Da questão fechada à investigação: uma ressignificação de itens do Enem de biologia

Abstract

This study aims to discuss possibilities for reinterpreting closed-ended Biology questions from the 2025 Brazilian National High School Exam (ENEM) into proposals for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching. The research is qualitative, documentary, and propositional, using Biology questions from the Natural Sciences and Technologies section of the 2025 ENEM as its corpus. The analysis was guided by the axes and indicators of Scientific Literacy proposed by Sasseron and Carvalho, as well as by the degrees of intellectual freedom discussed by Carvalho in the field of inquiry-based teaching. First, the questions were categorized according to the biological concepts involved, the possible indicators of Scientific Literacy, and their investigative potential. Based on this analysis, questions 93, 103, 104, 117, and 123 were selected because they showed greater articulation among scientific concepts, social, environmental, or technological contexts, and the possibility of mobilizing hypotheses, explanations, justifications, and argumentation. These questions were then transformed into didactic proposals organized according to degrees 3, 4, and 5 of intellectual freedom, highlighting the progressive reduction of teacher guidance and the expansion of students’ autonomy. The study concludes that closed-ended ENEM questions, although not investigative in themselves, can be critically appropriated as triggers for inquiry-based activities in Biology teaching.