Marine biodiversity in basic education: research for the curricular integration of knowledge through the Biota/FAPESP program

Abstract

To conserve and to protect marine biodiversity is an imperative need as it has a major role providing food, minerals and many other products that can be used by the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries. Despite all this importance, many people do not recognize the connection between their daily lives and marine biodiversity. In the basic education, this could be related to the absence of didactic materials for students and teachers. This background does not reflect our national research, which has been growing in recent years. As an example, projects as Biota/FAPESP - Bentos Marinho and Biota/FAPESP - Araçá found important contributions to marine Science as well as conservation and marine management. However, to translate all this knowledge to the basic education has been a trouble. Taking this into account, our aim is to explore the knowledge of Brazilian students regarding marine biodiversity, identify needs and use the Biota database to develop materials for address these needs. As a result, we expect students to have an increase in their critical thinking and effective attitudes to solve problems related to marine biodiversity. (AU)