Doing science using an interpretative trail: report on the experience of a public school in the municipality of Petrolina, Pernambuco State, Brazil

The lack of investment in public education in Brazil has encouraged the search for alternative mechanisms to achieve quality teaching, especially in the basic sciences. The chronic lack of laboratories underscores the urgent need for alternatives that can improve science teaching. In this respect, the present article is a report of an Interpretive Trail implemented by a biology teacher, third year students at a state high school, and licensed researchers from a federal university affiliated with the Institutional Professor Initiation Scholarship Program. The strategy promoted unprecedented mobilization in the class, even attracting the attention of some of the students’ family members. Student participation in the discussion during the Trail, and in the subsequent production of didactic material presented to the academic community at a Science Fair, justifies using this tool to provide dynamic and critical practical classes that truly empower students as social players in their communities.