Evaluation of learning difficulties in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Piauí students

• Main Authors: Raíssa Silva Bacelar de Andrade, Ayres Fran da Silva e Silva, Maximiliano de Souza Zierer
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, SBBq 2017-07-01
• Series: Journal of Biochemistry Education
• Subjects: dificuldades de aprendizado; bioquímica; estudantes.
• Online Access: http://bioquimica.org.br/revista/ojs/index.php/REB/article/view/690

Biochemistry is a basic subject present in the curriculum of the various health and natural sciences courses. However, the literature indicates a great difficulty for undergraduates facing the learning of this subject. This study aimed to evaluate, through a questionnaire, the difficulty degree of learning in Biochemistry presented by the students, in order to stimulate discussions about teaching-learning strategies to try to minimize the problem. We found that 86,5% of the students evaluated presented a difficulty degree of learning in Biochemistry from medium to high. In addition, 62.8% of the students reported had learning difficulties in other subjects in their undergraduate courses. Associated with these data, 81.03% of the students recognized that they had learning difficulties in high school, with the most mentioned subjects being mathematics (44.73%) and chemistry (38.98%). As a consequence of this problem, 21.4% of the total number of students evaluated was repeaters in the subject of Biochemistry, which represents a significant group of students with great learning difficulties. We verified that the difficulties of learning in Biochemistry have multiple causes, and probably the most important is the deficiency in the training of students coming from elementary and middle schools.