História do conhecimento sobre a Síndrome de Down e suas interfaces com as compreensões de licenciandos em Ciências Biológicas

Abstract

Down Syndrome was first recognized by John Langdon Haydon Down, in 1866, who classified individuals as having “Mongolian idiocy”, characterizing their clinical conditions and differentiating it from other disabilities. Currently, Down Syndrome is known as a genetic condition and in 95% of cases it is associated with an imbalance in the chromosomal constitution of the individual, considered as trisomy of chromosome 21. It is important to understand the historicity with which knowledge is being established and modified when over time, in addition to recognizing the current understandings of undergraduates in Biological Sciences about the subject. Thus, this work aimed to recognize the historical understandings that guided the process of knowledge construction about Down Syndrome, as they are presented, in contemporaneity, in the discourse of undergraduate students in Biological Sciences regarding the approximations and distances of the historical construction of scientific knowledge and also how they are mobilized during the mandatory curricular practice. In the methodological path, this work presents a study based on the historicity of knowledge about the syndrome, using primary historical sources to understand the construction of knowledge. It also presents an empirical analysis, based on the assumptions of Discursive Textual Analysis, on transcripts of an oral presentation, carried out from a flowchart prepared by eighteen undergraduates of a Biological Sciences course at the Federal University of Southern Frontier regarding Down Syndrome, as well as transcripts of two didactic workshops developed by six undergraduates during the Supervised Curricular Practice in Biology I. From this corpus of analysis, the units of meaning were identified and, from them, the categories of analysis emerged: 1) Historicity of knowledge construction regarding Down Syndrome, 2) Understanding of Down Syndrome regarding biological knowledge and 3) Emerging ideas about the inclusion of the individual with Down Syndrome in training spaces and in society as a whole. We realize the importance of John Langdon Down for contributing to significant changes in the panorama of knowledge from the late nineteenth century on the syndrome, in the twentieth century, we highlight the unveiling of genetic conditions related to chromosomal abnormalities, representing a historic milestone in medical genetics human, providing a fresh look at Down Syndrome. We understand that biology undergraduates have understandings about the syndrome, often based on historical and cultural perspectives, such as when they conceive it as a "disease", in addition to realizing the "distorted" understandings in relation to the contents of genetic biological knowledge, such as the nature of the genetic material. We also notice understandings that point to a differentiated education of individuals with the syndrome, sometimes without considering their insertion in regular teaching spaces. During the development of the practice, the social and inclusive aspect stood out in the speeches, indicating how much the undergraduates considered an important topic, at the same time that various terminologies and ideas used by them lead to understandings as a "disease" or relating to normativity. This research allowed us to reflect on the need to rethink the initial training of biology teachers, bringing social, 11 inclusive and historical discussions together with biological scientific training to provide an in-depth reflection on the insertion of individuals with disabilities in society.