Moscas-das-frutas e educação fitossanitária: uma experiência com alunos do 6º ano do ensino fundamental

Abstract

Fruit flies are of great economic importance in the agricultural sector and can generate direct and indirect losses, causing an increase in the cost of production due to the need to use control measures, decreasing the quality of fruits and causing losses in the production of fresh fruits. One of the ways to assist in the spread of fruit fly proliferation is through the actions of Phytosanitary Education, as it is an educational action in order to provide guidance on the causes and consequences of a certain species of pest. In this sense, we aim with this work to evaluate the impact of phytosanitary education actions for the knowledge and control of fruit flies in students of the 6th year of Elementary School of the Fagundes Varela School, located in the District of Carvão, Mazagão - Ap. This is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, using the method of participant observation and the active method. The study was carried out in six stages: (a) Application of a first questionnaire to assess students' prior knowledge on the fruit fly theme; (b) Writing by students of a story experienced in daily life about fruit flies (c) educational lecture; (d) thematic design workshop; (e) application of a second questionnaire for the purpose of comparing responses; (f) making an educational booklet with the stories told and retold after the lecture and illustrated with the drawings produced by the students in the drawing workshop. The results of the second questionnaire point to a high degree of assimilation of the contents when compared to previous knowledge verified in the first questionnaire, as it is evident that 84.6% correctly answered the question about how fruit flies appear in the second questionnaire. Through the applied dynamics, 80.76% of the interviewees demonstrated their understanding of the biological cycle of fruit flies. The realization of this study allowed us to perceive the importance of training students to be agents that disseminate information to combat and control fruit flies. Thus, considering the rural characteristics where the school is located, the phytosanitary education activities can contribute to society and to the development of the agricultural sector. Initiatives like these need to be constant, so that the combat actions are not punctual and must be incorporated into the teaching practice of science teachers in schools, as well as extension actions, taking this knowledge to other segments of society