Química forense no ensino de Química: o que nos diz a literatura?

Abstract

This dissertation discusses part of the Brazilian academic publications concerning forensic chemistry in chemistry teaching. In this regard, papers published on this subject from 2000 until the first bimester of 2018 were located in journals related to the CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) "QUALIS Education and Teaching Program". Twenty articles published in Portuguese and Spanish language journals were analyzed. In the Spanish language journals, only articles were considered in which the authors presented links with Brazilian institutions. All papers found were analyzed regarding the following descriptors: year of publication, geographic region, home institution, level of education and thematic research areas. The results pointed to a significant increase in publications from 2010 onwards, particularly in 2017. For the whole set of publications, researchers´ contributions from universities in the southern region were predominant, with a higher concentration from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and State University of Western Paraná (UNIOESTE). The level of education that received most attention was high school and two thematic foci were identified: forensic chemistry in chemistry teaching from a theoretical perspective and forensic chemistry in developing teaching strategies. The latter included the highest number of publications and was classified into the following subfoci: using media material; experimentation; Role Playing games; texts on forensic chemistry; analysis of a fictitious crime associated with experimentation; analysis of a fictitious crime associated with experimentation and using media material; and analysis of a fictitious crime associated with experimentation, using media material and a case study. The full analysis of the articles showed that the national academic work on the area is low and dispersed. The analysis also revealed that forensic chemistry teaching has the potential to arouse the interest and encourage students´ learning concerning questions related to chemistry.