News . Best Practices Vaccines-reinforcement of the body’s immunity (Best Practice Brazil)

CARE: The students were involved in the discussion about the COVID-19 contingency plan. Participants were 180 students, aged between 14 and 17, from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades of high school, 160 of whom completed the scientific action, along with their families, a teacher, a researcher, and a scientist who shared their concerns about COVID-19, especially the functioning of the human immune system and the role of vaccines, a controversial topic from different world and life views.

KNOW: The school curriculum was worked, in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary way, integrating the areas of biology and chemistry in the analysis of historical and scientific data. Clarification was sought about the COVID-19 vaccine in the immunization of the human organism. Cause and effect, prevention and risks are discussed in the context of scientific and popular knowledge, mainly in the ideas arising from family members and the surrounding community. This provided the students’ interaction in the learning process, giving voice to the opinions built in the school, family, and society, analyzing the scientific in collective conversations. The process of teaching and learning by areas of knowledge enabled innovations in learning practices. The interaction of students in the process of unraveling the essence of the object of study motivates the interest in learning the unknown. This learning develops skills because he/she feels subject to this discovery of scientific knowledge. This helps in the perception of problems, as well as in identifying the causes and possible solutions. It was unique to develop the ability to argue in discussions about the vaccine as a reinforcement of the body’s immunity in times of COVID-19. As attitudes, we sought to value scientific knowledge, lead students to analyze and distinguish information about vaccines, scientific from fake news, as well as to enable scientific knowledge built in the school environment for life in society and to understand the function of the vaccine, as a human creation, as a reinforcement of the immunity of the human organism.

DO: Students were involved in the following activities, to develop scientific studies that raise awareness of the quality of life in times of COVID-19.

• Analyze the historical context of science, scientists and scientific method and their functions and risk in planetary life, through research and presentation to the class.
• Identify the pathogens (viruses, fungi, protozoa, or bacteria) that cause communicable diseases in epidemics and pandemics with laboratory practices.
• Understand the function of the vaccine as a reinforcement of the immunity of the human organism.
• Analyze information and discussions on social networks about the COVID-19 vaccine, differentiating scientific from opinions and fake news.
• Clarify doubts about the production of vaccines to prevent viral or bacterial diseases.
• Exhibition of murals at school with flyers about the vaccine and prevention habits against COVID-19.

FINDINGS: The open scenario methodology used was project-based collaborative learning. The students brought their own questions, discussed with the scientists and their families, and it was remarkable how much they didn’t know the subject, at the same time they wanted to learn. Teachers found the open teaching activity useful in this controversial topic during the pandemic, and as the school offers teaching by areas of knowledge, it facilitated the planning of actions, the applicability of learning activities targeting technological resources and curricular interaction through of projects.

OUTCOMES: In general, students participated and interacted in learning activities with an interest in learning and discovering curiosities about science. Several students did not know the main scientists and their contributions to planetary life, the great scientific innovations, vaccine advances, especially COVID-19, the functions of science as disease prevention. And all the knowledge built can be evidenced in the written and visual productions distributed on the murals, contemplating all the spaces of the school and the relevance of the study. However, the very social distancing generated by the pandemic period caused many disruptions in the school routine, among which contacted scientists impossible. The return of face-to-face classes with 50% of the students, in the form of a rotation, reduced the time for carrying out the learning activities. On the other hand, some students were not included in the study for reasons. But, in general, the students exceeded expectations in the development of scientific actions. The relevance of this study can be seen in the arguments of the discussions; respect for group opinions; the valorization of scientific knowledge in the solution of problems; to know the origins of science for the understanding of the pandemic, COVID-19 and responsible decision making.

Find out more here: Our report.