Anthropomorphization

The praxis of health education appeared in the apogee of the technical-utilitarian model, a way of teaching based on the application of knowledge and which seeks to formalize norms and standards, as well as dictating ways of acting and thinking about health utilities. According to ^{Lopes and Tocantins (2012)}, this model has its origins in the biologism paradigm of explaining illnesses, a prodigal model of the twentieth century and the growth of capitalism, urban communities, and scientific development. If, on the one hand, the biologism paradigm unveils questions about disease contagion and transmission and focuses its actions on the relationships between etiological agents/human beings, on the other hand, that paradigm “[...] resulted in a reduced and insufficient understanding of the totality and complexity of the health-disease phenomenon, since it does not recognize social, cultural and ecological factors” (^{Lopes; Tocantins, 2012}, p. 236). It is possible that the influence of this model on the way of thinking about health in teaching – possibly on how most of these undergraduates were educated in Elementary School –, become an obstacle to the materialization of transformational educational practices in the area.

Certainly, health is an area of great interest in the preservice science teacher education and that has intricate relationships with zoological education. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, medical zoology has a prominent place and is of national interest with regard to the understanding of issues related to public health, mainly in the field of sanitation as a tool for development policies, as well as investments in studies of tropical diseases, allied to the quality scientific research (^{Klassa; Santos, 2012}). With regard to teaching, it is inserted in natural sciences curricula and textbooks, and its branches reach other areas of knowledge. In Elementary Education, for example, the BNCC (^{Brasil, 2018}) maintains that health is a theme capable of integrating the three thematic units of the natural sciences area – matter and energy; life and evolution; Earth and universe – and criticizes the utilitarian health teaching when it relates the production of medicines and the body functioning, subjects that are very present in Basic Education.

To dialogue with the transitions between scientific knowledge and the sociocultural perspective, the basis will be the only TLS that planned an articulation between the socioenvironmental and health dimensions from an emancipatory point of view. This TLS is centered on a role-playing game (RPG) called Hospedeiros e Helmintos [Hosts and Helminths] [SD 2015_11]. The game, like others in its category, places the main character, the worm, in the foreground, anthropomorphizing its actions as players. The worm player’s goal is to complete its life cycle, and for that, it has to find a vector, enter an organism, survive in that environment, and reproduce. Through immersion in the game setting, which includes elements of collaboration between players, learners are expected to learn about life cycles, forms of contamination, prevention, prophylaxes, and cure.

In Hospedeiros e Helmintos, the worm characters are fictional, but have skills inspired by real animal characteristics. For example, “thieves” organisms have suction cups and are hermaphrodites, characteristics inspired by cestodes (^{Brusca; Moore; Shuster, 2018}). Throughout the game, the worm players are faced with obstacles (events), which have to be overcome through resistance tests, whose result is defined by means of a dice roll. The randomness of these tests brings the game closer to the natural selection processes, inherent to natural systems. Nevertheless, the sense of volition is something very present and important for the proposal flow. The following excerpt, extracted from the initial game contextualization, highlights this feature:

They are tiny yet devastating beings that stalk the human world. Desperate to feed, reproduce and evolve. In search of a perfect home, a kingdom they can call their own, where they reach the supremacy always sought by members of their species [excerpt from SD 2015_11].

Despite the non-biological use of the term “evolve”, the struggle for survival and the parasite villainization create a propitious scenario for a classroom debate about the existing tensions between natural systems and anthropocentrism. In this activity, for example, stimulating in the learners continuous processes between the playful imaginary and the concrete reality would be a purpose of teaching mediation. Proposing games and case studies to turn a concept into ludic can be an important way to demystify subjects considered complex, such as basic sanitation and public policies. These material resources open up numerous possibilities for approaching the classroom, and they are not restricted to a specific practice, closed to opinions and dependent on content, and even allow teachers to learn about the cause.

With regard to material production in preservice teacher education, it was observed that the didactic object Hospedeiros e Helmintos can overcome the empiricist epistemology of teaching and learning, as it approaches the interactionist epistemology and sociocultural perspective (^{Moraes, 2013}). Interactionist because it requires the learner to have an active participation regarding the material in view of the delineation of characters, immersion in events, and drama. Sociocultural for creating discursive spaces, where learners can appropriate the scientific language about parasitism, highlighting phenomena, creating hypotheses to deal with those phenomena, and making decisions.

