CARTOONS THAT PORTRAIT SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURES

The association of artistic activities to research routine is scientifically related to improvement of learning and educational autonomy, as well as being motivational. The needs for greater interaction between researchers and development of pedagogical strategies to research routine led us to the creation of cartoon stories that portrait scientific procedures. A plasmid extraction protocol was used as pilot in order to generate didactic material that improves scientific understanding, critical analysis of protocol implementation, and creative interaction among researchers. Our cartoons tell the stories of characters in a plot from beginning to end that can be related to the proposals of the scientific project in which the protocol is applied. A preliminary version of the story was written by a graduate student and debated among authors. Cartoons were drawn by one of the students. Creation and realization of this work produced artistic/scientific didactic material that provides greater comprehension of the protocol at issue as well as extended expressions of researchers’ talents. Cartoons were shared with other researchers. This pilot is part of a group of sequential protocols in gene therapy on which cartoons are being created.