MYCOLOGICAL SCIENCE SPACE: CLADIUM MASCOT AT SCHOOL

CLADIUM MASCOT AT SCHOOL

Abstract

Introduction: Science spaces are being implemented in different parts of the world as part of a broad movement of Scientific Literacy (CA). Brazil is moving towards the revitalization and expansion of institutions dedicated to scientific dissemination (KRASILCHICK and MARANDINO, 2007), especially through partnerships between Scientific Spaces (Science Centers, Museums) with Universities, improving educational actions and expanding scientific literacy. . Provoking curiosity in students, as well as in the general population, and making them realize the role that science plays in their lives, requires educational activities within school institutions and in non-school spaces. The school's role is to democratize access to scientific and technological knowledge, encouraging interest in science and the relationship between scientific concepts and life. However, it is observed that this is not a simple task, so the school must seek interaction with universities, science centers and museums and other centers of production and dissemination of knowledge, in order to allow different languages ​​and educational proposals and pedagogical ones interpenetrate and complement each other for the formation of the citizen (MARANDINO, 2001). On the other hand, universities, faculties and research centers must recognize their prominent role in the innovation of science education and be partners (PAVÃO, 2005) of basic education. Therefore, in September 2015, the "Science Center: Mycological Science Space (ECM) - Education, knowledge and interaction" was implemented at the State University of Bahia - UNEB, Campus VII, Senhor do Bonfim-BA, a project conceived by Prof. Dr. Marcos Fábio Oliveira Marques (in memoriam). It is currently under the coordination of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Teaching, Research and Extension-LIPEEBIO, linked to the Degree in Biological Sciences, Campus VII, carrying out in 2022 the Extension project "Micological Science Space: a proposal for approximation with Basic Education" . The National Curriculum Parameters provide that students must be able to know different roles of microorganisms and fungi in relation to humans and the environment (BRASIL, 1997). However, the mycological theme is little discussed in teaching and it is observed, in the contact with the elementary and high school, the restriction on memorization of concepts and without allowing the students to question. As a result, it is understood that educational activities carried out in this non-school space allow contextualization, stimulate creativity and instigate curiosity, both for students and teachers, as well as for the monitors involved in this action. The activities carried out at Espaço Ciência Micológica do not lead its monitors (students of the Biological Sciences and Pedagogy course) only to understand fungi, but to become future professionals committed to the area of ​​education, leading them to motivation and the development of recreational activities that will help in teaching/learning students. In this way, the Mycological Science Space is a strategy for scientific literacy and the dissemination of mycological science. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, this scientific space was without in-person activity in the years 2020 and 2021 and all interaction took place through the social networks Facebook and Instagram. In 2022, we resumed face-to-face activities, bringing as an innovation an adult-sized doll representing one of the Space's mascots, Cladium, to participate in traveling exhibitions and visits to schools. Objective: To receive students from public and private schools, as well as the general public. It is also our goal to bring elementary school students closer to the Mycology area through a playful activity with the Cladium mascot. Methodology: Visits to the Mycological Science Space are held from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 11:30 am and from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm, always guided by monitors selected at the beginning of the school year. Scheduling is done by interested parties via email. Security protocols were maintained, allowing a small number of people to enter, wearing a face mask and making use of hygienic measures. After the visit, each student is invited to answer an evaluation questionnaire with 8 questions. As for the visit to the schools, it started with a schedule that first included the municipal elementary schools I of Senhor do Bonfim, where the monitor, dressed in Cladium's costume, divulged the activities and interacted with the students, with the science of School management. Results: Up to the month of September, the ECM received visits from six elementary schools and two high schools and thirty-six university students. The students are from the municipalities of Campo Formoso, Senhor do Bonfim, Antônio Gonçalves, Jaguarari and Filadélfia. The age range of students is between 7 and 45 years. The Cladium mascot visited ten schools in the neighborhoods of Pêra, Itamaraty, Centro, São Jorge, Bonfim III, Santos Dumont. In all the visits there was great interaction between the students and the Cladium Mascot, asking about its name, what type of fungus, in addition, in these moments the students took the opportunity to hug it, take pictures and guide it to the surroundings of the schools, with all affection and care. Regarding the questionnaire answered by the visitors, this one was a compilation of data. Conclusion: We seek to show, through this work, the importance of bringing schools closer to the university in order to try to arouse students' interest in scientific knowledge, especially mycology, through visits to schools in Senhor do Bonfim using the Mascot Cladium, using playfulness as an attempt to bring schools and universities closer together. Through this strategy, we were able to receive a large number of visitors until then, where, through visits to the Espaço Ciência Micológico, the student can carry out observation and experimentation activities, practices that often cannot be carried out in the classroom, in addition, the various playful strategies used by laboratory monitors can contribute to teacher training. In this way, the idea of ​​bringing schools closer to the university and other knowledge centers is precisely to show a pleasant environment, which provides the visitor's interest, favoring learning and curiosity about what is being discussed there. Therefore, the Mycological Science Space, like any other space for scientific dissemination, has the function of democratizing access to scientific knowledge.