Educação problematizadora no ensino de biologia: estudo das doenças infecciosas e parasitárias em uma turma do ensino médio

Abstract

Infectious and parasitic diseases stand out as a serious public health problem in Brazil. Some factors, such as low level of sanitation, social and economic aspects, hygiene and education conditions, contribute to widespread these plagues. This study emerged from the realization of such problems which influence health and welfare of students within the school surveyed who presented symptoms which coincide with those of certain parasitosis such as: amebiasis, ancylostomiasis, ascariasis, bilharzia (A.K.A. Schistosomiasis) and others. The students in this school live in socially and economically disadvantaged communities facing diverse social issues and these were the reasons why the proposed teaching of biology focused on infectious and parasitic diseases in this study concentrated on elaborating and organizing a series of wellstructured educational activities guided by a problematization approach so that students may better realize their own reality, question and devise strategies attempting to solve health problems. Education on health presents a potential articulating element of discussions that relate Science, Technology and Society (STS) due to its comprehensiveness and social relevance within a scenario in which health is a basic human right. The didactic series took place in three pedagogic phases, according to Delizoicov; Angotti; Pernambuco (2011): initial problematization, knowledge organization and knowledge application. The research involved a high school sophomore class and during the deployment of activities it was sought to analyze students’ participation by using field notes, photos and audio recordings. In each phase, students were constantly encouraged to speak out, that is, to elaborate on their perception of issues, to bring up unnoticed issues and to expose new concepts. Such participation contributed to a broader, better-contextualized learning of ordinary daily aspects. It was also noticed that the use of the internet access computer lab aided the students’ engagement considerably, especially in the elaboration of educational booklets, for, this resulted in moments of dialogues and exchange of information that contributed to knowledge construction. The organization and production of educational booklets enabled and encouraged new skills, such as: researching, selecting, carrying out, dialoguing, summarizing, integrating, remaking and building.