Behind the curtains

methodological approach to botany in higher education in acts

Abstract

Botany is often understood as difficult, memorization-heavy, and dull, largely due to traditional teaching methods; thus, employing more active methods that allow for the development of new skills, such as the use of performing arts, can change the perception of this subject. Therefore, this work aimed to explore the use of theater as a strategy for teaching and learning botany by reporting on the use of skits as a dynamic alternative for botany teaching-learning. The research was developed with 40 students enrolled in the subject Morphology and Taxonomy of Cryptogams of the Undergraduate Course in Biological Sciences of the State University of Ceará. The students were divided into groups, and each team was responsible for staging a skit, which culminated in presentations in the form of a festival. The results show that theater can influence the formation of undergraduate students, and that according to the students, this instrument, although laborious, is considered educational, playful, transdisciplinary and innovative. The interest for the botanical themes in which the students were responsible for performing increased as the project progressed, and in the end 72.5% showed a high interest.  The presentations that attracted the most attention was: Alice in Fungi's land (semester 1) and Bryophytes of the sertão (semester 2), because they were attractive, well staged and of good interaction with the audience.  Finally, it is observed that theater can be an important teaching method that enables active learning of contents and development of new skills, especially regarding botanical contents.