Analogies in biology textbooks in zoology teaching

Abstract

The biologic structures of living creatures are of difficult understanding for students, because they are usually unknown by those, in needs of strategic didactics in order to facilitate the student understanding. There are several strategies and methods for teaching, such as, analogies, metaphors, descriptions, among others. In this article we aim to identify, assess and classify the analogies used in the Higher School Biology textbooks, commonly used in Public State Schools of Manaus – AM, related to the zoology theme. The methodological procedure includes: a) analysis of the whole zoological content of the most used textbooks in the public state network of Amazonas throughout the year; b) three didactic textbooks have been specifically analyzed in order to specify the class taxon of “Fish” for the comparison of possible variations of types and quantities of analogies. The adopted classification of analogies was of Curtis & Reigeluth (1984) and the model of enriching analysis was according to the TWA Glynn model (Harrison & Treagust, 1993). It has been concluded that the use of analogies is greater in the content of invertebrates than that of vertebrates. Most Analogies are presented in a simple and direct manner, comparing structures, concrete to concrete, and of verbal mediation, almost nothing is presented in a diverse and heuristic manner of Zoology content on the LD. The development of limits of comparison and reflexion about the analogies was rare, only the presentation of the analogue and the target of analogy occurred.