Comic Book Guide from the Planetarium of Pará Combines Science and Playfulness in Chemistry Teaching
Publication brings together 11 experiments most commonly conducted during public and school visits to the Center for Sciences and Planetarium of Pará (CCPPA) in Belém
Teaching Chemistry through comic stories. This is the innovative proposal of the Center for Sciences and Planetarium of Pará (CCPPA), which has just launched the first comic book guide of experiments from the Chemistry Space, titled "A visit to the Planetarium of Pará – The Chemistry Show", available for download. The publication transforms scientific concepts into illustrated stories, bringing the subject closer to students' daily lives and making learning lighter, more dynamic, and fun.
Developed by the Chemistry coordinator of CCPPA and by teachers and interns who have worked in the space, the guide becomes a new ally for teachers in the mission to awaken scientific critical thinking in education. The material has the Editorial Seal of the Graduate Program in Education and Teaching of Sciences in the Amazon of the State University of Pará (PPGEECA/Uepa) and was prepared by Anabela Sousa, Bruno Santos, Flávia Alcântara, Juliana Ferreira, Isabelle Silva, Rodrigo Costa, Yasmin Santana, Cristiele Pereira, Maria Dulcimar Silva, and Vania Lobo.
The publication gathers eleven of the most performed experiments during public and school visits to CCPPA, such as: Lamp Genie, Magic Fire, Disappearing Violet, Flame Test, and Hydrogen Bomb. The guide also includes an appendix aimed at teachers who wish to carry out some of the practices in the classroom. The content developed by the team emphasizes the importance of playful scientific material and the didactic sequence for teachers, as a methodological support and complement for the teaching and learning process, with an emphasis on the educational method based on pedagogical dynamism.
According to the person in charge of the Chemistry Space at CCPPA, Professor Vania Lobo, the idea of creating the guide materialized in 2024, based on the daily experiences of the monitors, especially former intern Anabela Souza. "Due to the experiments sparking great curiosity in students, there was a need to offer material that recorded this experience beyond the visit. Thus, the proposal to systematize the experiments into a didactic guide emerged, transforming them into comic stories capable of contextualizing science in everyday situations," says Vania Lobo.
The choice of comics as the main language to present Chemistry content occurred, according to Vania, due to its accessible and playful format, which directly engages with the youth's universe, facilitating the understanding of concepts that are often abstract and considered difficult. "By combining text and image in relaxed narratives, it is possible to bring chemical phenomena closer to students' daily lives and show that science can be fun, creative, and meaningful," emphasizes Vania, who has been a teacher at Uepa for 20 years.
For the professor, the guide "broadens the reach of the experience lived at the Planetarium, allowing students to revisit the experiments at school, with the guidance of teachers." The educator highlights the role of CCPPA as a strategic space for university extension, as it brings science, school, and society closer together. "By developing initiatives like the guide, the Planetarium reinforces its role in scientific dissemination and support for teacher training, expanding opportunities for access to knowledge. Besides being a visitation space, it is a learning environment that contributes to valuing science, stimulating new interests, and strengthening education in the Amazon."
Project Conception
The Chemistry graduate from Uepa, Anabela Sousa, was an intern at CCPPA from 2023 to 2025. She states that the idea of creating the experiment guide arose from observing the public's interest during visits and the desire to make the experience even more attractive for children and young people.
"The idea came up right at the beginning of my internship at the Planetarium. I didn't know much about how the visits worked. Professor Vania started explaining how much the visitors liked the space and the interactions, and sometimes even recorded to review or post. Then, the idea of making a guide about the experiments in the Chemistry space emerged, and since our audience is largely composed of children, comic stories would catch their attention and encourage them to read and learn about science while having fun," she shares.
The creation of the guide "A visit to the Planetarium of Pará – The Chemistry Show" was marked by challenges that involved everything from character conception to adapting scientific content to visual language. The team decided to reference the periodic table by naming the protagonists Túlio and Flor, inspired by the elements Thallium and Fluorine. To develop the plot, the Chemistry space itself was transformed into an illustrated setting. The production also required the use of specific applications for creating the lines and comic narrative, which demanded creativity and synthesis.
"We learned to synthesize more, as we had to make a complex explanation fit into a comic. During presentations, we can talk and explain a lot; in the comic, we can't, due to limited space," adds Anabela Sousa.
In September 2024, the guide was presented in Belém in the form of a scientific poster at the National Meeting of Chemistry Teaching (ENEQ) and, in November of the same year, it was also exhibited at the I Paraense Show of Educational Products, held at the Planetarium of Pará. "Seeing the interest and receptivity of people at different events reinforces the importance of initiatives like this, which unite education, scientific dissemination, and playfulness. I believe this work opens doors to new ways of teaching and learning Chemistry, showing that science can indeed be fun and spark curiosity at all ages," concludes Anabela.
Experiments that Enchant and Teach
The former intern of CCPPA and Chemistry graduate from Uepa, Bruno Santos, developed activities in the Chemistry space from 2022 to 2024. In the guide, he contributed to the preparation of the presentation script for the experiments and the graphic assembly of the characters and setting. "We spent almost a year putting the guide together. It was a great satisfaction to create it, and it was also a challenge, but it was worth it, as we managed to make the guide accessible to any audience, from children to teachers," he states.
Bruno's favorite experiment is the Lamp Genie, which aims to identify the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using a catalyst. "This experiment has a surprise effect with the appearance of gas, and it was my favorite to present because I built suspense and counted down with the audience, who were surprised and understood well what was happening during the presentation."
At CCPPA, Bruno developed contact with the public and conducted his first presentations, learning to approach the subject in a more direct and contextualized manner, a learning experience he carries into the classroom today. "Whenever I have the opportunity, I use some of the experiments I learned at the Planetarium in Chemistry content, as they are a powerful way to spark students' interest," he highlighted. This learning was also applied during the time Bruno taught at the Alternative Course of Uepa and during the mandatory internship he completed at the Magalhães Barata State School.
Participating in the production of the comic book guide from the Chemistry Space was also an enriching experience for Rodrigo Costa, an eighth-semester student in the Chemistry Teaching course at Uepa, who was an intern at CCPPA from 2022 to 2024. He worked on the preparation of the guide's scripts, focusing on two experiments: Flame Test and Lamp Genie.
"The Flame Test is my favorite, due to its visual aspect and the concepts we managed to cover. It was interesting to be part of the work, especially because we were able to illustrate phenomena that, at first glance, are invisible to the eyes," he reported.
Rodrigo emphasized that the experience at the Planetarium contributed not only to mastering the content but also to improving the way he communicates with the public. "I learned to articulate my posture, to facilitate the understanding of what was being worked on. We made jokes to entertain visitors and, at the same time, bring the learning load of the experiences into the classroom. This makes students more engaged," he explained.
Overall, the experience showed that scientific knowledge can be presented in a more accessible way and closer to everyday life. "The Planetarium manages to promote this idea very well that Chemistry is not just a difficult science full of calculations. We can show it through experiments that reveal how substances are present in our daily lives, in nature, in food. Chemistry is everywhere, and it depends on how we articulate it," he concluded.
