potentially significant teaching unit as an element that facilitates the learning of biological sciences in high school

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the development of Meaningful Learning (ML) through the using of a Potentially Meaningful Teaching Unit (PMTU) in the study of microorganisms in a high school class. The work was based on the Theory of Meaningful Learning (TML) developed by David P. Ausubel, it has as incentive  theoretical contributions works by authors such as Moreira, Masini, Krasilchik and Motokane, among others. A qualitative approach such as case study and elements of the Textual Discursive Analysis were used to interpret the data. Questionnaires, on-site observations and class recordings were used to identify evidences of ML and difficulties found by students in the participating process. Most students expressed evidences of ML in the analyzed material. The time used in classes was considered the main able variable of interfering in the development of ML, others difficulties were evidenced in the significant understanding of the content, such as the lack of prior knowledge, predisposition to learn and epistemological obstacle. In conclusion, it was possible to demonstrate that the use of PMTU was effective, because even in the face of adversities, in the school routine, the apprentices managed the meaning to the studied content. In this case, ML can be achieved in diverse contexts, subject to daily variables, through the structuring and implementation of teaching methods and instruments based on what the PMTU proposes.