Abstract:

Nowadays, we have dedicated ourselves to finding learning strategies that impact our students. In this walk, we selected infographics since they are an exciting educational resource for generating knowledge. First, let us define infographics (info: information, graphy: graphics) as an image that explains a concept through text, images, design, and colors. If we consider that students today are content generators for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, among many other platforms on the Internet, why not use that creative and expressive capacity to generate knowledge?

The elaboration of infographics by the students can have benefits such as:
1. More interpretative than in a simple scheme.
2. Help to understand the topic better when it is being developed.
3. Greater power to analyze in detail the synthesized information.
4. It turns out to be more interesting to explore.

In short, it is one of the mechanisms to optimize the learning process both in traditional and online formats.
We decided to use this strategy and ask our students for infographics on biological aspects of Drosophila melanogaster (“the fruit fly”), such as its anatomy, metabolism, and life cycle. The selection of this organism is relevant for the subject of Genetics since it is the animal model par excellence in the area, and it was from it that several aspects of Genetics were discovered that today continue to have an impact on Biology and other science-related areas. Therefore, it is necessary for biology students to keep this research model in mind.

For the realization of infographics on Drosophila melanogaster, during the 2022-2 semester, we worked with 22 students of the biology career in the Facultad de Ciencias (Faculty of Sciences). Due to the gradual return to face-to-face activities this semester (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), we worked simultaneously with half of the students in a virtual format and the other half in a face-to-face format. We formed three teams among the entire group, among which there were two teams with four face-to-face and three virtual members, while a single team would have four face-to-face and four virtual members. Finally, there was a co-evaluation by the students and an evaluation by the teachers.

Keywords:

Infographics, Teaching, Didactic Resource, Genetics, Drosophila melanogaster.