Basic Education Interfaces

PPGCA goes to School – Project associated with the sectors and laboratories of the Postgraduate Program in Animal Science. This project is important, as it connects primary and secondary school students with master’s and doctoral students and with the research carried out by PPPGCA teachers.

Program in Schools – Professor Cristiano Albuquerque is a tutor for the Tutorial Education Program (PET) of the Fisheries Engineering course. There are 12 scholarship holders and 5 volunteers who develop extracurricular activities related to research, teaching and extension. As part of the extension, two activities are currently being carried out: Pet in Schools and Aquaculturist Training. The Pet in Schools activity consists of interactions with high school students from schools in the region, where graduates visit the schools and present general information about the Fisheries Engineering course and UFERSA. In a second stage, high school students visit UFERSA, get to know the laboratories and physical structure of the Fisheries Engineering course and participate in quick scientific practices. This activity takes place three to four times a year.

High school students visiting Fisheries Engineering facilities

Project with One Health – PPGCA approved with CAPES the project entitled “One Health” aimed at Sustainable Development in the Semi-Arid region of the Brazilian Northeast: Actions and Perspectives in the School Environment. Its objective is to present plays, seminars and workshops on zoonoses for primary and secondary schools. The project will be presented by 2026.

Cemas – open-air laboratory where we conserve wild animals. Several researches are carried out in this environment.  The animal conservation environment is organized into a sector with  wild bee farming, stingless bees, cavy farming, agouti farming, collared peccary farming and rhea farming.  Annually, the sector receives kindergarten, primary and secondary schools.

Early childhood education visits to Cemas

Creation and use of educational games in the environmental area – Expansion Project; Environmental Education Dissemination of Zoonoses carried out by Professor Carlos Ibere ​​in primary and secondary schools on zoonoses with the production of educational games on environmental issues and also disseminating the precepts of Conservation and Environmental Education itself. Bring knowledge and wild animals to public and private schools. Convey notions about venomous and venomous animals, highlight the dangers, but clarify the importance of the animal in the ecosystem and the crime of killing them.

ANATOVET ON LINE. Extension project that consists of the development of a virtual platform for teaching animal anatomy, as a means of integration between primary, secondary and higher education, developed by the monitors of undergraduate courses in Veterinary Medicine in the area of morphology, under the tutorship of Prof. Dr. Carlos Eduardo Moura, professor at PPGCA.

UFERSA Open Doors. Under the joint coordination of Professor Patrícia Oliveira Lima, the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid received 2,457 elementary and high school students from public and private schools in the third edition of “UFERSA de Portas Abertas”, which is part of the week’s program. Semiarid Science and Technology, the biggest event for popularizing science in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte and the official event of the National Week of Science and Technology (SNCT), which takes place across the country, promoted every year by the Ministry of Science, Technology , Innovation and Communications (MCTIC). The event aims to encourage students to enter higher education, present undergraduate courses to undecided students and those who do not yet know the options offered by the University, helping students in choosing their future professions. UFERSA was visited by 31 schools on the University’s four campuses. The headquarters campus in Mossoró was visited by 20 schools, 17 public and three private; Angicos received 975 students, in Pau dos Ferros there were 500 and in Caraúbas 82 students visited the Campus. Within this perspective, visitors got to know the physical structure of the Institution’s four campuses and participated in lectures, workshops and practical classes visiting more than 55 spaces at Ufersa. In addition to the institution’s professors, the event was attended by more than 50 volunteer students from the University’s various undergraduate and graduate courses, among which we highlight the massive participation of the Graduate Program in Animal Science, whose professors responsible for laboratories, opened their doors to receive visitors.

Science for All Program in the Potiguar Semiarid Region. Institutional project that currently represents one of the main national university interaction programs and basic education, with intense support from the PPGCA. This program aimed to stimulate interest of young from distant regions of the semi-arid hinterland for science, helping professors and students of basic education to understand the logic and simplicity of the scientific method, stimulating in young people the development of the inquiring spirit that characterizes the scientist, producing fruits that thrill us and encourage us to continue this project.

UFERSA Pollinator Trail. The UFERSA Pollinator Trail, located within the Experimental Station of the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid is an educational tour, where students and students of basic education (elementary school, high school) learn about the importance of native plants from the Caatinga and the interactions between plants and pollinators. In 2019, the Pollinator Trail was visited by six classes of basic education in schools in the municipality of Mossoró.

ASA space. The ASA Space on the central campus of the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid brings together a scientific meliponary and a garden for stingless bees and is dedicated to both research and environmental education, where the visitor can discover the importance of bees and other pollinators in the ecosystem Caatinga. The Espaço ASA area houses a meliponary, a “hotel” for solitary bees (bees that do not live in colonies) and a restored area with plants important for the bees of the Caatinga biome. In 2019, Espaço ASA received visits by thirteen classes of basic education in schools in the municipality of Mossoró.

