Representações do conceito de Ecologia: análise de livros didáticos e concepção de alunos de Ciencias Biológicas

Resumo: A Ecologia e uma ciencia que possui diferentes definicoes, sendo as mais utilizadas as de Haeckel e Krebs, contrastantes do ponto de vista temporal e conceitual. Por isso propomos: i) registrar as definicoes de Ecologia presentes nos livros didaticos utilizados na Universidade Estadual do Ceara, Faculdade de Educacao de Itapipoca UECE/FACEDI e nas escolas do ensino basico de Itapipoca-Ceara e ii) acessar as representacoes do termo Ecologia partilhada pelos discentes de Biologia da FACEDI que ja cursaram as disciplinas de Ecologia e aqueles que ainda nao as cursaram. Com uma abordagem quanti-qualitativa descritiva documental, analisamos 35 livros, 15 universitarios e 20 livros do ensino basico. Para verificar quais conceitos sao compreendidos pelos licenciandos utilizamos um questionario, respondido por 97 estudantes universitarios e analisado pelo metodo de analise conteudo. Registramos que a maioria dos livros (27) trazia apenas a definicao de Haeckel e utilizavam o termo Ecologia como sinonimo de Ciencias Ambientais; apenas sete livros traziam as duas definicoes e um trazia apenas o conceito de Krebs. Esses dados demonstram que a definicao de Krebs e menos difundida do que a de Haeckel, e isso se soma a uma limitacao conceitual ao considerar Ecologia como sinonimo de Ciencias Ambientais, embora ambas tenham escopo distintos. Registramos tambem que as percepcoes de Ecologia partilhada pelos alunos estao mais proximas da definicao de Haeckel. Concluimos que a inconsistencia conceitual amplamente difundida nos livros didaticos e tambem partilhada pelos alunos, especialmente aqueles que ainda nao cursaram as disciplinas de Ecologia. Palavras-Chave: Ensino de Ecologia. Transposicao Didatica. Haeckel. Krebs. REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CONCEPT OF ECOLOGY: ANALYSIS OF DIDACTIC BOOKS AND CONCEPTION OF STUDENTS OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Abstract: Ecology is a science that has different definitions the most used are those of Haeckel and Krebs, contrasting from a temporal and conceptual point of view. Therefore, we propose to: i) record the definitions of ecology present in the textbooks used at the State University of Ceara, the Faculty of Education of Itapipoca UECE/FACEDI and at the primary schools of Itapipoca-Ceara and ii) access the representations of the term Shared Ecology by the FACEDI Biology students who have already studied Ecology and those who have not yet studied them. With a descriptive quantitative-qualitative approach, we analyzed 35 books, 15 university students and 20 books of basic education. To verify which concepts are understood by the licensees we use a questionnaire, answered by 97 university students and analyzed by the content analysis method. We note that most of the books (27) contained only Haeckel's definition and used the term Ecology as synonymous with Environmental Sciences; Only seven books had the two definitions and only one contains only Krebs. These data demonstrate that the definition of Krebs is less widespread than that of Haeckel, and this adds to a conceptual limitation when considering Ecology as synonymous with Environmental Sciences, although both have a different scope. We also note that the perceptions of Ecology shared by students are closer to Haeckel's definition. We conclude that the conceptual inconsistency widely diffused in textbooks is also shared by the students, especially those who have not yet studied the subjects of Ecology. Keywords: Teaching Ecology. Didactic Transposition. Haeckel. Krebs.