Another relevant topic that can also be addressed from anthropomorphization is the animal species conservation. The TLS O fantástico mundo do cerrado brasileiro [The fantastic world of the Brazilian cerrado] [SD 2015_07] proposes as a didactic object a series of four textbooks based on the choose-your-own-story model⁸ which tell the stories of four charismatic animals from the Brazilian cerrado: maned wolf, jaguar, pampas deer and burrowing owl, which differentiates them from most textbooks and games that focus their narratives on African animals.

The scripts take place in the cerrado biome and the characters’ movements mobilize knowledge of adaptations and behaviors of these species, as well as the ecological interactions established in the biome. To continue the story, it is almost inevitable to attribute human feelings to animals, as the plots are full of melodramatic elements that provoke feelings of anguish and pleasure in readers, generating doubt and reflection in decision-making (Figure 1). This was evident in the statement of the undergraduates who analyzed the didactic object in 2016 (Chart 1).

Note: Text Translation for Figure 1: Page 3 You decide to attack the pampas deer. It was a good choice. They run fast and it makes you tired. But you are faster, all jaguars are fast runners. Your attack on the pampas deer is classic: you go straight for the victim’s skull, kill it on the spot. The rest of the pack managed to escape, but you got a big prey… That should be enough for the next few days. à Go to page 4 Page 4 After a few days you start to feel some pain… They are labor pains. You are about to give birth to 3 cubs. You are very happy, those 100 days went by too fast. Finally, all of them are born and doing well. They are two females and one male. Jaguar cubs are born blind and only begin to see after 15 days, so now they are completely dependent on you! It is going to be 3 tough months! You will have to hunt to feed your cubs as well. You don’t feel safe leaving your cubs alone in the burrow while you go out to look for food. You know that other animals can attack them. But you are hungry and so are they, you need to hunt… What do you do? 1) You can’t leave the cubs in the burrow; you decide to stay with them. You can endure hunger and breastfeed them for a few more days. à Go to page 5 2) You are a great hunter, quickly able to find prey. They will spend some time alone, but you will soon come back with food. à Go to page 6 Page 9 As a good jaguar always does, you set up the ambush and pounced at the first sight of the owl’s distraction. The pounce would have been perfect. But the owl noticed and flew away… Unfortunately, there was nothing you could do. Your cubs were alone, and you are still hungry. You have been out of the den for a long time, but you see another pack of bush dogs a little ahead. What is the best thing to do? 1) Go back to the burrow, nurse and protect your cubs. à Go to page 11 2) Go after the pack of bush dogs, after all, you need to feed yourself to be able to take care of your cubs. à Go to page 10 Page 10 You then return to the burrow with the bush dog. Your cubs will be proud of you. It will be their first time eating real food other than milk. They are growing… In a little while, they will go out hunting with you and they will learn how to fend for themselves… When you arrive, you don’t find one of your cubs. You don’t want to believe it!! What happened???? That is when you see a snake crawling, it is a Boa constrictor… Huge! These snakes kill by constriction, they are very efficient predators. You become desperate; you should not have left them alone… What to do? 1) Attack the boa constrictor, it may want to strike you or the other two cubs à Go to page 11 2) Abandon that territory with your cubs, avoiding another snake attack à Go to page 12. Source: ^{Baruchi, Coelho, Maia, Murúa and Contro (2016)}.

Figure 1 Four pages from the book O fantástico mundo do cerrado brasileiro showing an excerpt from the story about the jaguar 

The existing anthropomorphism in Joana’s and Helena’s statements – “put himself in someone else’s shoes,” “you have to think like a predator,” “its point of view” – are indicative of the volition, decision making, expected from the readers of these books. It is noted that, in the midst of the idea of predation, the didactic object materializes some questions that can generate conflicting feelings in the reader-learner, related to the familiar sense of group, the attempt to escape, being proud of the successful hunting, and so on. In this sense, anthropomorphic and ecological elements stand out as possible influences on decision-making. The narrative of the TLS and books assumes that, apparently, this decision-making could stimulate young learners to appropriate ecological concepts, interactions between species, such as competition and predation. Furthermore, the narrative overcomes the classic Manichaean structure of fables, which, according to ^{Jimenez (1998)}, is based on the personification of evil predatory animals and good prey.

