Concepções de professores e licenciandos em Ciências Biológicas sobre os conceitos de bioética e biossegurança no ensino com o uso de animais

Abstract

Nowadays, new discussions guide the conceptions and values about the way men use animals, for research or teaching. As a mechanism to control abuse, codes and regulatory principles have been proposed, which are included in new concepts, Bioethics and Biosafety. In order to achieve this, the discussion of their implication with the society requires – for Science and Biology teachers – theoretical and practical education that guarantee the link among the various scientifical discourses and the social languages. This work aimed to investigate the conceptions of teachers and undergraduate students from courses of Biological Sciences about the concepts and implications of Bioethics and Biosafery applied to the manipulation of animals in teaching activities in basic and university educational levels. We also aimed to identify the main guidelines provided by the legislation, Biosafety manuals and the “PCN” for the application of these concepts when using animals for didactic situations. We applied questionnaires and problematizations to thirteen students, and a questionnaire to nine teachers from the Biology Teaching course. We developed categorizations for the answers and built concept maps, which were analyzed and discussed under a qualitative basis. As a result, we noticed some knowledge about procedures that are coherent between students and teachers regarding the correct use of animals. Students showed a predominance of empirical knowledge as opposed to academic knowledge, and possess significant mental representations. They also recognize the necessity of adopting alternative resources to replace animals when building significant learning. However, such knowledge does not seem to be sufficiently established, as demonstrated by the theoretical gaps registered. We conclude that the approach about legislation and procedures that guide the practical formation of Biology teachers is fragmented, which compromises the construction of knowledge based on and applied to animal welfare.