Impercepção botânica no ensino de Biologia em dois colégios de Aracaju/SE

Abstract

Botany is perceived as a complex discipline, with nomenclatures requiring students to memorize, abstract concepts, and a lack of connection to daily life. These obstacles cause students to lose interest in the subject's content. Consequently, this lack of interest strongly contributes to a phenomenon known as Botanical Imperception, characterized by people's inability to recognize the importance of plants in society and the biosphere. To address this imperception in education, it is essential to approach Botany in a more engaging way, where students feel more motivated and can connect classroom content with their everyday lives. One possible method is through active methodologies.In this context, the study arises from the following question: Is traditional (lecture-based) teaching one of the factors contributing to Botanical Imperception? Consequently, the guiding question for this study is: Could the inclusion of games, as a methodological strategy in science education, be a possible solution for Botanical Imperception? This is followed by the hypothesis: New teaching methodologies in science education, through the application of games, can fill gaps in the classroom, contributing to the reduction of Botanical Imperception. The general objective of the research is to investigate the effects of Botanical Imperception on Biology education in 3rd-year high schoolstudents. It consists of four specific objectives: to analyze students' recognition of plants and animals; to verify students' knowledge about the importance of plants in society; to analyze whether Botanical Imperception occurs and its possible factors; and to demonstrate the effectiveness of using games in Biology teaching for the Botany theme.The study is qualitative in nature, as it is an applied exploratory research that works with participants' statements. It is descriptive in character and includes the following approaches: bibliographic research, characterization of the study object, method of approach, survey research, and data analysis. The participants were 3rd-year students (A and B) from a public school and 3rd-year students (A) from a private school in Aracaju. A semi-structured questionnaire containing seventeen open-ended questions and the approaches "First Target" and "Attention Blink" was utilized. These approaches involved images of plants in the same photo and images of plants, animals, landscapes, and objects in separate photos, to analyze what draws attention first. Another semistructured questionnaire, with ten questions (related to pedagogical intervention/gamification), was also used as one of the three instruments for collecting qualitative and quantitative data.From the analyzed data, it was concluded that students from the public school had no exposure to Botany content, which affects how they perceive Botany in their environment. These results highlight the phenomenon of Botanical Neglect. In contrast, private school students studied and understood the importance of plants. Regarding the approaches, all groups recognized animals more than plants. These results could reflect the phenomenon of Zoochauvinism, which is a preference for animals over plants. Finally, gamification proved effective in addressing Botany content. Botanical Imperception leads to the undervaluation of species and, consequently, hinders plant conservation. Creating and fostering emotional connections with plants is vital for species conservation.