Análise do tema paleontologia nos livros didáticos na cidade de Olivedos - PB.

Abstract

Paleontology is the science that studies the fossil record and its implications. However, in most cases, this knowledge is restricted to museums and universities, since textbooks, the main support material for basic education, address this content superficially. This work aims to analyze how topics related to Paleontology are approached in science and biology textbooks adopted by public schools in the municipality of Olivedos - PB, as well as to show how this content is being addressed in the schools in question. This is a qualitative research, carried out through the analysis of textbooks adopted by public elementary and high schools in the municipality, in addition to an interview conducted with the teachers of the respective schools. After analyzing the ten textbooks used by the schools, it was possible to observe that the topics related to Paleontology are found in a shallow way, and furthermore, the theme "importance of the paleontologist" was not even found in the books analyzed. Regarding the questions asked to the teachers, only one of them teaches about Paleontology topics frequently in their classes, meaning that only elementary school students have significant contact with Paleontology. In high school, the scenario is quite different, since most classes focus on university entrance exams like the ENEM, so topics related to Paleontology end up taking a back seat.