Teaching of microbiology, in the 3rd cycle of Basic Education, through the development of a research project in bioremediation

Abstract

The teaching of science, as a process of enculturation and construction of knowledge, enables moments of questioning and discovery in which the identification of the student's needs and the expansion of his cognitive development occur. Making questions has an important role in the unceasing search for knowledge, since they lead to the consideration and the attempt to find answers to solve a problem. The act of formulating questions and questioning evidences an intention or a desire to unravel something on a given subject and is conferred as a means of sharing human knowledge. The recognition that the great generality of the students adopts a passive posture, asking few questions, and admitting that questioning is important in learning, we developed a scientific research project, in the scope of microbiology, as a form to promote and stimulate the questioning of students in Natural Sciences in the eighth year of the third cycle of Basic Education, leading to a promotion of their learning. In the PhytoFix project, we investigate the cultivation of rice plants and their endophytic bacteria in the presence of pollutants.