In the text prepared to guide the mediation of this textbook knowledge, the ecological aspects of the narratives are emphasized and, even though they place the reader-learners’ “intuition” in their choices, they give little emphasis to it. Intuition is a very relevant aspect for the good development of this TLS, since it is in intuition that a large part of the stories composed by individualized reading are constituted, in which the anthropomorphic aspects will certainly have a great weight in decision-making. Helena’s metadiscourses are evidence of this interpretation, when she refers to the cubs as “babies” and suggests sentimental conflicts with the predation process. Therefore, it is fundamental that the mediation of the knowledge expected in the TLS, human feelings, such as frustration and compassion, do not overlap the understanding of the organic aspects in the investigated phenomena, constituting true epistemological obstacles to the formation of the scientific spirit (^{Bachelard, 1996}).

With the recognition of the cognitive conflicts inherent in the proposed readings, one considers that the didactic object makes it possible to enter realities that transcend sensitive experience and bring the reader closer to the habits of these animals, to survival and food matters. In allusion to the TMT (^{Giordan, 2008}), the expansion of the learners’ spheres of action and communication would occur insofar as there is stimulus to the clash between the cultural tools used in everyday life – in this case intuitive and volitional – and those used in scenarios built in the classroom – ecological knowledge.

Traditional Knowledge, Aesthetics and Animal Resources

Working with traditional knowledge encourages attitudes of respect for traditional cultures, appreciation of popular knowledge, the socialization of diversified knowledge, the use of imagination to design conservation actions, and the investigative spirit to understand scientific thinking. A very intimate relationship with traditional knowledge materializes as legends in the TLS O imaginário ambiental na tradição oral: contos e mitos sobre animais como ferramenta para o ensino de biologia [Environmental imaginary in oral tradition: tales and myths about animals as a tool for biology teaching] [SD 2015_13]. The didactic object of this TLS, Lendas e contos brasileiros com animais [Brazilian legends and tales with animals] (Figure 2), appropriates the sociocultural perspective to bring together indigenous communities’ traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge. Altogether, there are seven folkloric tales that deal with Brazilian animals, contextualized for the school environment. Learners are invited to explore and discuss the animal characteristics and their relationships with the environment, opposing and articulating scientific and popular knowledge.

Note: Text Translation for Figure 2. A Kanassa pajé was walking through the woods when he met a curassow. This little animal was all busy, preparing a small ornament of feathers. The pajé thought that interrupting one’s work was a good way to show his sympathy and cordiality, and so he asked the curassow: What are you doing there? An ornament of feathers to ward off annoying Indians - said the curassow. Untroubled, the pajé sat down and waited for the curassow to finish his work. Let’s see how it looks. The curassow looked at the pajé impatiently. Are you going to put it in your head? - asked the pajé. Yes, he said. So, put it on, what are you waiting for? The curassow then feared to be in the presence of a madman and decided to do what the Indian asked. After placing the huge feathers on the top of his head, he stood still, looking silly. Looks good - said the pajé. Appeased by this stroke to his ego, the curassow began to fly from here to there. Faster! The curassow flew in every direction, even upside down. At that point, the headdress detached itself and fell miserably. There it is! - said the Indian, slapping his thigh. Put it back on! The curassow put the feathers back on and the pajé took the opportunity to cast a spell on him. That is when the feathers took root in the head of the poor bird and never left. Source: ^{Melo, Martelini, Sato, Jorqueira and Cunha (2016)}.

