THE INTERDISCIPLINARITY OF FORENSIC SCIENCES IN THE EDUCATIONAL SPHERE: AN ANALYSIS OF THIS CONTEXT IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

Many students when entering higher education, mainly in courses of exact or natural sciences and engineering, have difficulties in following the initial contents taught, due in part to the lack of knowledge arising from unique traditional methodology applied during their training. Some graduations even promote leveling courses in order to try reducing the deficits brought from previous education. Subjects such as Differential and Integral Calculus that are on the curricular basis of these courses, show high failure rates, strongly linked to gaps in previously acquired knowledge in mathematics. These factors directly contribute to the increase in retention rates and school dropout. So, there is a relentless search for improvement in the teaching-learning of these sciences, in order to motivate students, still in required education to knowledge building. It is commonly observed that young people are very attracted to the scientific disclosures broadcast by the media, as can be seen in the investigative series, which use forensic expertise for solving cases of a judiciary nature. In this sense, this work aimed to summarize studies that have been developed and implemented about the use of forensic sciences in the promotion of teaching-learning in secondary schools. The methodology was based on exploratory qualitative research. The results are based on experiences that occurred in the school context in USA, Brazil and Portugal, where it appears that students are more involved in the development of educational activities when integrated in a forensic like context, benefiting from collaborative work when trying to arrive to a common goal, similar to the assignment of a true forensic scientist. This allows them to recognize the importance of these contents, facilitates the presentation before the classroom, while improving the interaction with the social environment in which they are inserted. Teacher’s feedback confirms the beneficial implementation of these activities in the educational context and considers it with potential to attract attention and awaken the interest of these students in the sciences, thus improving the comprehension of theoretical concepts of the contents integrated in the school curriculum. The interdisciplinarity implemented on the production and socialization of knowledge is necessary and decisive to promote effective teaching and learning. The Forensic Sciences contemplate this interdisciplinarity and contribute that students feel more involved and motivated in learning, reducing retention rates and school dropout and increasing the search for science and technological careers.