Produção de uma cartilha com alunos do ensino médio: uma estratégia para contribuir com a promoção de saúde através do método de pesquisa-ação

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the concept of health is "the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease". The concept of “health literacy”, on the other hand, defines the individual's ability to access, interpret, evaluate, and apply knowledge to prevent diseases and promote their own well-being in a school context, the National Common Curricular Base – BNCC (in Portuguese) addresses health as a curricular component, being present in several areas of knowledge and not only in the teaching of Biology, and should be treated in a contextualized way with the social reality of the students. In this context, the present study aimed to develop a booklet with high school students, with a perspective for health literacy and contribution to innovation in teaching Biology. To collect data about students' knowledge concerning health, conversation circles were held in the classroom. The conversation circles covered topics of relevance to the students' health, such as: Healthy eating, Visual and Hearing Health Care, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Hand Hygiene, Body and Mouth Hygiene, Regular Practice of Physical Activities, Prevention the Use of Narcotics and Vaccination. The students' speeches were recorded with their consent and transcribed for evaluation. Subsequently, the participants were divided into groups, responsible for composing texts and figures for the booklet. A theme was chosen to be worked on for each group. Each group received texts on the topic, so that they could compare their knowledge with those scientifically established, which contributed to their health literacy. After receiving the material and assembling it, the booklet was evaluated by Biology teachers from the 2018 class of the master’s degree in Biology Teaching (ProfBio) and by teachers from several disciplines at Mato Grosso State School, where activities were implemented. The evaluating teachers considered that the booklet can contribute to health promotion activities in their classes and in projects developed by the school community. The booklet produced will have a digital version to be made available online.