Figure 2 Page from the didactic object Lendas e contos brasileiros com animais tells the legend about witchdoctor Kanassa and the curassow 

Referred to by the team of authors as an undervalued didactic tool, oral storytelling would trigger a dialogic class on the importance of tales and legends and their differences from scientific literature. A teacher’s instruction book comes together with the didactic object, with proposals for approaching these legends in the classroom. In the curassow legend, for example, the following questions are proposed: For birds, what is the importance and functions of feathers? For birds, what is the importance of building nests? The authors emphasize the scientific aspects related to the bird, such as habitat, threats and behavior, leaving the interpretation of the legend and popular knowledge to the readers-teachers, that is, concrete ways of mediating this clash are not presented, such as ways to work on the origin conflict of the curassow crest in the legend (spell) and the process of natural selection.

To finish this TLS, the suggestion is the material production of other stories by the learners, reinforcing a concern with creativity and verbal expression, based on writing, use of symbology and other meanings. Protagonism is promoted in the creation of other stories and in the sharing of this knowledge created and recreated, including interdisciplinary aspects between science, Portuguese language, and arts.

In the conversation that took place in 2016, the book aesthetic aspects gave voice to the episode with the highest number of statements made that year. The buzz was present throughout this dialogue, many voices echoed together. The confluence of voices is an example of the aesthetic impact that the didactic object had on the circle participants. Some aspects of these statements bring important reflections for teaching planning.

At the beginning, two undergraduates expressed surprise in relation to the elaboration of the didactic objects, even questioning the authorship. Several aesthetic aspects were mentioned by the participants in this conversation circle. Expressions like “attractive”, “well-made”, “beautiful”, “professional”, “meticulous,” and “poetic” highlighted the painstaking care regarding the material production. Surprise and enchantment with this didactic object are good descriptors of the undergraduates’ statements. In addition to the fascination aroused by the analysis, Bruna’s statement, highlighted in Chart 2 below, reveals how the focus on conceptual content is a paradigm that is difficult to break.

Even later, when Sandra and Bruna speculate about the target audience of the object, it is notable how the hermetic, descriptive, and inert content assumes the leading role in thinking about material production. The so-called “content of university entrance exam”, as Leandro pondered. The proposition of contents in a sociocultural perspective allowed an open dialogue and a critical reflection in relation to the formal transmission of contents that prevails in university subjects and, unconsciously, shapes many undergraduates’ thinking and creativity. Dialogical didactic strategies, which promote discussions of truly transforming teaching knowledge, are adequate to the challenges and needs that the undergraduates will have in their careers in terms of life in society and the school interdisciplinary potential. But for this to happen, activities have to be connected, bringing meaning to what is taught.

Talking about connection refers to the TLS Caranguejo-uçá: da biologia dos crustáceos ao recurso socioambiental [Swamp ghost crab: from crustacean biology to socio-environmental resource] [SD 2018_06]. It starts with an online multiple-choice questionnaire with six questions, used to survey prior knowledge of this animal and its relationships with humans. The authors suggest that this questionnaire be promptly evaluated by the teacher – that is, soon after being filled up –, in order to explain to the learners what is known about the theme and what is projected to be achieved in the TLS development. The questions, in addition to raising knowledge of the indirect development of arthropods, address aspects of how ecological interactions, abiotic factors, and humans can impact the crab development. Bringing other elements of analysis from the environmental and economic spheres, the narrative leads to a final, investigative activity, mediated by another online tool, a website about the crab. On the website, they created a hypothetical scenario, but totally plausible, in which the swamp ghost crab populations in Bertioga channel, state of São Paulo, decrease drastically in 30 years, stimulating the learners to analyze the reasons.

In order to analyze what is happening and discuss responses to the problems that will be faced by the native population, the learners have to delve into crab biology, osmoregulation experiments, climatic conditions, collection regulation, and environmental characteristics of the place affected. With this, the authors’ expectation is that learners will “[...] build a greater understanding of the socio-environmental relations associated with the swamp ghost crab economic exploitation” (^{Araujo; Arruda; Machado; Macedo; Vidal, 2019}), taking a position on complex issues that contemplate perspectives of different social actors regarding the anthropic impact on crab populations.

