Proposal of didactic game for teaching genetics as a methodology active in teaching Biology

Abstract

Active learning occurs when the student interacts with the subject under study by listening, speaking, doing and teaching. Thus, the student is encouraged to build knowledge instead of passively receiving it from the teacher. In this sense, the construction of educational games encourages active learning, then students are challenged to seek knowledge and practice it to win. The general objective of this articlo, which used a case study methodology, is to present whether the systematization of a game created and evaluated for the study can contribute to increase the knowledge in genetics of the students involved. This methodology was used in two schools in the Vale do Aço / MG region, involving 364 students, in the year 2019. Students were organized into groups and encouraged to build genotypes that condition predetermined phenotypes, using available alleles. The winning group would be the one that achieved the greatest number of genetic constitutions in the established time. Students evaluated, in a questionnaire, the contribution of the game as being positive in learning genetics. There was significant variation in student performance on an issue directly linked to gambling that was tested at the study. The game stimulated the development of important skills and competences that cannot be measured and/or quantified through the test performed by the students. The study allowed us to conclude that the use of teaching support tools by teachers can make teaching more attractive and interesting for students, causing them to build and reconstruct new concepts in a participatory way.