Science for all program in the semi-arid region of Rio Grande do Norte. Institutional project that currently represents one of the main national university interaction programs and basic education, with intense support from the PPGCA. This program aimed to stimulate interest of young from distant regions of the semi-arid hinterland for science, helping professors and students of basic education to understand the logic and simplicity of the scientific method, stimulating in young people the development of the inquiring spirit that characterizes the scientist, producing fruits that thrill us and encourage us to continue this project. The actions developed annually involve training professors and multipliers on the scientific method; project development workshops; monitoring of project execution activities; science fair in schools; science fair in the regional boards, Science Fair of the Semi-arid Potiguar and finally development of works by students in universities, with scholarships for junior scientific initiation and participation in National and International Science Fairs. In this scenario, PPGCA professors and students contributed by assisting in laboratory activities of research projects, in the evaluation of works to be selected for scientific competitions and offering a workshop with the most varied themes. As examples, professor Alex Augusto Gonçalves assisted in the project entitled Use of marine shells as a sustainable alternative for dental treatment (transformation of the shell into powder) of students from Tibau, RN. In addition, professor José Luiz Costa Novaes assisted in the project young talents directly linked to the Science Fair.

UFERSA Pollinator Trail. The UFERSA Pollinator Trail, located within the Experimental Station of the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid is an educational tour, where students and students of basic education (elementary school, high school) learn about the importance of native plants from the Caatinga and the interactions between plants and pollinators. In 2018, the Pollinator Trail was visited by six classes of basic education in schools in the municipality of Mossoró.

ASA space. The ASA Space on the central campus of the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid brings together a scientific meliponary and a garden for stingless bees and is dedicated to both research and environmental education, where the visitor can discover the importance of bees and other pollinators in the ecosystem Caatinga. The Espaço ASA area houses a meliponary, a “hotel” for solitary bees (bees that do not live in colonies) and a restored area with plants important for the bees of the Caatinga biome. In 2018, Espaço ASA received visits by thirteen classes of basic education in schools in the municipality of Mossoró.

Knowing the Wild Animals. Activity promoted by professor Carlos Ibere ​​Alves Freitas, individually, within the knowledge of students of basic education in wild animals, giving the lecture Venomous and poisonous animals / Particularities of the zoonoses of wild animals and offering the exhibition in the Mauricio de Oliveira Municipal Park from the city of Mossoró.

Biocompatibility assessment of plasma-treated titanium surfaces applied to implant production under the coordination of professor Carlos Eduardo Bezerra de Moura. Approved by Edital FAPERN / SEEC No. 01/2018 – PIBIC Jr, which had as its central objective the approval of junior scientific initiation scholarships for students of basic education to acquire technical and scientific knowledge at the university while still in basic education. The project allowed researchers and students from the Animal Science Graduate Program to interact with students and professors at the Gilberto Rola State School, located in the district of Maísa, rural area of ​​Mossoró RN. The project provides high school students with learning, mastery and application of the scientific method, as well as the development of critical training and creativity, in direct confrontation with the problems arising from research.

The scientific method as a learning tool. Also approved by Edital FAPERN / SEEC Nº 01/2018 – PIBIC Jr, under the coordination of professor Cristiano Queiroz Albuquerque, this project recruited five students from public schools to study basic aspects of fish ecology. It aims to use practical classes and guided discussions to encourage the discovery and understanding of the scientific method focused on aquatic ecology, which is the basis of my line of research.

Knowing the advances in fishing engineering. Activity promoted by professor Gustavo Henrique Gonzaga, at the Professor José de Freitas Nobre State School in Mossoró-RN, as part of the activities of PET-Engenharia de Pesca.

Science for all program in the semi-arid region of Rio Grande do Norte. Institutional project approved by CNPq (CNPq Process: 441604/2017-0, coordinator: Felipe de Azevedo S. Ribeiro). It aims to stimulate interest in science in young people from places far from the semi-arid hinterland, helping teachers and students of basic education to understand the logic and simplicity of the scientific method, encouraging young people to develop the inquisitive spirit that characterizes the scientist, and producing fruits that move us and encourage us to continue this project. The actions developed annually involve training teachers and multipliers on the scientific method; project development workshops; monitoring of project execution activities; science fair in schools; science fair in the regional boards, Science Fair of the Semi-arid Potiguar and finally development of works by students in universities, with scholarships for junior scientific initiation and participation in National and International Science Fairs. In this scenario, PPGCA professors and students contribute by helping in laboratory activities of research projects, in the evaluation of works to be selected for scientific competitions and offering a workshop with the most varied themes.