The idea of giving ecological and sustainable bases to the production, in search of a balance between society and the environment, requires a process of deconstruction. There is a growing need to deal with diversity/heterogeneity and integrate values into knowledge without basing them on market laws in a blind manner. It is possible to see some of these ideas present in the planned activities of this TLS, marking some of the principles of the ecological and democratic culture of sustainable development discussed by ^{Leff (2001, p. 131)}:

The rights of indigenous communities to self-manage their environmental resources to satisfy their needs and guide their social aspirations based on different cultural values, ecological contexts and economic conditions. […] The value of biological diversity, cultural heterogeneity and political plurality, and also valuation of the peoples’ natural and cultural resources heritage. […] The perception of reality from a global, complex and interdependent perspective, which allows articulating the different processes that constitute it, understanding the multi-causality of socio-environmental changes and sustaining an integrated management of resources (our translation).

With regard to understanding the characteristics of endangered animals, one argues that case studies, such as this one, can be important allies for teachers, in the sense of promoting a critical position on the political actions that each individual can and should take in face of the scenario of environmental dismantling that humankind is experiencing. The swamp ghost crab TLS, referenced in this section, bets on the socio-environmental relations of human beings with ecosystem services and on the scientific knowledge of the endangered Brazilian fauna as a way of valuing biodiversity.

Zoos, Collections and Animal Ethics

Zoos are very important institutions with regard to the animal socio-environmental study. Some propositions of activities present in the TLS with field trips to these environments were designed to initiate or complement knowledge of taxonomy and biodiversity. This knowledge is also indispensable for performing the TLS Zoo + Ciência – Para além da exposição dos animais [Zoo + Science – Beyond the animal exhibition] [SD 2015_06], but something else stands out in this planning: the discussion about the social function of these spaces. In pursuit of this, the TLS suggests that interviews should be conducted with visitors during the field trip, investigating the public’s impressions of the roles played by the visited institution. On returning to the classroom, the proposal is to analyze the interviews, and the TLS outcome takes place with the production of a poster for the spontaneous public, where problems raised from the interviews and solutions for improvements are presented.

The role of interviews as a didactic strategy is justified as a fundamental part of the construction of social knowledge. Knowing and substantiating the others’ perspective in relation to social, environmental, and cultural issues is a lamentably uncommon way of social interaction in school activities. Likewise, it was important to observe the elaboration of structured activities to work with learners and the recognition of other zoo functions that are not just animal knowledge taxonomy, entertainment, leisure, and contemplation. According to the authors:

The biggest difference in the proposal lies in the incorporation of the knowledge-producing dimension, the production of zoo scientific content, and in the operationalization of methods that facilitate the scientific literacy of visiting students. Its function is also to reaffirm the importance of activities in zoos, botanical gardens, science museums, natural parks, etc.; based on its educational and literacy potential in sciences [Excerpt from SD 2015_06, emphasis added]

It is also important to reflect on the ethical dilemmas of animal preservation in zoos, anticipating that this topic was proposed solely and exclusively in this TLS. Supplied with in-loco perception and post-analysis of interviews about the zoo, the TLS authors suggest that a debate be held for and/or against the existence of these environments. For this, they bring as pedagogical support four journalistic texts and the Brazilian Society of Zoology website. Taking “the debate” for granted, they move on to another activity, without making any notes on the mediation of knowledge. They do not clarify what the purposes of the activity are, but one supposes that they exist, such as fostering scientific argumentation, respecting opinions, and exploring consensus. These three purposes alone are already indicative that this debate will not take place without mediation, and it is expected that the statements and discursive interactions will be self-organized, even more having as argumentation foundations texts that present the facts in a dichotomous manner.

In the sphere of human relationships with other animals, another subject that comes close to ethical issues is biological collections. To discuss this topic, one analyzed the planning of the TLS A importância das Coleções Biológicas [The importance of biological collections] [SD 2015_09], which aims to make learners understand the importance, functioning, and applicability of zoological collections, in addition to expanding understanding about the application of socioscientific knowledge to species conservation. The series of activities throughout the TLS takes place by means of questions such as the following: “Why does anyone collect anything? Do you believe there is any rule regarding animals and plants collection? In your opinion, what is the main objective of a museum?” The didactic objects of this TLS are a tutorial on making hypothetical animals with modeling clay, a dichotomous key, and a case study.

