SCIENCE COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION THROUGH COMICS: CONTRIBUTIONS OF PORTUGUESE STAKEHOLDERS INA FOCUS GROUP

In this article, we investigate how comics can contribute to the communication and education of scientific concepts to develop scientific literacy among children in the early years of schooling. Adopting a Research & Development (R&D) methodology, we sought to gather the perceptions of Portuguese stakeholders involved in science communication and education initiatives with children in the first cycle of basic education (ages 6 to 10) during the exploratory phase of the project. Two focus group sessions were conducted with a total of 12 participants, aiming to: identify the main challenges related to the communication and learning of scientific concepts involving children; determine which didactic strategies are used by science communication and education professionals, considering formal, non-formal, and informal education contexts; and identify the potential, constraints, and criteria for 1077 developing comics for the communication and learning of scientific concepts. The interviews were recorded - with the participants' consent - and the transcriptions were subjected to content analysis. The results show that the main challenge is related to children's difficulty in understanding abstract scientific concepts, requiring strategies and didactic resources that help associate these concepts to situations close to their social context, enabling them to understand science and make scientifically informed decisions. In this context, comics emerge as a highly educational resource, combining different strategies, such as using stories with meaningful characters and contexts for children, employing simple language that integrates texts and images, and utilizing scientific metaphors. The focus groups facilitated the collaborative construction of knowledge on this topic, guiding the next phases of the ongoing R&D project.