The use of food labels as an active methodology in high school chemistry learning

Abstract

In this period of uncertainty and transformations that we are living, it falls to the teacher to have the mission of teaching the students in a way they can assimilate what they have been taught with day-to-day applications. For this reason, the contextualizing of the contents that have been learned is a great strategy to improve the teaching and learning process. This study aims to analyze the possibilities of the methodologies used to facilitate the process of learning through the interpretation and analysis of food labels. This project was developed at Centro de Ensino Benedito Leite, in classes from the third year of high school (or junior year), totaling 82 students. Primarily, a questionnaire was applied and after that, expositive classes, thematic workshops (quiz and experiments) were organized, exploring the interpretation of the technical terms associated with the labels and the identification of some organic functions present on them, with discussions corresponding to the benefits and the damages when present in great amount in foods. And, in the end, an evaluation of the activity developed was apprehended, it was not selected that 51% of the students never read the labels before buying, while 24% never read the labels and 22% read the labels, signaling that the application of the practice performed associated with the substances contained in the foods will motivate adolescents/teenagers to exploit the labels and it turns into a necessary action. From the diagnostic analysis of the data, it was possible to realize the importance in using methodologies that make students owners of systemic knowledge, doing activities that can associate the scientific knowledge and the students' reality, in a way that stimulates the interest for Chemistry. After the students participated in the methodological activities of the project and through the evaluation questionnaire, the students should assign their level of agreement with the following statement "Studying chemistry through the food labels facilitated my learning" 58% of students answered it as “completely agree” and 32% “agree more or less”, resulting in a meaningful majority of approval of activities developed, conveying that innovative methodologies help in the teaching-learning process, turning people into critical and independent citizens. Lastly, by means of all the study performed and the educational activities presented, it was possible to confirm that the use of the interpretation of the food labels can assist and promote the process of critical and scientific training in a way to obtain a more interactive, dynamic and inclusive education.