Construção e análise de história em quadrinhos: contribuições para educação científica

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the contributions of creating and investigating Interactive Comic Books as a playful and educational tool aimed at Scientific Literacy in Chemistry teaching, with an emphasis on the theme of Environmental Chemistry. The study is qualitative in nature and interpretive in character and was developed with high school students from a public school in Anápolis. The comic book, entitled "The Last Hope – The Path to Reconstruction," conceived by the researcher, presents a narrative and interactive structure, favoring decision-making by students based on contextualized environmental dilemmas involving the impacts of human action on the Araguaia River. Data collection was carried out through participant observation and field diary entries, in addition to examining the students' original productions. The analysis was based on the levels of scientific literacy proposed by Oliveira (2021), which made it possible to identify expressions based on intuitive perceptions and everyday language, as well as attempts at conceptual systematization and interdisciplinary articulation. The results revealed that, in the initial decision-making phase, there was a predominance of statements at the primary level, marked by subjective, affective justifications or those based on practical criteria of the narrative. However, as they progressed through the plot and encountered complex dilemmas such as solid waste management (landfill versus composting), the students demonstrated a relevant cognitive inflection point, migrating to the formative level. At this stage, they began to adequately mobilize essential chemical-environmental vocabulary (such as soil contamination, acidity, and sustainability) and to outline causal explanations. A transition to the meaningful level was also observed when the subjects extrapolated from fiction, applying the concepts to real problems in their daily lives. The phenomenon of personification and spontaneous sound production during digital reading emerged as indicators of narrative immersion and subjective engagement. Furthermore, the analysis of the comic strip created by the students themselves showed that the graphic and textual elements functioned as fundamental cognitive bridges, materializing abstract concepts (such as pH neutralization, saponification, decantation, and the use of soda ash and hydrated lime) into visual instruments of social intervention. It is concluded that the Interactive Comic Strip has established itself as a viable educational product for teaching Chemistry. The material went beyond the mere mechanical decoding of formulas, acting as a semiotic mediator capable of expanding students' speaking space, stimulating argumentation, and building the gradual and critical development of scientific literacy.