Banca de DEFESA: CARMEM MARIA DA ROCHA FERNANDES

TEACHING THE NERVOUS SYSTEM FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE: A PROPOSAL OF DIDACTIC SEQUENCE IN HIGH SCHOOL

Learning. Sleep-wake cycle. Chronobiology.

Biological rhythms are rhythmic manifestations that living beings exert. These manifestations can be classified into circadian, infradian and ultradian rhythms, based on temporal parameters obtained from observations of temporal characteristics and by the interferential statistical method with the aim of analyzing rhythms at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, individual and population levels. The internal (endogenous) timing systems, which are regulated by the environment, are mechanisms that oscillate regularly, which alter the biological systems, configuring themselves as a biological rhythm. Rhythms that perform time cycles lasting about 24 hours are called circadian rhythms, an example of a circadian rhythm is the Sleep-Wake Cycle. Although biological rhythms are objects of study in chronobiology, this science is not so explicit in high school content. Thus, the approach to human physiology content such as the nervous system contextualized with the sleep-wake cycle, along with the difficulties presented by students during classes on the nervous system, presents itself as a possibility of teaching proposal, whose objective is to to analyze the contributions of the application of a didactic sequence in the teaching and learning process of high school students on the theme sleep-wake cycle and biological rhythms and their relations with the contents of the nervous system. The research activities were applied in a 3rd grade high school class during biology classes. This research is characterized as a qualitative
research, with procedures based on participant observation and used content analysis and the T test as instruments for analyzing data obtained through questionnaires. The results showed that the didactic sequence developed proved to be an effective teaching resource that contributed to students' learning about the integration of sleep-wake cycle and nervous system contents. The development and application of the constituent activities of the didactic sequence enabled the development of the educational product - Working the nervous system in high school, through the sleep-wake cycle.