THE PRESENCE OF BIOCHEMISTRY EXPERIMENTS IN TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Being present in high school in chemistry and biology disciplines, biochemistry is to explain the chemical and biological reactions in cells. His concepts are seen as abstract and difficult to understand and can be contextualized through experimentation. Experimentation is used in the classroom to allow students to view the applicability of the contents through observation, creating hypotheses, discussion and conclusions. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of experimentation in biochemistry content  in high school books. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this way, it was analyzed the presence of experimental activities in the textbooks approved by the National Textbook Plan 2015 "Biology 1", authored by Cesar da Silva Junior, Sezar Sasson and Nelson Caldini Junior, and in the book " Chemistry - Volume 3 "by Martha Reis. RESULTS: At the end of the unit where the biochemical concepts are covered in the book "Biology 1" is presented an interdisciplinary project called "Enzymes - chemical tools of life" that proposes four experiments on catalase, pH and contact surface enzyme-substrate. They are easy activities to be implemented with affordable materials. Already at the Chemistry book, when addressing the biochemistry there is only one proposal for experimental activity called "Glycolic Extract of milk proteins". In this case, we need materials like food processor and enameled pots, which can hinder your performance in virtual classes, however, the experiment is easy to perform. Both books contain questions after the experimental proposals enhancing the questioning of the activities and understanding the contents addressed. CONCLUSIONS: The present experimental activities in the textbooks are mostly easy to apply and is not required sophisticated equipment of Sciences laboratories. It also allows the contextualization of theory and practice enhancing the process of teaching and learning with the proposals made.