O princípio transformante de Griffith: uma proposta de modelo didático para o ensino de biologia molecular

Abstract

Didactic models are built with concrete materials and their function is to represent structures or parts of a situation to enhance the learning process. The present study proposes the construction of a didactic model for teaching Molecular Biology with emphasis on Frederick Griffith's studies on the transforming principle (bacterial transformation), based on the use of three-dimensional structures that can facilitate the teaching and learning process. The structure represented was that of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, the model organism of the experiment involving Griffith's transforming principle theme. The model was built with biscuit dough wrapped in a 170 mm Styrofoam ball and cardboard, with subsequent addition of the main bacterial structures, in addition to modeling the intracellular and extracellular DNA. The teacher can make use of the didactic model to teach a demonstrative class or to build structuring concepts. Therefore, the present study was a pioneer in providing the academic community with an interactive didactic model capable of approaching the theme of the transforming principle, improving the performance of the teaching and learning process.