in public schools of Porto Alegre with more than a thousand students, keeping in mind that such books are important sources for the propagation of ideas of the respective authors. The choices made by those schools serve as a basis for many others in Rio Grande do Sul. This way we intend to check if the guidelines of the "Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais" (PCN, National Curricular Parameters) and the "Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação" (LDB, Education Directives and Bases Law) are observed in the text books, regarding the subject of the approach for the origin of life and about building the model that might represent it better. This study is a first attempt to build a more solid proposal for works about text book related problems. That this research might be helpful for teachers, since it is intended to provide information to help in the choice of approach for the current subject and its implications, as well as about the choice for didactic resources to be used