Working with hypothetical animals can be an alternative to approach aspects of taxonomy, according as a reduced number of available characteristics are used to proceed with the classification. This direction can be inconsistent from the natural point of view, but it can make the interpretation of inexperienced learners easier. In this case, the classification dichotomous key enables the learner to get in touch with the unique characteristics of individuals and groups.

After investigating animal taxonomy content, a visit to a museum that contains zoological collections is planned. The authors’ intention in this field trip is to bring learners closer to real collections and enable discussions about “[...] the ethical aspects related to collections” and how museums “represent biological diversity” (^{Rani; Vargas; Carrieri; Drequeceler; Fessardi; Garcia, 2019}). In their research, ^{Richter, Lenz, Hermel and Güllich (2017)} highlighted that working with biological collections emphasizes the practical conception of teaching, as they arouse the learners’ interest and curiosity, and they are seen as more independent subjects, capable of establishing relationships between theory and practice. This understanding in relation to the activities of this TLS is ratified, but the emancipatory potential that this sequence can reach, from its ethical point of view, is also highlighted. In the case study on animal trafficking, which concludes the sequence, learners are mobilized to make decisions about the preservation of endemic areas, aimed at preventing the trafficking of (hypothetical) species supposedly threatened with extinction. This action should result in movements of otherness, insofar as it provokes clashes with the ethical dilemmas of taxonomic activity, mobilized by feelings of indignation at the behavior of the trafficker and empathy for endangered animals.

^{Fourez (1995)} states that suffering is an encounter with otherness, a fundamental step for the construction of the ethical debate. He says that: “[...] ethics always starts from awareness of what we symbolically call evil, perceived at the outset as a situation that causes suffering, and about which something tells us, in ourselves and around us, is it necessary?” (^{Fourez, 1995}, p. 247, our translation). In the aforementioned case study, the ethical debate could raise questions for learners such as: Why could these “cute animals” not be pets? Wouldn’t it be better if they were pets than placed in biological collections? Wouldn’t this be a way of conserving the species, as zoos do? From another point of view, they could raise questions like: if there were no collection records of these trafficked animals, would it be possible to find out which region they are from? Without museums, what would we know about the physical characteristics of species? Is it possible to reduce the number of individuals collected per species? Would a few individuals give an idea about the population composition? It is evident that the ethical debate should be held by the teacher not only in the case study, but also in the relationships that are being built in the development of the TLS, but the way in which the sequence was developed opens mediation paths to explore these psychological and epistemological domains of knowledge.

There is a conflicting point about museological activity in schools, from a situational and historical point of view, which deserves to be discussed. According to ^{Marandino, Selles and Ferreira (2009)}, school didactic collections were strengthened along with laboratory teaching in the mid-twentieth century. The authors emphasize the varied functions that objects, such as didactic collections, play in science teaching, in order to illustrate, demonstrate, explain, and even transform knowledge. Many schools, especially private ones, have laboratories with beautiful animal collections, including vertebrates.

Nevertheless, in Brazil, the creation and use of animals in educational teaching and research activities is restricted to higher education institutions and technical professional education in the biomedical area (^{Brasil, 2008}). This law applies only to species classified as phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata (^{Kardong, 2012}). As far as one can see, this means that the scientific use of this taxon, whether in practical demonstrative or experimental classes, cannot be carried out in Elementary Education, unless in the appropriate technical institutions accredited by the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA). What about the other non-vertebrate animals, could construction and maintenance of insectariums be carried out, for example? The technical answer to this question, in principle, is no. The collection of zoological material must be authorized by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), through the Biodiversity Authorization and Information System (^{ICMBio, 2014}). This norm applies to higher education and there is no mention of collection activity in Elementary Education in this normative instruction. However, it is understood that it is not allowed, due to the obligation to obtain a license to collect any zoological materials. More reasons for valuing museums in educational activities.

Even with these regulations, experimental activity with animals, which was already much more present in science laboratories of Brazilian schools (^{Bones, 2012}), still occurs. As well as the demonstrative use of school didactic collections in scientific practices, demonstrating a mismatch between regulatory laws and the school reality. As can be seen, this is an ethical debate in action, in which the voices of consecrated educational practices, recent legislation and of the role of didactic collections in science teaching should echo.