A ludic learning strategy to comprehend different forms of systematics, the academic and the indigenous

CELESTE MEDRANO; SÁNCHEZ ROCÍO; MACHADO AGUSTÍN; ANDREA PREVITALLI

Anchorage

Congreso; 13th International Mammalogical Congress & 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists; 2023

American Society of Mammalogists

The objective of this paper is to share the results of a ludic educational activity designed to put the traditional taxonomy in dialogue with the non-academic taxonomies in general, and, in particular, with the ordering of mammals employed by the Qom people, an indigenous group of the Gran Chaco, Argentina. In order to better predispose the students to discovering something different from what they have been taught, the class took place in the Museum of Natural History, using cushions on the floor instead of the tablet-arm chairs of the classroom. We gave each group a set of noodles of different shapes and colors that they had to classify and then share the criteria that they used. Many different taxonomies emerged and the criteria used were surprising and generated laughs and awareness that all were valid. Next, the groups were given the assignment of ordering images of different mammals species drawn by a Qom person. This time, the groups came up with similar classifications, mostly based on their knowledge of the phylogeny of Mammalia. Finally, we introduced the way that the Qoms classify mammals, and discussed the logic of the ordering of life. Different observations indicate that the students appreciated the insights brought by this activity and suggest that it is necessary to increase the inclusion of other knowledge of life in biology courses.