Perception of cnidarians by students of the urban and rural school of two municipalities of Pernambuco, Brazil / Percepção dos cnidários pelos alunos da escola urbana e rural de dois municípios de Pernambuco, Brasil

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The cnidarians represent an important phylum of zoology, consisting of aquatic animals almost always of marine origin. The representatives of this phylum have important functions, being fundamental in the food chain of many animals, in addition to being important predators, responsible for maintaining the environmental balance. However, the interest in the cnidarian phylum is also related to the numerous accidents caused by some of its representatives, such as caravels and jellyfish, which intensifies the need to address this content more comprehensively in the classroom. For this, teaching resources represent important tools that can help teachers and students in the teaching-learning process, making the approach more pleasurable, didactic, and complete. One of these tools are photographs, which are classified as non-verbal language, effectively contributing to the teaching process, as well as to scientific-technological discoveries, which can be used in any learning environment. In this sense, students from the 5th year of Elementary School, from the city of Paudalho/Pernambuco, participated in a study on cnidarians, where the previous knowledge they obtained on the subject was evaluated, and how the use of tools such as drawings and figures could contribute for the construction of their knowledge about the phylum. The applied methodology, called indirect observation, boosted the understanding of the content, as well as contributed to the development of creativity and observation in the classroom. In addition, this tool boosted the development of cognitive conflicts, since students were able to relate preexisting knowledge with new information obtained during the class, which is fundamental in the science teaching process, whose main objective is to make the student relate the content covered in the classroom, with their daily lives, mobilizing students to expand their knowledge. These attitudes make the teaching of zoology something concrete and certainly more pleasurable, ensuring that good teaching strategies can break down barriers in science teaching.