Revisão sistemática sobre laboratórios virtuais para ensino de microbiologia

Abstract

This work presents the feasibility, praxis and pedagogical efficiency of virtual laboratories for teaching Microbiology. It is noteworthy that the teaching of Microbiology has some limitations related to the characteristics of organisms, cellular structures, survival mechanisms and biological processes, as they are abstract concepts. In addition, the students' biological safety in the face of the experiments is the most important factor. Several methodologies have already been tried out, such as those based on games (analog, such as question and answer, board, didactic, among others; digital, such as online games and other audiovisual resources), those based on the use of models, those based in practical experiments and other technological approaches such as augmented reality. Among them, one of the most relevant forms of teaching, also considering biological safety, is the use of virtual laboratories. These are intended to create three-dimensional environments in which users can explore and interact, feeling immersed in realistic simulations that promote immersion. A Systematic Literature Review was built, which allowed optimizing the search for relevant works for this research. The search was restricted from the years 2016 to 2022, and returned a total of 1050 publications, which were then subjected to the extraction and categorization process by the Mendeley software and VOSviewer, which allowed the identification of 30 publications. As a result, it is observed that the practice of virtual laboratories is mainly identified by the biosafety relationship and the operational cost of maintaining the laboratory. With all this, it is confirmed that virtual reality laboratories for teaching microbiology make it possible to explore the structures of microorganisms invisible to the naked eye and to implement these abstract concepts.