Uma abordagem temática do conteúdo proteínas junto a estudantes do seminário paraibano: a produção do queijo de coalho do mocó (Kerodon rupestres)

Abstract

Coalho cheese is a traditional representative of Northeastern culture and history and has become part of the eating habits of populations in all States of the Region. Its manufacture is a popular knowledge, perpetuated for centuries, still present in different places, as in the microregion of Piancó, in the Alto Sertão of the State of Paraíba, locus of the research presented here. Artisanal makers use an aqueous mixture of the stomach of the mocó (Kerodon rupestres), a rodent found in the Caatinga, as rennet to make this cheese. The main objective of the research was to promote a dialogue between popular knowledge and scientific knowledge around the mocó´s coalho cheese production. More specifically, it sought to: raise the popular knowledge involved in the production and consumption of coalho cheese; investigate the knowledge of students and their relationship with the production and consumption of coalho cheese; and carry out an approach to the protein content, centered on the thematic coalho de mocó cheese theme, using a didactic sequence, with a Science, Technology and Society focus, developed for this purpose and applied via remote teaching. The research was carried out with manufacturers from the rural community of Sítio Saco, in the city of Nova Olinda, and with eleven students from the 3rd (third) year of João de Sousa Primo State Elementary and High School, in Pedra Branca, in Vale do Piancó, in the hinterland of Paraíba, where the researcher is a professor. The artisanal production of coalho cheese at Sítio Saco is an informal, intergenerational activity, under the domain of the female sex, which contributes to the food and income of the producing families. Most of the students had already experienced the production of coalho cheese, but about half were unfamiliar with coalho cheese. The pedagogical moments of the didactic sequence enabled the study and dialogue about the chemical knowledge involved in this popular knowledge, with an emphasis on the characteristics of proteins, particularly the casein (protein from milk and cheese)- chemosin (rennet enzyme) relationship. The approach also enabled students to better understand the local reality and provided them with opportunities for reflection and proposals on how to intervene to improve it.