Ensinar para prevenir: percepções de estudantes do ensino médio sobre uma sequência de ensino investigativo acerca das protozooses

Abstract

Biology teaching requires strategies that promote students’ active participation and the articulation of scientific knowledge with everyday situations. In this context, this study investigated the perceptions of second-year students in Integrated High School Education at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte, Macau Campus, regarding the contributions of an Investigative Teaching Sequence (ITS) to learning about protozoan diseases. The research was characterized as applied and descriptive, with a convergent mixed-methods approach and an intervention research design, involving 36 students aged 15 to 19 years. The intervention was developed over eight classes, organized into three stages: problematization and contextualization, knowledge systematization, and deepening, and included case studies, a reading circle, a mind map, and a thematic classroom on amoebiasis, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichomoniasis. Data were collected through a mixed questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The results indicated a predominantly positive evaluation of the proposal, with the thematic classroom standing out as the most significant stage of the sequence, students recognizing greater protagonism, and the contextualization of protozoan diseases with public health being identified as the main contribution of the intervention. It is concluded that the ITS promoted active student participation, contextualization of scientific knowledge, and an approximation between Biology teaching and public health issues, demonstrating its potential as a pedagogical strategy for secondary education.