Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: DARTIANE ARAUJO SABINO DA SILVA

Between Flavors and Knowledge: Regional Cuisine as a Pathway to Science Education Through an E-book

Cuisine; natural sciences teaching; e-book; transdisciplinarity; scientific enculturation.

This research, developed within the scope of the Professional Master's Program in Natural Sciences and Mathematics Teaching at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, investigates the following question: how can regional cuisine be used as a pedagogical resource for teaching Natural Sciences in basic education? The general objective is to analyze the potential of regional cuisine, through the development and application of an educational e-book, to promote the contextualization of scientific content, transdisciplinarity, and students' scientific enculturation. The justification for the study lies in the need to overcome traditional and fragmented teaching, proposing an approach that connects scientific knowledge to students' daily lives and culture, favoring their insertion into scientific culture in a meaningful and culturally valued manner. The adopted methodology has a qualitative approach and an applied nature, developed in basic education schools, and involved the participation of teachers, 5th-grade elementary school students, 9th-grade students, and 2nd-year high school students, as well as undergraduate students in Chemistry, who acted in the evaluation of the educational product. The generated product is an e-book entitled "Ciências para todos os gostos: Entendendo a natureza através da culinária nordestina" [Science for every taste: Understanding nature through Northeastern cuisine], which articulates typical regional cuisine recipes with natural sciences concepts, organized into investigative activities that promote integration between different areas of knowledge. The product evaluation was carried out through the application of questionnaires to all participants. The results indicate that the e-book proved to be an effective didactic tool, awakening students' interest and favoring the process of scientific enculturation by bringing scientific knowledge closer to the students' cultural universe, in addition to being well-evaluated by teachers and undergraduate students regarding its applicability and pedagogical relevance. It is concluded that regional cuisine constitutes a promising path for transdisciplinarity and for the construction of a more contextualized, culturally rooted science education committed to the formation of critical subjects who are participants in scientific culture.